DOJ: Kennedy Center Needs Trump Name   08/26 06:13

   

   (AP) -- Justice Department attorneys argued that if President Donald Trump's 
name does not appear somewhere on the Kennedy Center, then the money from 
donors for renovations would shrivel up and the "decrepit, dilapidated" 
cultural center may be "required to be taken down."

   That came from a court filing late Monday on the long-running saga over 
whether the president's name can be added to the cultural institution and venue 
meant to honor John F. Kennedy after his assassination. The original attempt to 
add "Donald J. Trump" on the building's facade was halted by the court in May 
following a lawsuit from Democratic Rep. Joyce Beatty, an ex officio member of 
the Kennedy Center.

   The center's Trump-aligned board of trustees then voted again this month to 
get the president's name back on the cultural institution in a different way: 
by appending "Renovated and Restored By President Donald J. Trump" under the 
title on the building's facade. Another phrase, "Endowed by the Trump Kennedy 
Center Fund" would be a possible addition, as well as renaming the plaza in 
front of the Kennedy Center to honor the president.

   In response, Beatty again asked the federal court to block those stylings, 
arguing that they were "clear violations of the Kennedy Center statute" that 
barred the board from making the center into a memorial to anyone else. A 
federal judge will hear arguments on that request on Thursday.

   Justice Department attorneys replied in Monday's filing with a grim picture 
of the state of the Kennedy Center: "a financially insolvent facility, housed 
in a decrepit, dilapidated, crumbling building" that "continues to race toward 
physical and financial ruin."

   Renovations were required, they argued, but "an order blocking the Board 
from appropriately recognizing President Trump will cause donors to flee, 
financial contributions to dry up, and structural rehabilitation to stop. There 
will simply not be the expertise or funding necessary to rebuild and renovate 
this decimated structure."

   If allowed to deteriorate further, they continued, the Kennedy Center "will 
be required to be taken down, with a determination to follow on what to build 
on the site."

   That could be an outdoor amphitheater overlooking the Potomac River, they 
said, adding that it would "fail to adequately honor President John F. Kennedy" 
but would be easier to build and maintain.

   This latest attempt to add Trump's name on and around the center was met 
with some incredulity from Beatty's attorneys, who said it "is a transparent 
attempt to effectuate the renaming in another guise."

   "It's dj vu all over again," they wrote. "Plaintiff and the Court should 
not need to play Defendants' game of whack-a-mole." They requested a final 
ruling to stop the renaming attempts "and put an end to this childish gambit."

   It's not the first time the board of trustees has used the argument that 
fundraising could be impeded without Trump's name on the building. A panel of 
judges in July said that the claim came without the support of " specific facts 
or evidence."

   The Kennedy Center has fallen on harder times since Trump got more involved, 
with several artists canceling performances and attendance dropping.

   This is one of several attempts by the presidential administration to put 
Trump's stamp on the U.S. capital, including a plan for a 250-foot (76-meter) 
triumphal arch, and, as Trump called it, a "military complex slash ballroom " 
at the White House.