DOJ discloses Trump caused 'panel damage' to Kennedy Center

A man holds up an American flag as workers prepare scaffolding ahead of removing lettering from the facade of the John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C., June 12, 2026. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst

A new court filing revealed that President Donald Trump may have damaged the marble at the Kennedy Center when put his name on it.

A court decided Trump must remove his name as well as the massive tarp and scaffolding covering where the sign was.

Lawyer and Trump foe Norm Eisen posted on social media that the Justice Department revealed in court on Tuesday evening that they must keep the scaffolding while workers are doing “water testing and structural repairs to the roof.”

“The protective barrier around the scaffolding was and is a necessary element of the ongoing construction activities at the Center — during the removal of the name, it served as a safety barrier for ongoing construction activities and helped safeguard the marble facade of the building in light of reported panel damage,” the DOJ wrote in a court filing.

It's the first time that Americans have heard about "reported panel damage" to the outer marble structure of the Kennedy Center. In a report about the court filing, the Independent said that the damage appears to have come from construction crews removing Trump's name from the building.

In February 2025, Trump dismissed much of the Kennedy Center’s board, installed allies and became its chair. In December, the new board voted unanimously to rebrand the institution the “Donald J. Trump and John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts." That day, within hours of the vote, workers added Trump’s name to the building’s façade and official website. The White House claimed the change reflected Trump’s work “saving” the institution.

The move immediately drew objections and the administration was taken to court. Democrats in the House and Senate have blasted the president, saying that the board lacked the authority to alter the name without going to Congress for permission.

The lawsuit went after both the renaming of the building as well as Trump's efforts to close the building for an extended "renovation." In May 2026, U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper ruled against the administration, saying that the rebranding violated the Kennedy Center's governing statute. His comments were blunt: “Congress gave the Kennedy Center its name, and only Congress can change it.”

The law requires the institution to honor “President Kennedy and President Kennedy alone,” the court held.

"The government now says it may have damaged the Kennedy Center's historic marble and still the board wants Trump's name back up, in defiance of a federal court order," Eisen wrote on X.

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