The Kennedy Center’s board voted Thursday to create a “President Donald J. Trump Plaza” around the performing arts complex and add new signage crediting Trump for restoring the building.
Trump, 78, who chairs the board, participated virtually in the meeting that lasted more than two hours at the Washington, D.C. Institution. The vote came after a federal judge had ordered Trump’s name removed from the building last month, ruling that only Congress could change the Kennedy Center’s official designation. Democrats including Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, 69, of Rhode Island and Rep. Joyce Beatty, 75, of Ohio objected during the session to both the rebranding and plans to close the main building for approximately two years of renovations.
“This morning’s decision to close the Center and the surprise agenda item to put Donald Trump’s name back on the building was more of the same,” Beatty said in a statement following the vote. “This latest development is a transparent effort to circumvent the Court’s ruling, and flies in the face of the statutes that Congress passed.”
The board’s new plan calls for Trump’s name to appear beneath the longtime signage on the main hall, reading: “Restored and Renovated by President Donald J. Trump.” This approach follows a December vote to rebrand the entire institution as the “Trump Kennedy Center,” which U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper struck down on May 29. Cooper, an Obama appointee, found the board had overstepped its statutory bounds and gave the administration 14 days to remove all physical and digital references to Trump.
Paolo Zampolli, a presidential appointee to the board, defended the renovation plans and mocked critics who opposed the temporary closure.
“I call on everyone who is complaining about what we’re doing to go walk the building,” Zampolli told The Post. “To all of the haters, we’re not closing the center. We’re closing the main building. We’re still going to use the $300 million structure called the Reach to do shows.”
Trump had previously pushed to pour $250 million into refreshing the facility, which opened in 1971. The renovation would overhaul broken elevators, update HVAC systems, and address what officials described as $250 million in deferred maintenance needs. Roma Daravi, the center’s vice president of public relations, said in prior statements that “the Center requires an urgent and significant restoration” and that leadership remained committed to “pursuing every lawful avenue” to complete the work.
In the viral moment that preceded Thursday’s vote, Judge Cooper ruled on May 29 that the Kennedy Center Board of Trustees had acted unlawfully by unilaterally renaming the building after Trump. The judge ordered Trump’s name removed from the façade, website, and all official materials within two weeks, and blocked plans to close the center for two years starting July 4. Construction crews erected scaffolding and began removal work as the deadline approached, while dozens of protesters gathered on the plaza chanting “take it down.” The Kennedy Center filed an appeal and requested a stay, which Cooper denied, though the institution later sought a brief extension due to storms that delayed the work.
Trump had reacted furiously to the judicial defeat on Truth Social, writing that “Judge Cooper and the Radical Left would rather see it DIE than have President Trump transform it into something that everyone could be proud of,” He added that “Unless I am free to do what I do better than anyone else, bring this Institution back, physically, financially, and artistically, I have no interest in continuing what could only be a hopeless journey into ‘NEVER NEVER LAND.'” Despite this, Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One on June 5 that he was staying involved, declaring, “I’m the chairman, so we’ll just keep it going.”
The Kennedy Center’s staff did not immediately respond to The Post’s request for comment following Thursday’s board vote.