Photographs appearing to show Donald Trump reviewing a poster marked “Kennedy Center DEMOLISHED” have intensified a legal dispute over the future of the Washington arts institution.
The images, taken through the windows of Air Force One late on Wednesday, show the US president studying what appears to be a rendering of a construction site beneath the prominent wording. The White House has not answered questions about the poster.
Bill Pulte, the nation’s housing official and a Trump loyalist who also served briefly this year as acting director of national intelligence, can be seen beside Mr Trump in the photographs.
Roma Daravi, a Trump-aligned spokesperson for the Kennedy Center, has also not commented on the images. They have since been added to a lawsuit brought by Representative Joyce Beatty, a Democrat from Ohio and a member of the centre’s board.
Ms Beatty is challenging the temporary closure of the Kennedy Center, which officials have attributed to serious safety concerns involving fallen ceiling plaster. A judge on Thursday rejected her request for an emergency hearing, allowing the closure to continue for now.
However, the judge reminded the administration of an undertaking made in separate litigation: officials must provide 30 days’ notice of any plans to demolish the building.
Lawyers for Ms Beatty had asked the court to make “crystal clear” that officials could not simply demolish the centre after the photographs emerged.
The filing also referred to Mr Trump’s recent threat to withhold funding for essential renovations unless he was allowed to add his name to the building’s façade. Speaking in North Carolina before boarding Air Force One on Wednesday, he said: “I think that the Trump administration should certainly have recognition. Because frankly, if we don’t do that, it’s going to close. It’ll end up being ripped down.”
Those remarks appeared to conflict with a promise he made in February, when he said: “I’m not ripping it down.”
The Kennedy Center has experienced falling ticket sales and the departure of performers during Mr Trump’s year-and-a-half stewardship, and closed this week. The president has also faced scrutiny over the demolition of the White House East Wing after previously saying plans for a ballroom would not interfere with the building.
Mr Trump has a history of controversial demolition decisions. In 1980, he destroyed the former Bonwit Teller building on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan to make way for Trump Tower, despite promising to preserve its limestone friezes.
After leaving the aircraft on Wednesday night, the president waved to reporters before turning away and walking off without taking questions.
