{"id":446115,"date":"2026-02-03T07:21:11","date_gmt":"2026-02-03T07:21:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/446115\/"},"modified":"2026-02-03T07:21:11","modified_gmt":"2026-02-03T07:21:11","slug":"trump-says-he-wont-tear-down-the-kennedy-center","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/446115\/","title":{"rendered":"Trump says he won’t tear down the Kennedy Center"},"content":{"rendered":"

WASHINGTON (AP) \u2014 President Donald Trump<\/a> said Monday that he\u2019s \u201cnot ripping down\u201d the Kennedy Center<\/a> but insisted the performing arts venue needs to shut down for about two years for construction and other work without patrons coming and going and getting in the way. <\/p>\n

The comments strongly suggested that he intends to gut the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts as part of the process. <\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not ripping it down,\u201d the Republican president told reporters in the Oval Office. \u201cI\u2019ll be using the steel. So we\u2019re using the structure.\u201d<\/p>\n

Such a project would mark the Republican president\u2019s latest effort to put his stamp on a cultural institution that Congress designated as a living memorial to President Kennedy, a Democrat. It also would be in addition to attempts to leave a permanent mark on Washington through other projects, the most prominent of which is adding a ballroom<\/a> to the White House. <\/p>\n

Shortly after taking office last year, Trump dismissed Kennedy Center board members<\/a> who had been appointed by Democratic presidents and replaced them with loyalists, who voted to make him chairman. He helped choose the recipients of the 2025 Kennedy Center Honors<\/a>, a program he avoided during his first term. He later hosted the event<\/a>, and the board voted late last year to rebrand the Kennedy Center by adding his name to the building<\/a> and website. <\/p>\n

Trump announced Sunday on social media that he intends to temporarily close the performing arts venue on July 4 for about two years \u201cfor Construction, Revitalization, and Complete Rebuilding,\u201d subject to board approval. <\/p>\n

The announcement followed a wave of cancellations by leading performers<\/a>, musicians and groups since the president took over leadership of the arts institution. Trump did not mention the cancellations in his announcements, or during his comments Monday. <\/p>\n

Kennedy Center Arts Workers United, which includes several unions representing the institution\u2019s arts workers, said in a statement that it was aware of Trump\u2019s announcement but had received no formal notice or briefing about his plans. The group pledged to enforce its members\u2019 contractual rights. <\/p>\n

\u201cShould we receive formal notice of a temporary suspension of Kennedy Center operations that displaces our members, we will enforce our contracts and exercise all our rights under the law,\u201d the statement said. \u201cWe expect continued fair pay, enforceable worker protections, and accountability for our members in the event they cannot work due to an operational pause.\u201d<\/p>\n

Promising \u2018the highest-grade everything\u2019<\/p>\n

Recalling his past career in construction and real estate, Trump said, \u201cyou want to sit with something for a little while before you decide on what you want to do.\u201d Speaking of the Kennedy Center, he said: \u201cWe sat with it. We ran it. It\u2019s in very bad shape,\u201d asserting that the building is \u201crun down,\u201d \u201cdilapidated\u201d and \u201csort of dangerous.\u201d<\/p>\n

Roma Daravi, a Kennedy Center spokesperson, said in a social media post that \u201cdecades of gross negligence\u201d has led to $250 million of deferred maintenance needs and that temporarily closing the institution \u201cis the most logical choice to allow for comprehensive renovations, efficient project completion, and responsible use of taxpayer dollars.\u201d<\/p>\n

Deborah Rutter, the Kennedy Center president who was ousted by Trump, declined comment Monday. In the past, she has said allegations from Trump and others about the center\u2019s management were false.<\/p>\n

A representative for David Rubenstein, the board chairman who was also pushed out by Trump, said Rubenstein was not available Monday to comment. <\/p>\n

Trump, citing the complaints of a workman he said has been laying marble at the Kennedy Center, said the closure is needed because \u201cyou can\u2019t do any work because people are coming in and out.\u201d <\/p>\n

He pegged the cost at about $200 million, including the use of \u201cthe highest-grade marbles, the highest-grade everything.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re fully financed and so we\u2019re going to close it and we\u2019re going to make it unbelievable, far better than it ever was, and we\u2019ll be able to do it properly,\u201d Trump said. <\/p>\n

Congress earmarked $257 million for the Kennedy Center in a tax cut and spending bill that Trump signed into law last summer. <\/p>\n

What kind of work is involved<\/p>\n

The White House said after the president spoke that some of the maintenance includes work on the building\u2019s structural, heating and cooling, plumbing, electrical, fire protection and technical stage systems. Work on the building\u2019s exterior, security standards and parking are also included. <\/p>\n

Daravi, the Kennedy Center spokesperson, declined comment when asked how the closure would affect the annual Mark Twain Award and Kennedy Center Honors events this year. <\/p>\n

Trump said last October, also on social media, that the venue would stay open during construction. But on Monday he said that plan was no longer feasible.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was thinking maybe there\u2019s a way of doing it simultaneously but there really isn\u2019t, and we\u2019re going to have something that when it opens it\u2019s going to be brand new, beautiful,\u201d Trump said. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe steel will all be checked out because it\u2019ll be fully exposed,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s been up for a long time, but as anybody knows it was in very bad shape. Wasn\u2019t kept well, before I got there,\u201d he said. \u201cSo we\u2019re going to make it, I think there won\u2019t be anything like it in the country.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Kennedy Center opened in 1971. <\/p>\n

Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., who in November opened an investigation into the Kennedy Center\u2019s financial management, said the planned closure is part of Trump\u2019s \u201cdemolition tour of Washington.\u201d Whitehouse is the senior Democrat on the Environment and Public Works Committee, which oversees public buildings, and is an ex-officio member of the Kennedy Center\u2019s board.<\/p>\n

Since Trump returned to the presidency, the Kennedy Center is one of many Washington landmarks<\/a> that he has sought to overhaul in his second term. <\/p>\n

He demolished the White House East Wing and launched a massive $400 million ballroom project, is actively pursuing building a triumphal arch on the other side the Arlington Bridge from the Lincoln Memorial, and has plans for Washington Dulles International Airport<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u2014-<\/p>\n

Associated Press writers Hillel Italie in New York and Steven Sloan in Washington contributed to this report. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"WASHINGTON (AP) \u2014 President Donald Trump said Monday that he\u2019s \u201cnot ripping down\u201d the Kennedy Center but insisted…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":446116,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[202566,3506,3505,12,88,793,28030,25222,111,200479,48415,8638,795,800],"class_list":["post-446115","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","tag-david-m-rubenstein","tag-dc-wire","tag-district-of-columbia","tag-donald-trump","tag-entertainment","tag-general-news","tag-john-f-kennedy","tag-media-and-entertainment-industry","tag-politics","tag-send-to-apple-news","tag-sheldon-whitehouse","tag-u-s-democratic-party","tag-u-s-news","tag-washington-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/446115","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=446115"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/446115\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/446116"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=446115"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=446115"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=446115"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}