US President Donald Trump says his administration will transfer control of the Kennedy Center to Congress, after a judge ordered the removal of his name from the Washington venue and blocked his plans to close it for renovations.<\/p>\n
Mr Trump said on social media that he instructed the US Commerce Department to “make all necessary arrangements with Congress to allow a full and complete transfer of this Institution” and give lawmakers responsibility over its operation, maintenance and management.<\/p>\n
It was not immediately clear how Mr Trump’s directive would be carried out. The Kennedy Center is run by a board of trustees that the president has packed with allies in his second term.<\/p>\n
Mr Trump’s announcement came after a judge on Friday, local time, ruled that the performing arts centre, which Mr Trump renamed the “Trump Kennedy Center”, cannot be renamed without an act of Congress.<\/p>\n
US District Judge Christopher Cooper in Washington directed the Trump administration to take down all physical signage bearing Mr Trump’s name and to eliminate any references to a “Trump Kennedy Center” from official materials within 14 days.<\/p>\n
“The Kennedy Center’s organic statute makes crystal clear that the Center is to be named for President Kennedy, and it cannot bear any other formal name or public memorial based on the Board’s unilateral say-so,” Justice Cooper wrote.\u00a0<\/p>\n
“Congress gave the Kennedy Center its name, and only Congress can change it.”<\/p>\n
The judge said his decision “does not purport to dictate how the Center should be run, nor does it prescribe any particular plan for the institution \u2014 construction, closure, or otherwise \u2014 moving forward”.<\/p>\n