President Donald Trump says a $257 million renovation of the Kennedy Center will not proceed if the courts ultimately prevent his name being added to the building.
The Trump-aligned Kennedy Center board voted on Tuesday to close most of the John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts for up to two years for repairs. Congress has already appropriated $257 million for the renovation.
Hours earlier, U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper blocked another attempt to add Trump’s name to the building and rename its plaza in his honour.
Cooper ruled that memorial changes require congressional approval.
“Simply put, Defendants cannot install memorials for President Trump or anyone or anything else at the Kennedy Center without Congress’s blessing,” he wrote.
Trump subsequently said the closure would take place immediately while the naming dispute proceeds through the appeals process.
He said renovation work would not begin until the D.C. Circuit had ruled and, if the courts ultimately rejected the naming proposal, the renovation “will not take place.”
The Kennedy Center has documented financial and physical problems, and its board says substantial repairs are necessary. The closure itself therefore predates Tuesday’s latest naming ruling and is not simply a response to it.
The new development is Trump’s explicit linkage of the renovation to the naming dispute.
Congress has provided the money for the work.
The president says the work will not happen if the courts ultimately refuse permission to put his name on the national memorial.
Sources
- Reuters – Kennedy Center board votes to close after judge blocks Trump naming plan
- Associated Press – Judge blocks Trump name from Kennedy Center building and grounds
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