Congresswoman accuses Kennedy Center trustees of withholding remodel plans

WASHINGTON (CN) — A Democratic lawmaker urged a federal judge on Thursday to prevent President Donald Trump’s allies on the Kennedy Center Board of Trustees from withholding key information regarding plans to demolish the premier theater in the nation’s capital.

U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper passed on issuing a temporary restraining order requiring the board’s leadership to provide such information, which Representative Joyce Beatty argues is necessary to perform her oversight duties as a trustee, before a March 16 meeting. But Cooper indicated he would rule, at the latest, on Monday morning before the meeting.

The meeting will determine whether Trump can go forward with a two-year “complete rebuild” of the center with a closure set for this July. Trump has indicated the project would cost $257 million, which Congress appropriated in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act last summer.

Beatty, an Ohio Democrat, asked Cooper, a Barack Obama appointee, in a March 6 filing for the temporary restraining order to prevent the president’s allies from blocking her again, as it did at a December meeting to add Trump’s name to the building.

Nathaniel Zelinsky, of the Washington Litigation Group and representing Beatty, called it “gobsmacking” that the government thought it would be appropriate to simply provide relevant documents at the meeting and have the board vote that same day.

“The critical ingredient to participation is knowledge,” Zelinksky said. He added there was no guarantee the government would move as quickly as it had in demolishing the White House’s East Wing, warning there could be bulldozers on site while the board deliberates.

Cooper appeared concerned that the board was unnecessarily withholding the documents — such as a supposed “one-year plan” that Zelinsky maintains was presented to the Building and Grounds Committee — and asked Justice Department attorney William Jankowski what the harm was in turning it over.

“This seems to be a pretty big deal, to have unknown plans for the nation’s premier art center, it strikes me you would need to have advance review of this information,” Cooper said, adding that the meeting was less than four days away.

Jankowski suggested any information could only be provided at the meeting itself because of the president, who the board elected as its chair last February, has a tendency to add things at the last minute.

Beatty sued the Trump administration on Dec. 23, challenging the Kennedy Center board’s decision to add Trump’s name to the cultural center. The decision to rebrand, Beatty said, violated federal law and an act of Congress designating the building as a memorial solely to honor former President John F. Kennedy.

Last February, the president installed himself as chairman of the center’s board of trustees, a group which also includes Attorney General Pam Bondi, Second Lady Usha Vance and Fox News host Laura Ingraham.

Beatty — who serves on the Kennedy Center board in an ex-officio capacity, meaning her presence is mandated by law — said the board’s decision on Dec. 18 to add Trump’s name was a “sham” that was orchestrated by Trump and his allies “as a pretext for a predetermined result.”

Other ex-officio members include Senate Majority Leader John Thune, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, and senators Sheldon Whitehouse, Shelley Moore Capito, Mark Warner, Chris Van Hollen and Susan Collins. Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, and representatives Sam Graves, Rick Larsen, Julia Letlow and Mike McCaul are also members.

Beatty said that the trustees’ overarching move to rename the Kennedy Center after Trump violated a 1964 law which renamed the national cultural center in Washington after the assassinated former president. The letter of the statute, under the 1958 National Cultural Center Act, holds that the center’s trustees maintain the building as a “living memorial to John Fitzgerald Kennedy.”

Beatty, speaking to reporters outside the E. Barrett Prettyman Courthouse following the hearing, said she was hopeful Cooper would rule in her favor.

“Today was about the rule of law, it was about democracy and it was about fighting for something that I believe in and support,” Beatty said.

“I want to know where your money, our money is going,” she continued. “Today was about making sure that I am representing the people that I was sent there to represent as a member of congress and as a board member.”

The president’s moves to reshape the Kennedy Center in his image has caused significant backlash, both among regular attendees and performers at the center.

Artists such as Philip Glass, Renée Fleming and Bela Fleck have called off performances, and the Washington National Opera ended its decadeslong residency there. As of last October, ticket sales had dropped by 50%.

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