President Donald Trump's handpicked Kennedy Center board voted Tuesday to immediately shut down the performing arts center over alleged "dire" financial and structural problems, according to a source familiar with the decision.
The vote to shutter the center came shortly after U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper rejected the board's latest attempt to add Trump's name to the building's facade, a move the board says is necessary to save the center from bankruptcy, reported NBC News.
"Simply put, defendants cannot install memorials for President Trump or anyone or anything else at the Kennedy Center without Congress's blessing," Cooper wrote. "The board resolution bucks a federal court order and a statute Congress enacted."
The board cited a partial ceiling collapse in the Grand Foyer earlier this month as evidence the building must close immediately for repairs, saying a construction consultant and the center's director "consider the main building to be unsafe for continued occupancy, and anticipate further risk to the public and employees," according to a draft resolution seeking a two-year closure — the board's third such attempt since February.
Ex-officio board member Rep. Joyce Beatty (D-OH) has challenged the closure in court, arguing the board needs congressional approval and hasn't fully explored keeping parts of the center open during renovations.
Attorneys for the board have said the litigation has delayed necessary repairs. Trump, the board's chairman, joined Tuesday's closed-door meeting virtually and spent several minutes criticizing both Beatty and Cooper, a source familiar with the meeting said.
A separate draft resolution, not expected to be taken up Tuesday, said the center "is in a dire financial position" and warned it "will not be able to support its payroll obligations, nor routine maintenance contracts within a matter of weeks."
It said only Trump "has offered to step in and raise the necessary funds" — contingent on the board determining "what recognition and acknowledgment will comply" with Cooper's order.
The board had previously voted to add the phrase "renovated and restored by President Donald J. Trump" to the building and rename the property "President Donald J. Trump Plaza." Tuesday's ruling found that effort illegal as well.
Beatty's attorney, Norm Eisen, accused the board of running a shakedown. "Pay up or the Kennedy Center closes, & the price is Trump's name on the building," Eisen wrote on X, calling it an "outrageous act of hostage taking."