Topline
The Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts is shuttered for at least a week to assess alleged “safety risks,” its director told a federal court Thursday, after opponents of the Trump administration‘s takeover of the venue called for an emergency hearing over the building’s sudden closure—and President Donald Trump suggested the Kennedy Center could be “ripped down.”
A security guard stand next to a scaffolding and a large protective tarp covering part of the facade of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, DC, on September 15.
AFP via Getty Images
Key Facts
The government submitted a court filing Thursday after Rep. Joyce Beatty, D-Ohio, asked the court to schedule an emergency hearing over the Kennedy Center being closed to the public on Wednesday.
The sudden closure, which the Kennedy Center‘s spokesperson confirmed on social media, came amid broader fears of the Trump administration tearing down the historic venue, as the president told reporters Wednesday night that if he didn’t get “recognition” at the Kennedy Center, “its going to close, it will end up being ripped down.”
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In its court filing Thursday, the Trump administration alleged the building was being only temporarily closed due to “acute risks to public safety resulting from continued structural deterioration at the Center,” and argued that wasn‘t in violation of the court’s order, because the order does not “[forbid] a temporary closure like this one.”
The government submitted a declaration from the venues Executive Director and Chief Operating Officer Charles Matthew Floca, who alleged the building was being closed for a week—“unless extended”—after he “determined that continued life-safety hazards to individuals who might access certain public portions of the building have created untenable risks to the health and safety of those individuals.”
The filing came shortly after Beatty submitted an additional filing to the court with Trumps comments on “ripp[ing] down” the Kennedy Center, saying that was further evidence of the need for a hearing, also pointing to social media photos appearing to show Trump reading a placard that says “Kennedy Center DEMOLISHED.”
What to Watch for
Judge Christopher Reid Cooper has not yet ruled on the request for the emergency hearing, but could at any time. The Trump administration claimed Thursday that a hearing was not necessary given the temporary nature of the closure, with Floca alleging the Kennedy Center will reopen its public spaces once the “structural assessments determine that certain portions of the building remain safe for public access.” The Kennedy Center is expected to soon formally oppose the ruling prohibiting it from closing, after the venue‘s board voted to challenge it in court, and the Trump administration has already separately appealed a ruling Cooper issued Tuesday that barred the government from inscribing Trump’s name on the venue. Trump has suggested he could take the litigation to the Supreme Court, if lower courts dont rule in his favor.
News Peg
The legal battle over the Kennedy Center, which has been in operation since 1971 and historically was separate from partisan politics, escalated this week, after the venue‘s board formally voted Tuesday to close the building and begin renovations. (Doing so would require the court ruling against it to first be lifted.) Cooper ruled the same day against inscribing Trump’s name on the building, writing, “Simply put, Defendants cannot install memorials for President Trump or anyone or anything else at the Kennedy Center without Congress‘s blessing.” Trump has lashed out against that ruling, saying on Truth Social that while the building would be closed “immediately,” no renovations would take place if the ruling against him putting his name on the building is a “negative one” and “is not overturned by the Supreme Court.” The building’s sudden closure on Wednesday then ramped up fears about what steps the Trump administration could take in terms of demolishing the building or restricting access, and Beatty argued in her request for an emergency hearing the abrupt move could signal the government “intend[s] to undertake immediate steps in order to make public access practically impossible for the foreseeable future, including by demolishing public avenues of access to the building.”
What ‘Safety Risks’ Does The Kennedy Center Allegedly Have？
Floca claimed in his declaration Thursday that the Kennedy Center had to be closed due to “structural deterioration” that has “continued to compound in recent years.” The director pointed to an assessment by engineering firm Walter P. Moore this summer that found “advanced deterioration” in overhead panels at the venue and issues with the buildings ceiling plaster, including water-related deterioration. Floca also alleged water damages from severe storms earlier in September had caused the “structural failure” of a five foot-by-four foot piece of ceiling plaster.
What Did Trump Say About The Kennedy Center Wednesday？
Trump, who has long called for the Kennedy Center to be broadly renovated and inscribed with his name, told reporters Wednesday he thought his government deserved to be “recognized” for “fix[ing]” the Kennedy Center and “subsidizing it.” The president claimed the building is a “mess” and was losing millions of dollars, and suggested he would only be interested in making the necessary investments in it if the building could then celebrate him. “For the Trump administration, and me, to get involved and take that on long-term … I think the Trump administration should certainly have recognition,” the president claimed, adding the building would “close” and be demolished otherwise. “I‘d like to be able to save it, but it’s going to take a lot of subsidy in the future, and for us, the administration, to want to do that, I think the Trump administration should be recognized,” Trump said.