Board votes for third time since February to close Kennedy Center

President Donald Trump was photographed aboard Air Force One on Wednesday looking at a placard that appeared to read “Kennedy Center DEMOLISHED,” in a Getty Images image captured through a window of the plane.

The photograph came a day after the Kennedy Center’s board of trustees — which is chaired by Trump and includes his cabinet members and allies — voted on Tuesday, for the third time since February, to close the Washington, DC, performing arts venue for two years. Trump wrote on Truth Social that the board voted “almost unanimously” to close the venue “for safety reasons.”

Speaking to reporters in Charlotte, North Carolina, on Wednesday, Trump argued that the venue was badly in need of repair and that adding his name to the building would allow it to obtain financing for the work. “I think that the Trump administration should certainly have recognition because, frankly, if we don’t do that, it’s going to close,” Trump said. “It’ll end up being ripped down.”

On Thursday, US District Judge Christopher Cooper ordered the Trump administration to provide at least 30 days’ written notice before any demolition and before any change in construction plans at the Kennedy Center. Cooper also directed a detailed report of the venue’s “temporary closure” for emergency repairs, and written notice of any change to the scope of the project.

The order came after Congresswoman Joyce Beatty, a Democrat who serves as an ex officio member of the Kennedy Center board of trustees, asked the judge to make “crystal clear that its order prohibits demolishing the structure.” Beatty had previously sued to halt changes to the Kennedy Center and to strip Trump’s name from the building.

In a document filed to court on Thursday before the ruling, Kennedy Center executive director Matt Floca said the temporary closure was to repair safety hazards and would last seven days “unless extended.”

In May, Cooper ordered the removal of Trump’s name from the building. Some critics have argued that congressional action is required to make changes to the building and that the need for renovations is exaggerated.

Congress established the centre as a memorial to President John F. Kennedy, who was assassinated in 1963.