Kennedy Center votes to restore Trump's name and close for 2 years,
challenging a judge's order
[August 14, 2026]
By STEVEN SLOAN
WASHINGTON (AP) — The battle over the Kennedy Center's future escalated
Thursday as President Donald Trump's allies on the board took new steps
to commemorate him with physical changes to the iconic performing arts
institution that could defy a federal court order.
During an hourslong meeting that was conducted virtually, the board
voted to add Trump's name to the building's facade so it would read “The
John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts Restored and Renovated By
President Donald J. Trump.” The plaza in front of the building would be
named after Trump and most of the space at the venue would be closed for
two years to allow for substantial renovations.
The changes, described by Rep. Joyce Beatty, an Ohio Democrat who is an
ex-officio board member, and her lawyers, amount to a dramatic test of
U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper.
He ruled in May that letters affixed to the building that spelled out
Trump's name were added illegally and he ordered their removal, a
decision that the Republican administration failed to persuade courts to
overturn. At the same time, Cooper blocked a two-year closure that was
set to take effect July 5, saying an earlier board vote authorizing the
shuttering was “ill-informed and seemingly preordained.”
“This latest development is a transparent effort to circumvent the
Court’s ruling, and flies in the face of the statutes that Congress
passed,” Beatty said in a statement. “I will continue to fight for this
treasured national monument.”
A Kennedy Center representative did not respond to a request for
comment.
Much of Thursday's board meeting was expected to focus on the extent of
closures required to allow for renovations that the Kennedy Center's
management says are needed to improve safety. In response to the judge's
criticism of the earlier vote, the institution's leaders said they would
provide the board with three options to consider.
They included a complete closure or a partial closure that would allow
“some continued public access and limited programming in spaces
unaffected” by the work. A third option would “consider a highly limited
series of phased closures to address only the Center’s most serious
infrastructure needs while scheduling and maintaining a full slate of
programming.”
Ultimately, the board decided to close the building for two years while
leaving the potential for some degree of programming to still happen in
an outdoor space known as the Reach. The decision to move ahead with the
two-year closure, in addition to the moves to memorialize Trump, could
revive questions about whether the board seriously considered the full
range of options, a point Democrats emphasized after the meeting.
Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, a Rhode Island Democrat who is also an ex
officio board member, criticized a “sham meeting.”
“What happened today was nothing more than a rubber stamp on a decision
the President made months ago that the Board already tried to effectuate
without doing proper due diligence,” he said in a statement.
The Kennedy Center has become a metaphor for presidential power
During Trump's second term, the Kennedy Center has become an unlikely —
and highly visible — metaphor for presidential power. While he largely
ignored the institution during his first term in Washington, Trump moved
quickly to oust its leadership when he returned to office in January
2025 and replaced it with a board of trustees that named him chairman.
[to top of second column]
|
The exterior of the Kennedy Center is seen, Friday, July 31, 2026,
in Washington. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)
His name was quickly added to the building, before coming down in
June in response to Cooper's order. The area where it once stood is
now covered by a massive tarp.
The Kennedy Center moves are part of Trump's broader push to reshape
the physical landscape of the nation's capital in ways that have few
modern parallels.
He demolished the East Wing of the White House and is building a
controversial ballroom in its place, though an appeals court ruled
last week that construction should stop because Congress didn't
approve the project. Trump has said he will take the case to the
Supreme Court.
His remodel of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool has also
stumbled after algae returned and U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro
refuted his claims that a vandal was responsible for the damage.
Meanwhile, Trump is planning extensive renovations of a golf course
in East Potomac Park, which could significantly reduce the public’s
access to running and biking paths. He is also moving forward with a
triumphal arch that will sit near Arlington National Cemetery.
Trump has derided the Kennedy Center as “rusted, rotted, and rat and
bug infested” and threatened to hand the building over to Congress
after Cooper rejected the closure and the addition of the
president’s name to the building.
The institution’s leadership has argued that it’s in genuine need of
repair and updating.
Matt Floca, the Kennedy Center’s executive director and chief
operating officer, guided a group of journalists through the
building in April, highlighting severe water damage that he said
corroded steel in some places as thin as tissue paper. Some pieces
of equipment, including several 800-ton chillers that help cool the
building, are decades old and in need of replacement.
At the time, Floca said he considered doing the repairs individually
but insisted it was his recommendation to Trump to close the
building and move forward with the renovation all at once.
“When the president asked, ‘How do you make these projects the best?
How do you make them really excellent and deliver them efficiently?’
My recommendation was you close the building and you do everything
over a definite period of time, two years,” he said.
More recently, the legal battles became the subject of barbs and
jokes as comedian Bill Maher accepted the Mark Twain Prize for
American Humor in late June. At the start of the program, Pamella
Roland DeVos, a Kennedy Center trustee appointed by Trump, described
the institution as a “national cultural center open not just for
some but for every American patron who wants to experience the
greatest art and expression the world has to offer.”
“The responsibility that comes with it is one our board takes very
seriously,” she said.
All contents © copyright 2026 Associated Press. All rights reserved |
