Trump sued by Kennedy Center trustee for adding name to venue

WASHINGTON – US President Donald Trump was sued for adding his name last week to that of Washington’s premier art venue – the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts – without approval from Congress.

US representative Joyce Beatty, an Ohio Democrat, accused Mr Trump and his appointees to the Kennedy Center board of “wilfully flouting the law to satisfy defendant Trump’s vanity.”

The board – with Mr Trump self-appointed as chairman and a group of his supporters serving as trustees – voted on Dec 18 to change the name of the centre
to the Donald J. Trump and The John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts.

A day later, workers affixed Mr Trump’s name
above Kennedy’s on the facade of the national centre for music, dance and theatre.

Democrats and members of the Kennedy family – although not Mr Trump’s Health Secretary Robert Kennedy Jr. – railed against the name change.

The move is the latest in an aggressive effort by Mr Trump and his allies to overhaul the nation’s capital in his image, including by tearing down the East Wing of the White House in order to build an oversized ballroom, renaming the US Institute of Peace after the president and moving to seize control of the city’s municipal golf courses.

On Dec 21, Mr Trump announced the Navy will build a new “Trump-class” battleship
.

In the early 1960s, then-President Kennedy pushed for the building of what was originally to be called the National Cultural Center.

After he was assassinated in 1963, Congress renamed the centre in his honour.

“Congress intended the centre to be a living memorial to President Kennedy – and a crown jewel of the arts for all Americans, irrespective of party,” according to the lawsuit.

“Because Congress named the centre by statute, changing the Kennedy Center’s name requires an act of Congress.”

The Kennedy Center’s press office didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment late on the night of Dec 22.

Last week, a centre spokeswoman, Ms Roma Daravi, said in a statement that Mr Trump’s name was added because he “saved the institution from financial ruin and physical destruction.”

Ms Beatty is an ex-officio member of the board.

She said in the suit that during the virtual meeting when the name change was voted on, she was muted when she tried to object.

Since Mr Trump took over the centre in February, ticket sales have plunged and a number of artists have refused to perform there.

Among the Kennedy Center board members named in the suit are Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Attorney-General Pam Bondi, country singer Lee Greenwood and Fox News host Laura Ingraham. BLOOMBERG