WASHINGTON — The recent closure of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts is only a “temporary” move to assess safety risks with the building, not to begin President Donald Trump’s long-term renovations, according to the Justice Department.
Trump-aligned Kennedy Center officials erected new fencing outside the center and denied entry to visitors shortly after the board voted Sept. 15 to close the bulk of the iconic institution as it prepares for renovations pushed by Trump.
But in a Sept. 17 court filing, the government’s attorneys argue this week’s closure was not in response to the board’s action. Instead, they say Kennedy Center staff closed operations to address “acute risks to public safety resulting from continued structural deterioration at the Center.” The filing references soffit panels on the center’s ceiling that pose a safety hazard.
“During this temporary closure, which will last for seven days, unless extended,” the filing reads, Kennedy Center Executive Director Matt Floca intends to “assess existing safety risks in those portions of the main building exhibiting severe structural deterioration.”
Whether the center can close two years for Trump’s renovations ‒ as directed by the board ‒ will ultimately be decided by a federal judge. The government is expected to ask U.S. District Court Judge Christopher Cooper to vacate a preliminary injunction he issued in May blocking the board’s March vote to close the Kennedy Center. The Justice Department faces a Sept. 18 deadline to make their request.
Attorneys for Rep. Joyce Beatty, D-Ohio, the plaintiff in a lawsuit against Trump over the Kennedy Center, disputed the government’s assertion that the closure is “temporary” and the result of safety concerns.
“This latest explanation cannot be squared with the record,” Beatty’s attorneys said in a motion responding to the Justice Department. “Defendants’ rationale that they are only temporarily closing the Kennedy Center is a plain pretext to justify shutting down the Center permanently.”
Beatty has requested that Cooper hold an emergency hearing to consider blocking the closure. But Justice Department attorneys want the motion denied, arguing the closure is for temporary maintenance work allowed under the judge’s previous order.
“There is no emergency caused by Defendants’ temporary closure of the Center; the only emergency is the risk to the public and the Center’s employees and artists if it remained fully open without further safety assessment,” the government’s attorneys say in their filing.
Trump has warned that he won’t pursue the renovations unless a separate decision from Cooper this week keeping Trump’s name off the center’s building is overturned on appeal.
Cooper ruled that the Kennedy Center’s plan to add an inscription below the center’s sign that says “renovated and restored by Donald J. Trump” cannot move forward. The judge said the inscription violates his previous order in May to remove Trump’s name from the center’s title and signage and violates the 1964 law that created the center to honor President Kennedy after his assassination.
Without renovations, Trump told reporters on Sept. 16 that the Kennedy Center will “end up being ripped down” because of its dilapidated state. The same day, Trump was pictured through a window on Air Force One reading a poster that says, “Kennedy Center DEMOLISHED.”
Congress has approved $257 million for renovations. But Trump and the Justice Department argue that without the president’s additional fundraising aiming for more than $100 million, the work can’t be completed.
Reach Joey Garrison on X @joeygarrison.
This story has been updated to add new information.