Trump’s handpicked board shutters the Kennedy Center … just hours after judge blocked his name from building
In an emergency move on Tuesday, President Donald Trump’s appointed leadership panel at the Kennedy Center voted to shut down the iconic performing arts venue with immediate effect.
Trustees pushed for the sudden closure after declaring that the landmark has fallen into ‘dire’ financial ruin and physical decay.
The drastic action unfolded just hours after a DC federal judge blocked the panel’s bid to rebrand the building with Trump’s name – a controversial strategy the board insisted was essential to stave off imminent bankruptcy for the Kennedy Center.
To justify the immediate lockdown, leadership pointed to a terrifying partial ceiling collapse inside the main Grand Foyer earlier this month, arguing emergency structural work can no longer wait.
A draft resolution laying out a proposed two–year shutdown revealed that both the center’s top director and a structural consultant ‘consider the main building to be unsafe for continued occupancy, and anticipate further risk to the public and employees if the building is not immediately closed and renovations begun.’
Tuesday’s dramatic action marks the third time since February that the board has pushed to shutter the cultural landmark for a two–year overhaul.
Trustees originally set a shutdown date of July 5, but legal battles have completely stalled those plans.
Attorneys representing the board claim ongoing litigation has crippled their ability to carry out vital maintenance.
Workers prepare scaffolding ahead of removing lettering from the facade of the John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts, following a federal judge’s order to remove Trump’s name from the institution
In an emergency move on Tuesday, President Donald Trump’s appointed leadership panel at the Kennedy Center voted to shut down the iconic performing arts venue with immediate effect
Rep. Joyce Beatty and lawyer Norman Eisen speaker to reporters after a hearing on the Kennedy Center outside the federal courthouse in Washington
However, the DC judge presiding over the case fired back during Tuesday’s hearing, reminding the board – as he had in prior rulings – that his original court order halting a full–scale lockdown specifically exempted emergency repairs.
According to a source familiar with the private meeting, board chairman, President Trump, tuned in virtually, spending several minutes taking jabs at both Beatty and the judge responsible for keeping his name off the building.
‘The Kennedy Center is in such a precarious fiscal position that it will not be able to support its payroll obligations, nor routine maintenance contracts within a matter of weeks,’ states a court filing, adding that ‘President Trump has offered to step in and raise the necessary funds to keep the Center from bankruptcy.’
Last month, the board voted to rename the property ‘President Donald J. Trump Plaza’ and add the text ‘renovated and restored by President Donald J. Trump’ to the building by Sept. 8, with the new draft resolution proposing several similar ideas.
