Lawmaker Says Kennedy Center Closure Was Meant to Hide Failures
A planned two-year closure of the Kennedy Center was designed to cover up mismanagement and to please Donald Trump, according to a new court filing by Ohio Democrat Joyce Beatty.
The Kennedy Center is the national performing arts venue in Washington, D.C., and Beatty sits on its board of trustees, the group that oversees it. She holds that seat automatically because of her job in Congress. Her 51-page filing, made in the U.S. District Court for Washington, D.C., was reported by ArtNews. It argues that the closure would hide failings that began when Trump removed the longtime board chair in February 2025, filled the board with supporters, and was elected chair himself.
These are the filing's allegations. They have not been decided by a judge.
The filing describes how the closure decision was reached. According to the document, the board approved Trump's closure decision on August 13, 2025, and received a written report from Delta Consulting Group on August 31, 2025. It says facilities manager Charles Matthew Floca was asked to find a consultant to back the decision, and that only Delta applied. On February 1, 2026, Trump announced that the Kennedy Center would close on July 4 and stop operating for two years, according to ArtNews.
The filing also cites pressure from inside the organisation to close the venue, as The New York Times reported. The Times also reported that Judge Christopher R. Cooper, who is hearing the case, found the board had been "derelict," or negligent, in failing to consider other matters.
The case has moved through several rulings. Beatty first sued in December 2025, challenging Trump's effort to rename the building after himself. In May, Cooper ruled that the renaming was unlawful and halted the planned shutdown. He also ordered the defendants to remove signs bearing Trump's name within 14 days and to correct the Kennedy Center's website, Beatty's office said in a press release. Notus reported that Cooper also found the procedures behind the closure unlawful in May.
On October 25, a judge was asked to order the Trump administration to release emails and text messages about the Kennedy Center's plans, PBS NewsHour reported. That request is still before the court.
For the public, the stakes are concrete. The Kennedy Center says its main building, designed by the architect Edward Durell Stone, is closed while it carries out a $257 million renovation. That work is meant to address decades of deferred maintenance, the repairs that were put off for years, and failing infrastructure.
What happens next will be decided in court. Judge Cooper will weigh the filing, the earlier rulings and the emails request before the case moves further.
