A United States senator has published a whistleblower complaint alleging that allies of President Donald Trump mismanaged renovations at the John F Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, in order to please the president\u2019s \u201caesthetic whims\u201d.<\/p>\n
On Saturday, Democratic Senator Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island released a letter addressed to the Kennedy Center\u2019s leadership, conveying the accusations.<\/p>\n
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They include claims that the Kennedy Center, under Trump, bypassed standard procedures for awarding government contracts and approved unnecessary \u2014 or faulty \u2014 projects.<\/p>\n
\u201cThese are not isolated lapses but a single pattern that runs counter to everything the Center has told Congress it would do with the public\u2019s money,\u201d Whitehouse wrote<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cInstead of pursuing renovations tailored to the building\u2019s actual needs, the Center rushed a series of renovations driven by the President\u2019s aesthetic whims and his desire to star in a series of televised events in December.\u201d<\/p>\n That month, Trump had hosted the FIFA World Cup final draw, which helps determine the group-stage matches for the football tournament.<\/p>\n The draw doubled as a ceremony to celebrate Trump himself, who was awarded the inaugural FIFA Peace Prize<\/a> by the organisation\u2019s president, Gianni Infantino.<\/p>\n Two days later, on December 7, Trump again took the stage to emcee the Kennedy Center Honors<\/a>, an annual ceremony that recognises lifetime contributions to US art and culture. Trump was the first president to host the award show, and he said he was \u201cvery involved\u201d in the honourees\u2019 selection.<\/p>\n To prepare the Kennedy Center for those dates, its officials worked \u201cin unusually close consultation\u201d with Trump\u2019s White House, according to the whistleblower report Whitehouse obtained.<\/p>\n Located in Washington, DC, the Kennedy Center serves as the national performing centre for the US.<\/p>\n Established by an act of Congress, the theatre complex also acts as a living memorial to slain President John K Kennedy, who was assassinated while in office in 1963.<\/p>\n But since taking office for a second term, Trump has sought to exert influence over the arts centre and other government institutions that had previously operated independently from the president.<\/p>\n Shortly after his 2025 inauguration, Trump fired most of the Kennedy Center\u2019s board and replaced the terminated members with allies. He also announced himself<\/a> as its incoming chair, a proposal his hand-picked board subsequently voted to approve.<\/p>\n Saturday\u2019s whistleblower disclosure sketches what happened afterwards.<\/p>\n It explains that Trump objected to the gold-coloured columns outside the theatre complex, designed to look like strings on a musical instrument. He preferred that they be painted white, to match the marble of the building.<\/p>\n But, as Whitehouse\u2019s letter conveys, \u201cTrump\u2019s preferred contractor cut corners when repainting the Center\u2019s columns\u201d, resulting in the steel columns \u201crusting through the new white paint\u201d.<\/p>\n Whitehouse also notes that the painting began in August \u201cwith no written contract in place\u201d \u2014 and a $4.4m deal only awarded afterwards. He estimates the repairs will cost $1.5m.<\/p>\n In another case, Whitehouse said the Kennedy Center\u2019s Trump-appointed leadership ripped up newly installed bathroom tiles because the president \u201cdidn\u2019t like the color\u201d.<\/p>\n Another example that Whitehouse cites mirrors Trump\u2019s ongoing struggles with the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, which has been criticised for its algae bloom and peeling paint after a Trump-approved renovation.<\/p>\n The Kennedy Center has its own, smaller reflecting pool. But it \u201cis now unevenly painted and rusting\u201d after the Kennedy Center board pushed ahead with a hasty \u201ccosmetic revamp\u201d, according to the whistleblower disclosure.<\/p>\n Whitehouse wrote that the Kennedy Center\u2019s management \u201cset aside contracting rules to hit the President\u2019s deadlines, telling staff, \u2018We\u2019ll deal with the lawsuits later.’\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cLongstanding federal contracting controls were set aside, no-bid contracts were awarded, and superficial cosmetic work was performed that staff warned would have to be redone,\u201d Whitehouse explained.<\/p>\n One contractor, he added, did not appear to have any experience working on concert halls, despite being awarded $8m to do so.<\/p>\n Whitehouse accused the Trump administration of wasting taxpayer money and called for a full accounting of the renovations and their costs \u2014 including the price tag for affixing Trump\u2019s name to the side of the building.<\/p>\n A court later ruled in May that Trump\u2019s name had to come off the building<\/a>, citing Congress\u2019s authority over the Kennedy Center.<\/p>\n \u201cCongress gave the Kennedy Center its name, and only Congress can change it,\u201d Judge Christopher Cooper wrote at the time.<\/p>\n