President Trump’s name removed from Kennedy Center over deadline
Donald Trump’s name has been removed from the Kennedy Center after employees followed a judge’s order to remove the president’s sign past the deadline.
WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump’s name is no longer at the Kennedy Center, but no one can see the change because a giant tarp is blocking it.
More than two days after crews removed Trump’s name before dawn, the public still hasn’t gotten a daytime glimpse of the Kennedy Center’s restored facade, which had Trump’s name removed.
Construction workers working behind a section of large tarp attached to scaffolding were peeling off the president’s name letter by letter at 3:10 a.m. ET on Saturday, June 13. The venue has passed a judge’s deadline to remove it from the center’s exterior after a last-ditch effort to keep Trump’s name failed in court. The canvas tarp was later repositioned to cover the entire scaffolding, completely obscuring the sign’s view by daylight.
On Monday, June 15, the curtains remained attached to the scaffolding. In addition, the facility has installed fences and barricades to prevent access near the restored sign that now reads “THE JOHN F. KENNEDY MEMORIAL CENTER FOR THE PERFORMING ARTS.” Three security guards are stationed in the security area.
The blue-and-white tarp protected it for the time being from having to contend with an embarrassing image that disappeared just six months after its name was added to the side of the historic site after Trump took over the board. U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper ruled on May 29 that the renaming of the Kennedy Center, which was built to honor President John F. Kennedy after Trump’s assassination, was illegal and required action by Congress. The judge ordered that the 47th president’s name be removed from all materials, including billboards, by June 12.
But the center insists the tarpaulin is not there to hide the changed name. A spokesperson for the center told USA TODAY that the tarpaulin remains in place to allow construction crews to attend to maintenance needs on the building’s marble exterior and soffit panels beneath the center’s overhang.
As part of a planned $257 million renovation of the center, the center is replacing more than 2,000 pounds of soffit panels on the edge of the building, which it says poses a public safety risk. During a media tour in April, Kennedy Center officials said water damage from rooftop planters damaged the panels, and the center was tracking seven locations around the building where ceiling panels were in poor condition.
The center said improper drainage also caused discoloration of some of the marble in the building. Both modifications will be made during the first year of the two-year renovation.
The public cannot yet view Trump’s unnamed center, but its leaders told a federal court that it has been removed. The center’s executive director, Matthew Floca, provided Cooper with a signed statement on Saturday, June 13, saying the center had complied with his orders.
In his statement in court, Floca blamed “weather delays” for the center’s failure to meet the judge’s deadline of midnight June 12. Workers stopped working during scattered thunderstorms in the Washington, D.C., area, but workers remained idle for long periods when it wasn’t raining.
Workers began stripping Trump’s name from the center after both the Cooper court and a federal appeals court rejected the Trump administration’s last bid to suspend the order.
In his May 29 ruling, Cooper also blocked President Trump’s plan to close the Kennedy Center for two years, arguing that the center’s board of directors did not properly vote to close the center in March.
Contributors: Susan Page and Carissa Wadick
