The Kennedy Center in Washington DC is to close immediately for renovations after its Trump-aligned board voted to shut the institution, amid warnings from the president and his allies that it faced financial and structural decline.
Donald Trump has spent more than a year pressing for an overhaul of the centre and changes to its performing arts programme. His administration has also sought to add his name to the building.
Mr Trump and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, whose wife Allison is a member of the board, joined Tuesday’s meeting by telephone, according to a person familiar with the matter.
Representative Joyce Beatty, a Democratic board member who has sued over the changes, alleged that the president “verbally berated” her before the vote.
Kennedy Center renovations face legal challenge
The decision came as a federal judge again blocked the board from adding Mr Trump’s name to the building. The board is chaired by the president and includes Cabinet members and political allies.
US District Judge Christopher Cooper said: “Defendants cannot install memorials for President Trump or anyone or anything else at the Kennedy Center without Congress’s blessing.”
His ruling followed an August vote to add the inscription “Renovated and Restored by President Donald J. Trump” beneath the Kennedy Center’s existing name. The Justice Department said it would appeal.
In December, the board voted to rename the venue “The Donald J. Trump and The John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts” and placed Mr Trump’s name on its facade. Judge Cooper ruled in May that the change was unlawful and ordered the name removed.
He also previously blocked the administration from closing the venue for renovations. Since Mr Trump’s name was removed, scaffolding covered by a tarp has obscured the exterior wall displaying the Kennedy Center’s name.
Justice Department lawyers have argued that the building is “dangerously dilapidated, outdated, and decrepit”, while recent financial losses had placed the memorial to President John F. Kennedy in a “financial and structural death spiral”. Congress approved 250 million dollars for the renovation project last year.
Following Tuesday’s vote, Mr Trump said construction would not begin until the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit ruled on the Justice Department’s appeal of the earlier order blocking the renaming. He said he had raised 17 million dollars in donations to help keep the centre operating, although the source and intended destination of the money were not disclosed.
