Workers in Washington, D.C. have begun removing President Donald Trump’s name from the Kennedy Center after U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper ruled the addition could not stand, ordering removal by June 12 despite an appeal from the Trump administration a
Scaffolding went up at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., and by 6:00 p.m. ET on Friday, workers had begun preparing to remove President Donald Trump’s name from the building.
The change is rooted in a December decision by the Kennedy Center’s board—filled mainly with Trump loyalists—to rename the venue as The Donald J. Trump and John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts. Under the law, the official name is the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, created as a “living memorial” to the slain 35th president.
On May 29, U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper ruled in favor of Rep. Joyce Beatty (D-OH). who sued over both the addition of Trump’s name and the president’s two-year closure of the venue. In his decision. Cooper wrote that the Kennedy Center’s “organic statute makes crystal clear that the Center is to be named for President Kennedy. and it cannot bear any other formal name or public memorial based on the Board’s unilateral say-so. Congress gave the Kennedy Center its name, and only Congress can change it.”.
The court order set a deadline: Trump’s name had to be removed by Friday, June 12. The day after Cooper’s initial ruling, the Trump administration and the board filed an appeal to Cooper, but he refused to stay his own decision.
The fight over a name has quickly bled into the president’s public posture. After Cooper’s initial ruling. Trump vented on Truth Social and canceled an America 250th celebration that was set to take place at the Kennedy Center. “Cancel it. ” Trump wrote. adding that he canceled his involvement with what he called the failing and unsafe Kennedy Center “because a Highly Conflicted. Crooked Federal Judge. said that I should not be allowed to spend my time and money in order to MAKE THE CENTER GREAT AGAIN. actually. far greater than it ever was before!. It would have also been nice to see a Republican/Democrat union bring it back to life.”.
Trump also attacked Cooper directly, saying the judge ruled that the board was not authorized to add the name “TRUMP” even though, according to him, “hundreds of millions of dollars of my time and money will be necessary for its successful reincarnation,” as he put it.
Kennedy Center Trump name removal Christopher Cooper Joyce Beatty Truth Social America 250th performing arts venue renaming federal court order Washington DC