Lawyers for President Donald Trump didn't dispute that adding his name to the Kennedy Center may have "irrevocably damaged" its historic marble facade.
The tacit concession surfaced in a Wednesday court filing from Rep. Joyce Beatty (D-OH), an ex officio member of the Kennedy Center's board of trustees. Beatty has been fighting the administration's renewed push to emblazon Trump's name on the building.
Beatty's attorneys argued in the filing that the administration's silence was itself an admission.
"Tellingly, Defendants do not dispute that their prior efforts to emblazon the building with President Trump's name may have irrevocably damaged the center's historic marble facade," Beatty's lawyers wrote in the motion, which urged an emergency injunction.
The filing accuses the administration of defying a federal judge who ruled in May that the center's public spaces can honor only President John F. Kennedy. The court was blunt about who controls the name, the filing noted.
"Congress gave the Kennedy Center its name, and only Congress can change it," the judge wrote in the decision, which the filing quoted.
Despite the ruling, the Trump-allied board voted on August 13 to inscribe "Renovated and Restored by President Donald J. Trump" on the facade and rename the grounds "President Donald J. Trump Plaza."
Justice Department lawyers have since warned that the changes are needed to avoid more drastic steps, including demolishing the center and replacing it with an outdoor amphitheater. Beatty's team flagged the warning as a threat.
"In plain English, Defendants have not-so-subtly said: 'What a nice Kennedy Center you have here. What a shame should something happen to it,'" Beatty's lawyers wrote. "This is a breathtaking assault on the rule of law. It is delusional. And it must stop."
Beatty also argued that Trump's own takeover, not the absence of his name, sent ticket sales and donations into a tailspin. Her filing pointed to a recent Washington Post report that the center's finances cratered after the name change even as leaders publicly touted a turnaround.