Workers replace parts of a temporary fence at the Kennedy Center, which was ordered to be closed for repairs by its board, in Washington, D.C., US, September 17, 2026. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst
Dual court filings have been flying through most of Thursday as one member of the board of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts battles for the preservation of the building. As one CNN reporter explained, the situation "escalated quickly."
Overnight, Rep. Joyce Beatty (D-Ohio) that the board illegally closed the building in defiance of the judge's order. The filing also said that there is a very real concern that President Donald Trump will demolish the building the way he did with the East Wing of the White House. The evidence they provided was a photo of the president in Marine One with a giant poster saying "Kennedy Center DEMOLISH or "DEMOLISHED"; the full word can't be seen.
"Well, things, Boris, are frankly very legally and politically messy right now over the fate of this building," said CNN reporter Sunlen Sefaty to co-host Boris Sanchez. "And frankly, things have escalated rather quickly in the last 24 hours, not the least of which is because you have the president out there warning that the building potentially could be ripped down."
Trump also told the press at Andrews Air Force Base Wednesday evening that the building was a "loser."
Trump claimed he and his administration "should certainly have recognition," or the iconic theater will "end up being ripped down."
"For me to go and fix it, I'm the one capable of fixing it and then have to subsidize it for years to come, because you will lose with the Kennedy Center," Trump said, saying that they lost "hundreds of millions of dollars … before I got involved."
In fact, until the president took over, fired the board and added his name, the Kennedy Center was turning a profit. In the fiscal year ending in September 2023, the Kennedy Center recorded a profit of about $6.4 million, The Washington Post reported.
"So for the Trump administration, for me, to get involved and to take that on long term and to carry it or to raise money to carry it, I think that the Trump administration should certainly have recognition," the president continued. "Because frankly, if we don't do that, it's going to close. It'll end up being ripped down. It's in very, very bad shape, very dangerous shape."
That quote ended up in Beatty's overnight court filing, saying that it is clear Trump wants to demolish the building because he's angry about losing the lawsuits and being forced to take his name off it.
On Wednesday, fencing was brought in to begin going around the Kennedy Center, and witnesses saw a forklift repeatedly collide with the building's pillars, Beatty's first court filing said.
The Justice Department claimed in a filing that the Kennedy Center isn't closing, but that they're simply doing some renovations because it isn't "safe." The Trump-appointed director of the Kennedy Center, Matt Floca, was the one who alleged the building wasn't safe and the DOJ claimed in its filing that he did so without any coordination with the White House. Until he was promoted to direct the entire organization, Floca was "in charge of HVAC and toilets."
The court filing from Beatty said that the Kennedy Center board initially told her legal team that a "loudspeaker announcement" about closure resulted from someone improperly triggering a fire alarm.
Less than 24 hours later, the Justice Department was describing the shutdown as a management decision responding to “imminent life-safety risks.” Beatty’s filing calls that explanation inconsistent and "pretextual." It notes that the cited triggering incident, a September 4 storm that caused water-damaged plaster to fall from the Grand Foyer ceiling, happened 12 days before the building was shuttered. The Center remained open through those 12 days with nothing more than an area cordoned off.
In its filing, the DOJ swears that it will only be a seven-day closure, despite the fence being erected around the full building to repair the plaster that fell from the ceiling inside.
The DOJ said that they're not breaking the judge's orders to keep the building open and operational. Instead, the administration said the judge’s order allows an emergency closure and that they don't have to keep the Center open if there are "safety hazards."
The Justice Department asks the judge to reject Beatty’s request for an emergency hearing.
