President Donald Trump plans to build an exhibit of statues featuring prominent Americans in a tightly regulated park along the Potomac River, potentially opening a new legal fight over whether his administration is ignoring the approvals process that typically governs Washington 's monumental core as he muscles through a dramatic overhaul of the nation's capital.

In a Friday morning social media post, Trump said the National Garden of American Heroes would be built in West Potomac Park, a space near the National Mall that includes the Korean War Veterans Memorial, the Jefferson Memorial, the Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial and the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial.…