Judge asks pointed questions of Kennedy Center’s plan to add Trump’s name

By Devan Cole, Tierney Sneed, Michael Williams, CNN

(CNN) — A federal judge on Thursday sharply questioned the Kennedy Center’s plans to add President Donald Trump’s name back to its building in coming weeks and expressed frustration that it could happen before he decides whether the move is legal.

During a nearly two hour hearing before Judge Christopher Cooper, who previously concluded that the center’s board broke the law when it voted to rename the historic performing arts venue in honor of Trump, the judge asked pointed questions to a Justice Department attorney defending the board’s decision earlier this month to again add the current president’s name alongside that of the 35th president on the building’s facade and on other areas of the site the building sits on.

The hearing came moments after Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said the center’s physical future is in doubt if Trump’s name isn’t attached.

Though Cooper, an appointee of former President Barack Obama, did not immediately rule, he repeatedly pushed for DOJ to give him a reason why the center was planning to move ahead with its plans to add Trump’s back to its building as soon as September 8.

Describing that date as arbitrary, the judge said that if the center didn’t quickly change course on its timeline, he may have to issue a temporary order that bars the center from moving ahead with adding the president’s name back to its building while the legal wrangling continues.

The latest resolution from the board would add Trump’s name to the site to acknowledge his “ongoing” contributions to its maintenance, the DOJ is arguing, in an attempt distinguish the proposal from its previous attempt to add Trump’s name to the center writ-large.

The legal challenge from Democratic Rep. Joyce Beatty contends that Congress did not authorize such a move, even if the court were to agree with how the DOJ was framing it, and that it violates Cooper’s previous order.

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Speaking to reporters outside the courthouse, Lutnick said the center’s demolition will be an “eventuality” if Trump isn’t able to renovate the center — but also dispelled the idea such a move is imminent.

“Bad things happen, but they’re not going to happen on Thursday,” Lutnick said. “No one’s saying it’s happening on Thursday. It’s just an eventuality, but that’s not going to happen.”

“I mean, this is the board classically capturing the greatest fundraiser and greatest builder ever by putting his name on it and saying, “OK, OK, you wanted your name. Here it is. Now go do it,’” Lutnick added. “And that’s the board’s decision.”

Lutnick’s wife is among the Kennedy Center board members and the secretary sat in the courtroom for the duration of Thursday’s hearing.

Pointed questions from the bench

As Brantley Mayers, the DOJ lawyer, presented his main argument that the new renaming gambit was needed to help ensure private donations continue to pour into the center’s coffers, the judge quickly interjected, asking: “What does that have to do with what Congress intended in the statutes?”

Cooper ruled earlier this year that the center’s decision to rename the venue “The Donald J. Trump and The John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts” violated federal law stating that the building could not be named for anyone other than the late president. Trump’s name came off the building in June but a tarp has blocked the facade ever since.

The center’s board voted on August 13 to add an inscription below the Kennedy Center’s sign that says the venue was “Restored and Renovated by President Donald J. Trump.” Another add to the front referencing Trump could come later if an endowment reaches $100 million, the board has said. The center also plans to rename the physical site the building it sits on in honor of Trump.

The administration is arguing that renaming the center’s plaza for Trump does not run afoul of congressional statutes designating the center as a memorial to Kennedy alone.

But Cooper suggested on Thursday that under DOJ’s theory, the board would be authorized under the law to name the parking garage after former President Barack Obama or the campus after former President George W Bush, and that every single parcel of the complex could be renamed for whomever the board sees fit.

“The whole thing would be for sale, basically — and that would be consistent with Congress’ overall scheme?” Cooper asked. Mayers did not push back against that interpretation of his arguments.

‘My, what a nice Kennedy Center you have here’

The case was brought by Beatty, an officio member of the center’s board.

Her lawyer, Nathaniel Zelinsky, told the judge that the board’s latest renaming gambit “is part and parcel of everything” he considered earlier this year when he ruled against the center’s first renaming bid.

He urged Cooper to intervene now on a temporary basis because he didn’t trust that the center wouldn’t move ahead with its plans in secrecy and before the judge made a final decision.

“I’m worried that they might do this in the middle of the night,” Zelinsky said at one point.

The board is arguing that the Trump-related name changes are necessary to secure private contributions to the Kennedy Center for what it describes as desperately needed repairs, and it has even suggested that the center could be demolished — if the changes were to be blocked — because of the poor shape that its infrastructure is in.

Seizing on that suggestion Thursday, Zelinsky told Cooper that the threat “is breathtaking.”

“It is a not-so-subtle threat along the lines of, ‘My, what a nice Kennedy Center you have here — a shame if something were to happen to it,’” he told Cooper.

During its vote earlier this month, the center’s board also approved a plan to close its doors for two years to undertake extensive renovations. That decision, too, is likely to face more court challenges.

Speaking on CNN’s “The Arena with Kasie Hunt,” Beatty said Trump and the Kennedy Center board with his allies can’t be trusted.

“I don’t trust (Trump). This is the same president that told us we were going to get a remodeled, renovated ballroom, and he demolished the entire East Wing, the Rose Garden, over budget and unfinished,” Beatty said.

“I can’t predict what this president would do because he has been so unpredictable,” she added. “But what we know we can count on, he will do something that is very unreasonable and that something that doesn’t make sense. And that’s why we continue to fight.”

CNN’s Logan Schiciano contributed to this report.

This story has been updated with additional details.

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