The board President Donald Trump appointed to run the Kennedy Center has warned it may close in a matter of days, unless his name is returned to the building.
The revelation is the newest instance of Trump’s interference at the center, which was opened in 1971 as a living memorial to slain former president John F. Kennedy.
In a new document due to be handed to the venue’s trustees on Tuesday, the board claims that the building is on the verge of bankruptcy and is in such a state of disrepair that it is hazardous to staff and public.
The 57-page report, viewed by the Washington Post, also cites “certain fiscal collapse” and said the venue may be unable to pay staff or maintenance contracts “within a matter of weeks” without the controversial Trump branding being restored.
The Kennedy Center could be shut down as soon as Tuesday if the board signs off on the plan as expected, the Post reported.The document not only suggests the survival of the venue relies on Trump and his support; it states that if it stays open without urgent renovation, lives could be at risk.
However, Trump’s support requires the president to get sufficient public credit for his involvement in the future of the venue, the document spells out.
It says Trump has offered to “raise the necessary funds to keep the Center from bankruptcy,” during the renovation. However, he will be unlikely to provide “fundamental oversight” of the overhaul or help raise funds without “appropriate recognition” of his role.
That includes 10 options for wording that could be added to the exterior of the building under its name, including one where his surname appears twice: “Renovation Restoration and Endowment overseen by President Donald J. Trump and the Trump Kennedy Center Fund.”
That upgrades the wording the board approved last month, which read, “Restored and Renovated by President Donald J. Trump.” U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper, who previously ruled that only Congress can approve a change in the venue’s name, is still considering a legal challenge from the Trump administration.
Trump took control of the Kennedy Center at the start of his second term of president, dismissing the previous leadership and replacing them with hand-picked loyalists. That has led to a string of legal battles and dwindling income for the once-prestigious venue.
The new report follows a previous investigation by the Post that found that ticket sales dropped after Trump’s name was added to the venue last December.
The Post calculated that the slump in sales, following a string of performers pulling out of scheduled shows after the venue’s MAGA makeover, means it was on track to generate at least $100 million less in total revenue than it had anticipated.
In court last month, the president’s lawyers suggested the building could be bulldozed and replaced with an outdoor amphitheater unless they could shut the place down for two years to carry out the renovations Trump deemed necessary.
As well as selecting which text would please Trump more, the new document addresses what the board has deemed as an urgent threat regarding the building; a severe storm on September 4 caused a four-by-five-foot section of ceiling plaster to fall from the Grand Foyer. No one was injured.
The report also lists other issues, including water damage in multiple locations and structural corrosion in around half of the building’s 278 soffit panels from the overhang that wraps around the center. Engineers calculated at least one third of the panels require immediate replacement.
The venue’s new executive director Matt Floca, and Delta Consulting Group have determined the Kennedy Center is “unsafe for continued occupancy,” according to the Post, and that any further delay in renovations would be a risk to staff and the public.
The center remains open to the public despite the ongoing legal battles, which saw Trump’s name removed from the front of the building in June.
The Daily Beast has contacted the Kennedy Center and the White House for comment.
