President Donald Trump’s Justice Department filed court papers contradicting his warning that the Kennedy Center could be demolished without his name on it.
The status report by the Department of Justice, filed in federal court on Wednesday, attributed the shuttered venue’s closure to a series of safety hazards and indicated the building could reopen once those problems are fixed, The Washington Sun reported.
The DOJ’s account is far more limited than the picture Trump has painted. The president has tied the landmark’s future to whether his name ends up engraved on it, warning the center could be “ripped down” if he isn’t recognized on the building.
A sworn declaration from Executive Director Matt Floca lays out what he described as “hazard and life-safety concerns,” among them falling ceiling panels, water seeping into electrical transformers, and questions about the safety of theater equipment. According to The Sun, nothing in the declaration concludes that the center has to be torn down.
Floca said he kept the temporary closure in place for another week “to protect employees, patrons, artists, contractors, and other members of the public while the Center evaluated documented falling-object hazards and other infrastructure conditions and determined what measures would be required for safe occupancy and emergency egress,” the report states.
Much of the damage described in the filing traces back to the severe storms that hit Washington earlier this month. During these storms, “a large section of ceiling plaster weighing approximately 150 pounds fell from approximately 60 feet to the floor in a public thoroughfare,” according to the filing.
An inspection Tuesday by WB Engineers+Consultants found that water had apparently reached an electrical transformer vault, along with concrete fragments and other debris on the equipment. Staff also raised concerns about the opera house’s lighting supports and counterweight rigging.
Floca drew a line between the emergency shutdown and the board’s longer-term closure plan. The filing notes that temporary safeguards won’t fix the building’s underlying deterioration or settle how extensive or lengthy a broader renovation would be.
The center’s board, stacked with Trump appointees, voted last week to close the venue for $250 million in renovations. Rep. Joyce Beatty (D-OH), who sits on the board as an ex officio member, is challenging the closure. She argues it runs afoul of an existing order from U.S. District Judge Christopher R. Cooper and may be cover for a permanent move.
After the board’s vote, Trump declared the renovations dead unless a court ruled in his favor.
“The Reconstruction and the Renovation of The Kennedy Center will not take place,” he wrote on Truth Social.
The filing sets no reopening date. Beatty’s attorneys did not immediately respond to The Sun’s requests for comment.
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