Former CNN anchor Jim Acosta says President Donald Trump's fixation on putting his name on the Kennedy Center shows the country is facing a 25th Amendment "crisis."
Acosta unloaded on Trump during a recent episode of "The Jim Acosta Show," after Trump's handpicked board voted to close the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.
"Somebody who is this obsessed with putting his name on the Kennedy Center isn't well. He's not normal. He's out of his mind," Acosta said.
Acosta said some Republicans on Capitol Hill know deep down that Trump is disturbed but won't say so on camera. He called Trump an "unhinged, disturbed individual" and said the country faces a 25th Amendment "crisis," which he said is why the Kennedy Center fight matters so much.
The board voted Tuesday to immediately close the center for renovations, minutes after U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper again blocked Trump's name from the building. Cooper ruled the board cannot install memorials to Trump without Congress' approval. It was the latest blow to the board's workaround to put Trump's name back.
Trump then declared on Truth Social that renovations won't begin until an appeals court rules on the name. He said they won't happen at all if the ruling goes against him and the Supreme Court doesn't overturn it. He also claimed he had raised $17 million to keep the center afloat.
The board still needs a ruling that lifts Cooper's earlier order requiring the center to stay open while the lawsuit proceeds. The standoff comes after the board's lawyers warned in court that the building would have to be torn down without the Trump renaming effort.
Rep. Joyce Beatty (D-OH), the ex officio board member suing over the renaming, said Trump lashed out at her during the board meeting after she won in court.
"He said, 'I think you're incompetent,' and I said, 'I know you're incompetent,'" Beatty told MS NOW.
Beatty said Trump threatened to hold her responsible if something fell from the ceiling and killed someone. Her lawyers previously argued that the board and administration didn't dispute they may have "irrevocably damaged" the building's marble facade.
Acosta's show reported the building was fenced off and under guard Wednesday. Sources inside the center told the show that any water damage from recent heavy rain is an easy fix.