Reports: Kennedy Center warns of bankruptcy unless Trump’s name returns

By Hanna Park, CNN

(CNN) — Officials at the Kennedy Center warn it faces “certain fiscal collapse” within weeks unless President Donald Trump’s name is added back to the building, according to documents obtained by The New York Times and The Washington Post.

The warning appears in a draft resolution circulated to the performing arts center’s board of trustees ahead of a special meeting Tuesday, the outlets reported. The center says it could be unable to make payroll or pay routine maintenance contracts within weeks and risks bankruptcy, according to the documents.

Trump has offered to raise the money needed to keep it afloat – but only with “appropriate recognition” of his role, without which he is unlikely to lead the rescue or oversee a planned renovation, the resolution says, according to the two outlets.

CNN has reached out to the Kennedy Center and the White House for comment.

“Trump attracts money,” board member and longtime Trump ally Paolo Zampolli told the Times. “So when Trump says donate to this place, everyone will donate.”

The claim is the latest turn in Trump’s takeover of the national arts institution, which has been mired in financial turmoil, leadership churn and litigation since he installed loyalists to the board, who then elected him chairman last year. The change led to artists pulling out of planned events at the venue and a drop in ticket sales.

Since then, Trump has sought to put his stamp on the institution, adding his name to the building’s exterior in December, prompting a lawsuit challenging the legality of the change and a ruling from a judge that his name must be removed. The lettering was taken down in June.

In August, the center voted once again to add Trump’s name on the building and close for a yearslong renovation, court filings show.

Adding to the financial turmoil, the center previously argued in court filings it would have to return millions of dollars in private donations it had already received if Trump’s name wasn’t on the building’s facade, citing the center’s bylaws.

“All of this money, hundreds of millions of dollars, will have to be immediately returned, or not received by the Center,” the department told an appeals court.

According to the documents provided to the board ahead of Tuesday’s meeting, trustees are being asked to choose among 10 inscriptions to place beneath the building’s name, the Post reported. One reads: “Renovation Restoration and Endowment overseen by President Donald J. Trump and the Trump Kennedy Center Fund.” The Times reported similar options, including language crediting “the generosity of President Donald J. Trump.”

Trustees are also being asked to close the center’s main building immediately, the Post reported, citing a September 4 incident in which a section of ceiling plaster fell about 60 feet in the Grand Foyer. Management has deemed the building “unsafe for continued occupancy,” the Post reported.

No one was hurt, but the administration has used it to bolster its argument in court that renovations are needed.

Lawyers for the venue have argued that if the current building cannot undergo extensive renovations, the center “will deteriorate further into an unsafe, decrepit structure that will be required to be taken down.”

In April, Kennedy Center officials gave CNN and other news outlets a tour of the building, showing the boiler room, behind the stages, through the parking garages, and the HVAC system to provide evidence of the need for the renovations.

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