Board votes to close Kennedy Center: No Trump name, no reconstruction

BS BULLETIN:

The Kennedy Center board voted Tuesday to immediately close most of the performing arts complex amid safety and financial concerns.
Hours earlier, a federal judge again blocked efforts to put President Donald Trump’s name on the building without congressional approval.
Trump says reconstruction will not go forward if the naming plan ultimately loses in court.

President Donald Trump just raised the stakes dramatically in the battle over the Kennedy Center.

The Kennedy Center board voted Tuesday to close most of the Washington landmark immediately, citing safety concerns and the need for major reconstruction.

But Trump says the actual renovation and reconstruction will have to wait — and whether it happens at all now depends on the legal fight over putting his name on the building.

Trump laid out the terms himself Tuesday on Truth Social:

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. 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.

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.

Thank you for your attention to this matter!

President DONALD J. TRUMP

The declaration came after U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper once again ruled against efforts to place Trump’s name on the Kennedy Center.

“Simply put, Defendants cannot install memorials for President Trump or anyone or anything else at the Kennedy Center without Congress’s blessing,” Cooper wrote Tuesday.

The Kennedy Center board voted in August to place an inscription on the building reading: “The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts Restored and Renovated By President Donald J. Trump.”

The board also approved plans for additional Trump recognition if a fundraising goal was reached, along with renaming the plaza in his honor. Cooper had previously ruled in May that Trump’s name had been added to the center illegally and ordered it removed.

Now the Justice Department is appealing.

And Trump is making clear that the outcome has consequences beyond what gets carved into the building.

Congress has allocated $257 million for Kennedy Center repairs, according to the Associated Press. The center has argued that the aging building badly needs the work, and concerns intensified after part of the Grand Foyer ceiling collapsed earlier this month.

Trump said $17 million that he raised has also been deposited into the Kennedy Center account to help keep the institution afloat.

The immediate closure and the future reconstruction are therefore two separate issues: the board says the building is closing now for safety reasons, while Trump says the reconstruction itself will not proceed if the board ultimately loses its fight to recognize him on the building.

The DOJ will seek an expedited appeal before the D.C. Circuit, according to Trump, potentially setting up another round in a dispute that could eventually reach the Supreme Court.