Trump photo appears to reference Kennedy Center demolition, judge orders advance notice of any move to knock it down

A new photo shows President Donald Trump eyeing a poster that appears to reference the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts being demolished, hours after he warned that the building “will end up being ripped down” if he is not properly recognized for his efforts to renovate it.

Rep. Joyce Beatty, the Ohio Democrat battling Trump over his efforts to get his name affixed to the Kennedy Center, notified a federal judge Thursday morning in a court filing about the image and the president’s threat.

In response, Judge Christopher Cooper ordered the Kennedy Center to give 30 days’ notice before implementing any changes to the scope of planned renovations “including but not limited to any ‘demolition’ of the Center’s main building.”

Beatty, a day earlier, asked Cooper to schedule an emergency hearing in U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., on what she says is the “unlawful” closure of the Kennedy Center by its board of trustees in violation of a prior order by Cooper.

Cooper later Thursday denied Beatty’s request for an emergency hearing.

But the judge, in addition to his order requiring advance notice of any demolition, ordered that the Kennedy Center defendants in her suit, who include Trump, “shall a file a detailed status report, supported by a sworn declaration from a knowledgeable representative of the Kennedy Center, on the ‘temporary closure’ and emergency repairs described” in a Department of Justice filing earlier in the day.

Beatty praised the order, but in a statement said, “It is simply outrageous that we have gotten to the point of consistent judicial intervention to protect this historic institution from getting bulldozed by the President.”

“I will continue to fight for the rule of law and defend this memorial on behalf of the American people,” said Beatty, who is an ex officio member of the Kennedy Center’s board. 

White House spokeswoman Liz Huston, in a statement to CNBC on the photo, said, “For years, Democrats let the Kennedy Center rot, allowing water damage and crumbling infrastructure to turn a national treasure into a building in decay.”

“As President Trump said last night, without his intervention, The Kennedy Center will inevitably continue to decline,” Huston said. 

In her filing Thursday morning, Beatty’s lawyers told Cooper, “Plaintiff files this Notice to apprise the Court of two new pieces of evidence that came to light last night.”

“First, yesterday evening, in response to reporter questions regarding the Kennedy Center project, President Trump stated, ‘for the Trump administration, for me, to get involved, and to take on long term, and to carry it, or to raise money to carry it, I think that the Trump administration should certainly have recognition,'” the filing said.

“‘Because frankly, if we don’t do that, it’s going to close, it will end up being ripped down,'” Trump had said, the lawyers noted.

The attorneys added, “Separately, a photo has been circulated on social media depicting President Trump reading a placard on Air Force One that appears to read ‘Kennedy Center DEMOLISHED.'”

The filing included a copy of the photo and a blown-up version showing the letters “DEMOLIS.”

“Given the emergency nature of this matter. … Plaintiff wanted to make sure the Court and Defendants are aware of this new information,” Beatty’s lawyers told Cooper.

In a second filing Thursday morning, Beatty’s lawyers asked Cooper to “enter an order making clear that either the wholesale demolition of the building or demolition that would make public access impossible would violate the Court’s existing order.”

The DOJ told Cooper in its own court filing that Beatty’s request for a hearing should be denied, saying that the center’s executive director, Matt Floca, on Wednesday had “decided to temporarily close the Center due to ‘acute risks to public safety resulting from continued structural deterioration at the center.'”

The closure will last for seven days, unless extended, while Floca assesses safety risks, according to a declaration by the executive director filed by the DOJ.

The DOJ’s attorneys noted that Cooper in May had enjoined Trump and the board from taking steps to effectuate the board’s March 16 decision to close the center for repair and restoration.

“Defendants are in compliance with this order and, after two recent Board votes, intend to move for dissolution of the preliminary injunction to allow for the closure necessary to complete the restoration and renovations,” the DOJ said.

“No part of the Court’s preliminary injunction order forbids a temporary closure like this
one,” the filing said.

“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 DOJ attorneys told Cooper.

Beatty’s lawyers quickly replied to the DOJ filing, telling Cooper that the DOJ’s “latest explanation” for why the center is closed “cannot be squared with the record.”

“Defendants’ rationale that they are only temporarily closing the Kennedy Center is a plain pretext to justify shutting down the Center permanently,” Beatty’s lawyers said.

“A hearing is imperative to clarify what Defendants are doing,” the attorneys said.

The center’s closure came after Cooper on Tuesday rebuffed a new effort by the Kennedy Center’s board of trustees to honor Trump by putting his name on the center in recognition of planned renovations to the building. The board voted to close the center for renovations after Cooper issued his order.

Trump later Tuesday said that the center would close immediately, and that planned renovations and reconstruction would not occur until Cooper’s initial ruling barring the addition of Trump’s name to the center was reversed by either a federal appeals court or the Supreme Court.

The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment about the photo.

In a statement Wednesday, Beatty’s lawyers said: “Closing the Kennedy Center without Judge Cooper’s approval appears to directly violate his order. This is an assault on the rule of law.“

“The board cannot simply ignore Judge Cooper’s rulings whenever it suits them. In this country, no one — including the president — is above the law,” the attorneys, Norm Eisen and Nathaniel Zelinsky, said.

Two nieces of former President Kennedy criticized Trump’s stance on the center.

“This is a tragedy,” said Kerry Kennedy, a daughter of the late Sen. Robert F. Kennedy, in an interview with CNN on Tuesday, following the vote by the board to close for renovations.

“The American people love the Kennedy Center, they love the arts, they understand what’s going on, they see the corruption of this,” said Kennedy, whose brother, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., serves as secretary of Health and Human Services under Trump.

On the same day, Maria Shriver, whose mother was President Kennedy’s sister, in an X post wrote: “And so here we are. This statement from Trump blows my mind.”

“That a sitting president would not let any renovations to a public building go on unless he gets to first put his name in the said building… What a sad state of affairs. What a tragedy. Actually, how small minded, how narcissistic,” Shriver wrote. “Actually great men, devoted to public service and the public good do not act like this. It seems that this man will not rest until his name is permanently connected to the name of a great president, whose memory this building was dedicated to.”

“Imagine spending your time and your days focused on this, as everyday Americans struggle with healthcare, gas prices, rent, and food. Imagine spending your days focused on this, while a war rages under your leadership,” Shriver wrote.