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In a lengthy post on his Truth Social platform, Trump fumed about the Friday decision from U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper who also ordered\u00a0Trump\u2019s name\u00a0removed from the center. Clearly angered by his latest legal setback, he said it was \u201cimpossible for me to be treated fairly,\u201d tying Cooper\u2019s ruling to earlier losses, including the Supreme Court\u2019s rejection in February of his\u00a0sweeping tariffs.<\/p>\n
His post aimed to make the case for the project but did not clarify whether he would continue to defend it in court. Hours after Cooper\u2019s decision, Trump said he was backing away from the renovations and making arrangements to relinquish control to Congress of what, until the Republican president\u2019s second term, had been known as the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.<\/p>\n
The White House did not immediately clarify his position or say whether he would keep serving as the center\u2019s board chairman.<\/p>\n
Trump\u2019s earlier post signaling a retreat from the center gave hope to artists who had been alienated by his takeover, said Norm Eisen, a former White House ethics lawyer who is involved in a lawsuit challenging Trump\u2019s Kennedy Center plans.<\/p>\n
\u201cI have already heard from artists and from audience members alike who are excited about the Kennedy Center returning to non-partisan normality,\u201d Eisen told The Associated Press in a text message on Saturday. \u201cIt\u2019s early days yet but as and when the court\u2019s order is implemented, including Trump\u2019s name coming off the building and the Board otherwise complying with the law, I\u2019m optimistic that the Center will begin the long journey back.\u201d<\/p>\n
Trump cites judge\u2019s wife<\/p>\n
Without offering evidence, Trump suggested that Cooper\u2019s wife, lawyer Amy Jeffress, was to blame in part for the ruling. The president noted that Jeffress, a partner at the Hecker Fink law firm, is a former federal prosecutor who served as a counselor to Attorney General Eric Holder during the administration of Democratic President Barack Obama. Cooper was nominated for the bench by Obama.<\/p>\n
Trump also noted that Hecker Fink is representing former President Joe Biden in a lawsuit against the Department of Justice to\u00a0block the release of audio recordings and transcripts from the Democrat\u2019s interviews with a ghostwriter that were obtained in an investigation into Biden\u2019s handling of classified documents from his time as a senator and as vice president.<\/p>\n
Trump asserted that the Kennedy Center, named for the late Democratic president and opened in 1971, was \u201crusted, rotted, and rat and bug infested\u201d and that the \u201dnew Building would have been incomparable.\u201d<\/p>\n
Cooper said in his ruling that the center board\u2019s March 16 vote to close the venue was \u201cill-informed and seemingly preordained\u201d with no regard for its legal obligations. The administration had announced the work would begin in July and last approximately two years. Cooper\u2019s ruling halts those plans for now.<\/p>\n
The judge also found that the board \u201coverstepped its statutory bounds\u201d by adding Trump\u2019s name to the center. Congress gave the Kennedy Center its name, and only Congress can change it, he said. Cooper ordered that Trump\u2019s name be removed within two weeks.<\/p>\n
President defends adding name to the center<\/p>\n
Trump on Saturday said it was the board, not him, that added the Trump name to the center. \u201cThey thought it would be good for this dying Institution,\u201d he wrote.<\/p>\n
Shortly after returning to office in January 2025, he ousted the center\u2019s previous leadership and replaced it with a handpicked board of trustees that named him chairman.<\/p>\n
Cooper held hearings in late April for parallel lawsuits challenging the project. One lawsuit was filed by a group of cultural and historic preservation organizations. The other was brought by Rep. Joyce Beatty, an Ohio Democrat who serves as an ex officio member of the board through her position in Congress. He ruled in favor of Beatty\u2019s request but rejected the other challenge.<\/p>\n
Trump, in his post, also noted that Jeffress\u2019 firm represented\u00a0E. Jean Carroll, the longtime advice columnist whose claims against Trump won her a $5 million award in 2023 for sexual abuse and defamation after a jury agreed that Trump sexually abused her in a New York department store dressing room in 1996. Another jury in 2024 awarded Carroll an additional $83 million for defamation. Both awards are under appeal.<\/p>\n
Jeffress did not immediately respond to a request for comment.<\/p>\n
#judge #orders #Trumps #scrubbed #Kennedy #Center #president #open<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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