US President Donald Trump said on September 15 that the Kennedy Center would close “immediately” and threatened to cancel a planned renovation of the institution if federal courts did not allow his name to be placed on the front of the building. Trump’s ultimatum came shortly after the president’s handpicked board voted, again, to close the institution’s performing arts building in Washington, citing safety and financial concerns.
In a Truth Social post, Trump said the board voted “almost unanimously” to close the riverside landmark “for Safety rea – sons, and so that I can begin the process of Reconstruction”. He then said he would block a $257m renovation project that Trump had previously touted to address what the center has described as “decades of deferred maintenance and critical infrastructure needs.”
“The Renovation and Reconstruction, which is a very large and complex job, cannot begin until such time as the D.C. Circuit rules on the Board’s approved name,” Trump wrote. “If the ruling is a negative one, which it should not be, and is not overturned by the US Supreme Court, the Reconstruction and the Renovation of The Kennedy Center will not take place.”
“Simply put, defendants cannot install memorials for President Trump or anyone or anything else at the Kennedy Center without Congress’s blessing,” US district judge Christopher Cooper wrote.
The performing arts center, built as a memorial to President John F Kennedy, has been embroiled in a dizzying legal dispute over Trump’s desire to put his name on the building. Prior to the Sept 15 meeting, a federal judge blocked the center’s board from adding Trump’s name to the venue, writing that it would violate his previous ruling ordering it to be removed.
Judge’s ruling
“Simply put, defendants cannot install memorials for President Trump or anyone or anything else at the Kennedy Center without Congress’s blessing,” US district judge Christopher Cooper wrote. “The board resolution bucks a federal court order and a statute Congress enacted.”
The now-shelved second resolution had listed 10 options for inscribing Trump’s name and the “Trump Kennedy Center Fund” beneath the center’s name on the exterior marble, tying various forms of credit to renovation, endowment or oversight of the building.
