- President Donald Trump says the Kennedy Center will shut down “immediately” after his hand-selected board agreed to the closure in a vote on Tuesday.
- The board voted to close for repairs after the Trump administration repeatedly argued that the venue was in dire financial straits and could not continue to operate without the president’s name on the building.
- “The Board of The Kennedy Center today agreed, almost unanimously, to close the Building for Safety reasons, and so that it can begin the process of Reconstruction,” Trump wrote after the vote. “The closing will take place immediately, however, the Renovation and Reconstruction, which is a very large and complex job, cannot begin until such time as the D.C. Circuit rules on the Board’s approved name.”
- He continued, “If the ruling is a negative one, which it should not be, and is not overturned by the U.S. Supreme Court, the Reconstruction and the Renovation of The Kennedy Center will not take place. The attorneys from the DOJ will ask for an expedited appeal. In the meantime, 17 Million Dollars, raised by President Trump, has been put into The Kennedy Center account to keep it afloat.”
- The board’s vote came hours after a federal judge in Washington, D.C. blocked the institution from trying to add the president’s name to the building yet again, after board members proposed renaming the building “The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts renovated and restored by Donald J. Trump.”
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