Donald Trump has two weeks to remove his name from the John F. Kennedy Memorial Centre for the Performing Arts, after his team illegally added it to the monument’s official title.House Republicans first proposed the renaming of the landmark last July. And naturally, Trump – who appointed himself to the position of the centre’s chairman months earlier, firing several prior board members – rigorously backed the suggestion.Despite pushback, the right-wing administration quietly added Trump’s name to the building’s exterior earlier this year, as well as to the centre’s official website and its marketing materials.Following the illegal move, a federal judge has ordered the removal of Trump’s name after it was found that his team hadn’t consulted Congress on their plan before implementing it.US District Court Judge Christopher Cooper ruled on Friday (29 May) that the MAGA-aligned Kennedy Centre board violated the law in failing to disclose its intentions. More specifically, he alleges the Trump-appointed board acted against a law prohibiting the renaming of the centre that was first put into place in 1964, seven years prior to John F Kennedy’s assassination.
The move had been criticised by Democrat, board member and Ohio rep Joyce Beatty, who claimed she was prevented from voting against the order last year, despite the White House insisting in December that the board had voted unanimously to include Trump’s name.”Clearly, the Congress has a say in this. This centre, the Kennedy Centre, was created by Congress. I think it’s important for us to know that this is just another attempt to evade the law and not let the people have a say,” she said.Ohio rep Joyce Beatty claims she was prevented from voting (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)
Ohio rep Joyce Beatty claims she was prevented from voting (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)
Beatty’s claim was later backed by JFK’s own grandson, Jack Schlossberg, who alleged that ‘microphones were muted’ during the vote, ‘and the board meeting and vote NOT unanimous.n his ruling, Cooper simultaneously blocked Trump’s board of trustees from closing the cultural landmark for two years, for ‘construction, revitalisation and complete rebuilding’.
