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Whistleblowers have alleged that the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts conducted hastily executed renovations overseen by President Donald Trump that included shoddy construction work, improper contracting practices, and wasteful spending on aesthetic projects rather than structural improvements.
Senator Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island announced Saturday that he had received a whistleblower disclosure from the Government Accountability Project, a nonprofit whistleblower protection group. The disclosure alleges that the center rushed a series of renovations driven by Trump’s desire to host televised events at the venue and to accept an award ceremony, prioritizing his personal preferences over the facility’s actual maintenance needs.
The whistleblower report detailed numerous construction problems that Whitehouse said stemmed from corner-cutting contracting practices. According to Whitehouse, steel columns are rusting through fresh paint, a reflecting pool may need to be torn out and rebuilt, and a newly installed bathroom floor was ripped out and replaced because Trump objected to the tile color. The senator characterized these actions as a waste of public funds and said they treated the national memorial to President Kennedy as if it were a private renovation project.
The whistleblower disclosure included firsthand accounts from multiple former Kennedy Center project managers supported by contemporaneous documents and photographs. Whitehouse released an 83-page appendix containing internal center documents, emails, and photos of apparently shoddy construction.
The renovations rushed forward without proper congressional authorization, according to the allegations. The whistleblower allegations also included the charge that work was accelerated so the center would be ready for Trump to accept a FIFA Peace Prize that the soccer federation had awarded him. In pursuing these timelines, the letter alleged the center bypassed required federal contracting guidelines and awarded no-bid contracts.
One particularly contentious contract involved an $8 million flooring project for the concert hall that was awarded to a South Carolina firm with no known experience in concert hall construction. Additionally, the center wasted money replacing a bathroom floor solely because the sitting president disliked the color of the tiles. The center also recolored building columns at taxpayer expense as part of the push to meet arbitrary deadlines.
Whitehouse released a letter to the Kennedy Center’s executive director, Matt Floca, demanding answers to detailed questions by July 23. The allegations included accusations that center leadership instructed staff to do “whatever it takes” to complete work before the FIFA Peace Prize ceremony and that the center subsequently rewrote its contracting rules to justify the no-bid contracts it had already awarded.
The controversies at the Kennedy Center represent only the latest chapter in a turbulent period for the iconic venue. Trump seized control of the institution at the beginning of his second term as president. He ousted the center’s existing leadership and replaced it with a Board of Trustees that named him chairman and added his name to the building’s exterior. Democratic legislators challenged these actions in court, and a federal judge ruled that Trump’s name must be removed from the venue, which had been plagued by boycotts from artists protesting the takeover.
Trump subsequently attempted to close the center entirely for two years, but a court order required him to keep it open, finding that only Congress could change the institution’s name or status.
The center’s prior leadership and operations were focused on fulfilling the venue’s mission as a national memorial while maintaining the facility through responsible management of federal appropriations. The current allegations suggest a sharp departure from those priorities in favor of cosmetic alterations and rushed work driven by the sitting president’s personal preferences and scheduled events.
The Kennedy Center did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the whistleblower allegations or the senator’s inquiry.