Kennedy Center board votes to inscribe Trump’s name on building – again
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Security personnel keeping watch at the main entrance to the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts as the centre’s board voted to inscribe the words “Restored and Renovated by President Donald J. Trump” on the building in Washington on Aug 13.
PHOTO: REUTERS
WASHINGTON – The board of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts voted on Aug 13 to inscribe US President Donald Trump’s name on the building, Democratic US Representative Joyce Beatty said, setting up a potential clash with a federal judge who had ordered the name removed.
“In its meeting today, the board voted to change the front of the building’s facade to read ‘The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts Restored and Renovated By President Donald J. Trump,’ and renamed the physical site ‘the President Donald J. Trump Plaza,’” said Beatty, an ex-officio member of the centre’s board.
The Kennedy Center did not immediately reply to a request for comment, although a second source with knowledge of the situation confirmed the board’s decision.
White House assistant press secretary Liz Huston said in a statement: “Under President Trump’s bold leadership, the Kennedy Center is on its way to becoming the finest cultural institution anywhere in the world.”
The New York Times reported earlier on Aug 13 that the board passed a resolution “that the centre desires to recognise and honour President Trump’s existential and unprecedented contributions to the survival of the centre by all legal means”.
The board – dominated by Trump appointees – also voted to close the Kennedy Center for two years, according to Beatty, who sued the Trump administration and the centre over what she called an unlawful name change and the planned closure.
In December, the Trump administration added the President’s name to the facade of the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.
But in May, a judge ordered the removal of Trump’s name, ruling that the iconic Washington venue could not be renamed without an act of Congress.
US District Judge Christopher Cooper said in the ruling: “The Kennedy Center’s organic statute makes crystal clear that the center is to be named for President Kennedy, and it cannot bear any other formal name or public memorial based on the board’s unilateral say-so.”
Cooper also said, however, that the board had “wide discretion” to make operational decisions about the Kennedy Center, including potentially closing it for renovations following a valid vote.
In July, a federal appeals court denied the administration’s bid to keep Trump’s name on the building while it pursues court action to restore it.
Workers stripped Trump’s name from the Kennedy Center in June.
The Trump administration argued that removing the US leader’s name would hurt fund raising and worsen the centre’s finances.
The appeals court said those claims were not supported by specific facts or evidence. REUTERS