Donald Trump’s administration has insisted for months that the Kennedy Center stands to lose millions of dollars without his name on the building after losing several legal battles to rename the venue after himself.
On Thursday, the performing arts institution’s Trump-controlled board of trustees agreed to do just that.
The board voted, again, to close the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts for renovations as part of a plan announced by the president earlier this year, which was blocked by a federal judge and is tied up in ongoing litigation. That plan included putting Trump’s name on the white marble facade, in front of the name of the assassinated former president, by renaming the venue The Donald J. Trump and John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts.
But under the resolution approved by the board on Thursday, Trump’s name will appear on the building to thank the president for the multi-million dollar renovations. An inscription will read “Restored and Renovated by President Donald J. Trump” — directly below the sign.
“This morning’s decision to close the Center and the surprise agenda item to put Donald Trump’s name back on the building was more of the same,” said Democratic Rep. Joyce Beatty, who is suing to stop the building’s closure and Trump-led renovations. “This latest development is a transparent effort to circumvent the Court’s ruling, and flies in the face of the statutes that Congress passed.”
open image in galleryAfter Trump announced the building’s two-year closure this year, a board largely composed of his allies agreed — and construction crews got to work installing his name in heavy metal letters to the front of the building.
Beatty sued, arguing that the Trump-led rebranding illegally circumvented Congress and that the board’s approval was “ill-informed and seemingly preordained.”
In May, Washington, D.C., District Judge Christopher Cooper ruled that Congress made it “crystal clear” that the building is only to be named after Kennedy, “and it cannot bear any other formal name or public memorial” based on a “unilateral say-so.”
The latest move to add Trump’s name to the building appears to be legally dubious workaround. Federal law invoked by Beatty and Cooper states that “no additional memorials or plaques in the nature of memorials shall be designated or installed in the public areas.”
open image in galleryThe Kennedy Center had until June 12 to strip the president’s name from the building following Coper’s order, but construction crews in hard hats and neon green high-vis vests only started to assemble scaffolding to reach the letters that afternoon. Trump’s name plates appeared to have been removed in the dead of night in the early morning hours of June 13.
But the scaffolding and tarp are still in place, covering up where the president’s name used to be. Judge Cooper has pressed the Trump administration to find out why.
In court filings, the Department of Justice claimed the venue stands to lose “hundreds of millions” of dollars without Trump’s name attached to the building, which lawyers for the government argued should be renamed in the president’s honor after he “donated his time, energy and unparalleled Construction talents” to its renovation.
The Justice Department is appealing Cooper’s court order requiring the venue to remove Trump’s name. Without it, the venerable arts institution will fall in to “financial ruin,” according to government lawyers.
Before Thursday’s meeting, the board was presented with a 163-page proposal for renovations, which could exceed $560 million — more than double the $257 million Congress had already eyed for the project.
The resolution that was ultimately approved by Trump’s hand-picked board will approve a renovation plan from real estate firm JLL that is expected to cost roughly $250 million.
Renovations are expected to be completed by summer 2028.
According to the resolution, the board will remain “fully committed” to continue supporting arts programming during the two-year closure to maintain the “historic and architecturally significant nature of the center’s main building.”
“A federal judge already rejected the board’s unlawful attempt to rename the Kennedy Center, and told Donald Trump’ handpicked board that its last closure vote was ill-informed and preordained,” according to a statement from Norm Eisen of Democracy Defenders Action and Nathaniel Zelinsky of Washington Litigation Group, who are representing Beatty.
“Today’ vote is more of the same, and a show of blatant disrespect to the courts,” they added. “The court already ruled against the board when it bowed to Trump’s demands. Now, the defendants must answer for their actions — again — in court.”