By STEVEN SLOAN and ASHRAF KHALIL Associated Press
WASHINGTON (AP) — The board of the Kennedy Center voted Tuesday to close the facility amid financial issues and a dispute over putting President Donald Trump’s name on the iconic performing arts venue, according to people familiar with the matter.
Trump and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick participated in the board meeting, according to one of the people. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss a private meeting. Lutnick’s wife, Allison, is a member of the Trump-appointed board.
Prior to Tuesday’s board meeting, a federal judge blocked the Kennedy Center board from adding Trump’s name to the structure or grounds, saying it would violate an earlier ruling that his name was illegally added to the building.
Judge Christopher Cooper ruled, “Simply put, Defendants cannot install memorials for President Trump or anyone or anything else at the Kennedy Center without Congress’s blessing.”
After the board added Trump’s name above Kennedy’s, Cooper ruled in May that only Congress can approve changes to the Kennedy Center’s name. The board responded by erecting an elevated tarp which obscures Trump’s name and most of Kennedy’s.
The board had recently floated multiple options for getting Trump’s name on the grounds, including inscriptions like “Renovation and endowment overseen by President Donald J. Trump and the Trump Kennedy Center Fund.” Another option: “With Gratitude for Support from President Donald J. Trump and the Trump Kennedy Center Fund.”
The board’s proposal flatly states that “without such appropriate recognition” it’s unlikely that Trump will financially support what the board says are desperately needed renovations.
Cooper, in his Tuesday ruling, noted “the government plays word games.”
In a scheduling hearing Tuesday morning, prior to the release of his ruling and prior to the board’s vote, Cooper appealed to lawyers for both sides to find a mediated solution to the fate of the performing arts center. The center’s board has claimed the building is in desperate physical shape and the institution is close to insolvency.
“Is it possible to turn down the temperature a little bit?” Cooper asked. “I’m not ordering you to do it, but there is a larger public interest here.”
But Cooper’s appeal for common ground was largely subsumed by the board vote a few hours later.
Trump weighed in on social media shortly after the vote, claiming the closure was necessary for public safety and strongly implying that the fate of the Kennedy Center depended largely on whether his name is attached.
“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 wrote. “If the ruling is a negative one, which it should not be … the Reconstruction and the Renovation of The Kennedy Center will not take place.”