UPDATED, with judge’s order: A federal judge said that the Kennedy Center must give the court 30 days notice before proceeding on any demolition of the complex.
U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper issued his order after President Donald Trump told reporters that the Kennedy Center may be “ripped down” unless a renovation plan is carried out and his administration gets recognition for it.
Speaking to reporters on Wednesday, Trump cited the center’s financial woes and need for repairs and revitalization.
“For me to get involved, and to take on long term, and to carry it, I think the Trump administration should certainly have recognition,” Trump said. “Because frankly, if we don’t do that, it’s going to close. It will end up being ripped down.”
Trump posted on Truth Social earlier in the week that the renovation will not take place unless courts lift a judge’s order that has prohibited his name from being inscribed on the facade of the complex.
Attorneys for Rep. Joyce Beatty (D-OH), an ex officio member of the Kennedy Center board who has been challenging its Trump naming plan and its plans for a two-year closure, noted Trump’s comments in a court filing early Thursday. They also submitted a photo of Trump in which he appeared to be reading a placard that read, “Kennedy Center demolished.”
After the center’s main building was closed on Wednesday, and Beatty filed a motion for an emergency hearing on the action. Her attorneys wrote that the closure may violate Cooper’s order that the center not shutter for two years unless the board has more fully considered its impact. But Cooper denied the request for an emergency hearing.
On Thursday, the center’s DOJ attorneys wrote that this week’s closure was temporary. They submitted a declaration from the center’s executive director and chief operating officer, Matthew Floca, who stated that the closure was due to “acute risks to public safety resulting from continued structural deterioration at the center.” He stated that the closure will last for seven days, unless extended, to assess the safety risks.
The center has pointed to a recent incident in which a five-by-four-foot piece of one-inch-thick ceiling plaster fell due to water damage following recent heavy rains. They also pointed to an assessment from engineering firm Walter P. Moore that there was more advanced deterioration of 2,500 pound soffit panels that hang above the center’s exterior.
“This court did not enjoin the center from temporarily closing the building to address significant safety hazards,” the attorneys wrote.
The DOJ attorneys also indicated that they plan to move to lift the judge’s order prohibiting the two-year closure plan.
Beatty’s legal team responded by claiming that the “rationale that they are only temporarily closing” the main building “is a plain pretext to justify shutting down the center permanently. The facts before the court are deeply concerning. Defendants announced the closure directly after the president stated that the center would close ‘immediately’ — not temporarily but in response to a board vote held” on Tuesday.
The congresswoman also asked the judge to “make crystal clear” that his order also prohibits demolishing the structure.
After his order for 30 days notice, she said in a statement, “It is simply outrageous that we have gotten to the point of consistent judicial intervention to protect this historic institution from getting bulldozed by the president.”
PREVIOUSLY: After fencing went up around the Kennedy Center and the main building was closed to the public, a House lawmaker on Thursday called for an emergency hearing, warning that the shutdown violates a judge’s order.
The board, dominated by allies of President Donald Trump, voted Tuesday for a resolution to close the main building of the complex, citing safety issues while the center has been working on plans for a large-scale renovation. The resolution also pointed to a recent incident in which a portion of the ceiling collapsed to the floor following a recent rainstorm.
But attorneys for Rep. Joyce Beatty (D-OH), an ex officio member of the center board who has been challenging the closure plan, noted that U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper’s order prohibits a shutdown until he lifted a preliminary injunction, something that he has yet to do. The judge has ruled that renovations could proceed, but a closure could come only after the board made a fuller analysis of its impact.
Per a court filing, a staffer at a law firm representing Beatty sought to enter the main building on Wednesday but was advised by security that it was closed to the public.
Cooper has given the center until Thursday morning to respond to Beatty’s motion for an emergency hearing.
The judge on Tuesday prohibited the board’s latest plan to return Trump’s name to the façade of the complex or to designate its grounds for him. Trump, who serves as the center’s chair, posted on Truth Social that they would seek an expedited appeal, but that the renovation would not proceed if courts rule against the naming plan.
Beatty has said that she is not opposed to a renovation, but previous plans were to keep the center open as the rehab was carried out in phases.
