President Donald Trump appointed his acolytes to oversee the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and immediately began looting, Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) said in an interview with The Guardian.
“You float stuff and you float stuff and you float stuff until people get inured to what a stupid or outrageous thing it is that has been floated and then you pull the trigger," Whitehouse said.
As part of Trump's "renovations" of the Kennedy Center was ordering new letters to put his name on the building above Kennedy's name. Much like the Department of Defense, the name of the cultural center can only officially be changed by Congress, which established it in law. Still, the administration ordered the sign. Past appointees to the board were ousted. The new Trump board did a quick vote to change the name and within hours workers began installing Trump's name.
After Trump's moves in November, Whitehouse and other lawmakers began a formal investigation into accusations that the board were mismanaging the financials of the center.
Documents Whitehouse found it is being operated as a “slush fund and private club for Trump’s friends and political allies."
“We began to get information about mischief taking place at the Kennedy Center and we got strong enough signals that we mounted an effort to dig into it and see what seemed actually to be going on," said Whitehouse.
“It was out of that effort that the report and letter came, which basically suggested that, when the brigands took the ship, their first instinct was to loot it for their own benefit and hire their friends and put people up in fancy rooms at the Watergate [Hotel] and let favored organizations get free access and it was all part of a MAGA party atmosphere."
So far, under their leadership, the Kennedy Center has suffered from millions of dollars in losses. So, Whitehouse demanded the records from the new board chairman, longtime Trump pal, Ric Grenell.
Grenell responded alleging Whitehouse was making “partisan attacks and false accusations."
Any "financial chaos" has come not from his leadership but the previous president was “quite literally making the building fall apart."
One contract Grenell entered into was with FIFA to have exclusive use of the entire Kennedy Center from Nov. 24 to Dec. 12 for The World Cup events.
"Estimates provided by Whitehouse show this will cost the Center $5,038,444 in losses from direct rental fees, programming rescheduling, labor, food and beverage and other services. Multiple events were cancelled or rescheduled to accommodate FIFA," The Guardian report said.
Grenell claimed FIFA was paying for the expenses in lieu of a rental fee.
Whitehouse questioned the claim, saying nothing in the documents confirms Grenell's promises.
FIFA has been “brown-nosing Trump relentlessly and giving him comical peace trophies to butter him up and at the same time getting free access to the Kennedy Center," Whitehouse said about his concerns.
The PR person for the Kennedy Center claimed FIFA was giving more than the $5 million-plus in rental fees.
But the contract shows rental discounts have already been given to conservative groups.
The report cited a NewsNation deal, where the network scored a $19,820 discount for it's town hall. The American Conservative Union Foundation got a $21,982.60 discount as they hosted a CPAC event titled The Christian Persecution Summit. The Guardian reported that the contract file specifically cites “waived costs from OOP” (the Office of the President).
There's another contract paying $15,000 a month to Grenell’s former colleague. There are no details on the contract. Grenell swears his contract was "covered" by a donation.
In May, the Kennedy Center began paying $10,833.33 to Kari Lake's husband, Jeff Halperin to do "social media capture/editing" services.
There have also been hefty expenses on luxury entertainment and hospitality for "staff and associates." That's when Grenell billed the Kennedy Center for $27,185 for rooms at the luxury Watergate Hotel. Then there are dinners and lunches, champagne service and more for staff who also worked for Grenell's political organizations.
“If they weren’t paying the proper ordinary Kennedy Center rates, they’re being given a benefit and those benefits seem only to be going towards groups that are affiliated with Trump and MAGA. It’s basically a direct way to use this public facility to put money into the pockets of groups that are allied," said Whitehouse.
All of this is happening while the Kennedy Center is over budget amid falling ticket sales and major acts canceling shows. Grenell blamed the previous administration.
Whitehouse fears it's just the tip of the ice berg.
"I don’t think you can underestimate the importance of narrative enhancement to the MAGA movement. They will lie their way through very obvious facts to protect a narrative," he said.
