- Kennedy Center board votes to close venue
- Vote follows judge blocking Trump name addition
- Congress allocated $257m for repairs
- Judge Christopher Cooper ruled name requires Congress approval
- Justice Department appealed ruling
The Trump-aligned Kennedy Center board has voted to close most of the Washington D.C. performing arts venue just hours after a federal judge blocked the institution from returning Donald Trump’s name to the building. In a social media post Trump stated the closure was needed for safety repairs but stated the repairs which Congress has allocated $257m to cover would only happen if the board was allowed to move forward with plans to add his name to the building. A federal judge has twice stated that cannot happen without the approval of Congress.
US District Judge Christopher Cooper stated in the latest ruling that defendants cannot install memorials for President Trump or anyone or anything else at the Kennedy Center without Congress’s blessing. The Justice Department appealed the ruling. Trump who was named the Kennedy Center’s chairman last year by loyalists on the board participated in the virtual board meeting and stated on social media he had given $17m to an endowment intended to support the institution.
The developments threw into limbo the fate of one of the US’s most prominent cultural institutions. The venue’s leaders have argued that the building which began construction in 1965 was in need of renovations. A partial ceiling collapse in the building’s main hallway earlier this month intensified the calls for renovations. Trump’s insistence on a physical recognition of his work on the building has been a persistent sticking point alienating many of the institution’s longtime supporters and facing repeated legal roadblocks.
