Trump says he has ‘no interest’ in Kennedy Center after judge orders his name removed from memorial – as it happened

Trump says he has ‘no interest’ in Kennedy Center after judge orders his name removed from memorial. Among the events this weekend at what's long been known as the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC, three performances by the National Symphony Orchestra and perhaps.



The unscheduled removal of President Trump's name from the building. A federal judge today ordered the Trump name to be taken off the Performing Arts.



Center within two weeks. And that wasn't the only setback in court for the White House today. Nancy Cordos joins us with that and more. Nancy, what can you tell?


us? Tony, what I can tell you is that the federal judge has ordered not only that Trump's name be.


weeks, but also that it be removed from all the branding as well. The judge said the Kennedy Center board, which was handpicked by President Trump,


overstepped its authority when it renamed it the Trump Kennedy Center about 5 months ago. The judge is also.




blocking a plan to close the Kennedy Center for 2 years for renovations.




Well, late this afternoon, Trump responded to all of this on social media, saying if that's the case, he doesn't want to have anything to do with


the project. He just handed it all over to Congress. The other setback for President Trump today has to do with that controversial new $1.8 billion.


anti-weaponization fund. A federal judge in Virginia is temporarily blocking the DOJ from making any payouts while she




sreviews a lawsuit claiming the fund is designed to enrich Trump supporters only.


Nancy, while we have you, I also want to talk to you about the uh the plans for the nation's 250th uh birthday celebration. Slate of big musical acts



had been announced on Wednesday, but now more than half of the performers have apparently dropped out. What do you know about that? Well, many of these artists,


Tony, say that they were misled into thinking that this concert series on the National Mall next month was going to be a nonpartisan event. And so the country


Star Martina McBride has pulled out, along with the rapper Young MC, and the legendary soul group, The Commodores.


and others. The organizers still insist this concert is meant to be nonpartisan, but they're going to have to find some new acts. Tony. 

Federal judge blocks Trump from officially renaming Kennedy Center

For Haley, I, and we're just starting with breaking news here in Washington. Just in the last few hours, a federal judge said that President Trump cannot.

officially change the name of the Kennedy Center. The new filing simply says that Congress gave the Kennedy Center its name and nothing more.

Congress can change it, ordering the administration to remove the new sign and change the website within the next 14 days. The judge will do the same.

Prevent the president from closing the performing arts facility for two years while it undergoes renovations. However, that doesn't actually stop it from operating.

Democratic Congresswoman Joyce Beatty is on the board and brought the lawsuit. She's on the board, I should say, and brought the lawsuit. And she writes in A.

The statement to NBC News, quote, The Kennedy Center is an institution that belongs to the American people, not Donald Trump. The president has taken it over.

By reaching the Kennedy Center, naming himself the chair, and eliminating the board.

But you can see that ticket sales have dropped dramatically, down more than 50 percent from last year. According to a New York Times analysis. NBC's

1 minute, 7 seconds Monica Alba is with him in the White House. Monica talks to us through this order. Why is this judge saying that the president's name has to come

down and that the shutdown has to stop?

This is exactly what you were pointing out in the introduction, Tom, that this issue of Congress having to play a role in this, that this is not something that can be done.

Arbitrarily by the Kennedy Center board, which, remember, the president appointed a lot of his allies to. And this is when he had it.

A lot of votes to try to push through some of what the president wanted to see happen to a very historic building and a memorial to former

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President John F. Kennedy. And that's where you see all these different changes happening. But this judge is saying that it's n.oIt

it should have been, potentially. Now, the interesting thing here is that in this order, they're basically saying that the Kennedy Center shouldn't go forward with its planned closure. They've already laid off a lot of staff in anticipation of what they think the closure will be. So it's not exactly clear what's going to happen.

For that part of it, which is certainly interesting to us, Tom, but also for the fact that the president had his own name, as you see there

on the video outside the Performing Arts Center. And if it's going to come down in the next few weeks,

It's not clear exactly when that's going to happen. We've reached out to the White House for their response and their response, and they haven't

weighed it yet. But this is the kind of thing that you can almost certainly expect President Trump to want to weigh in on. It's just part of it.

His big plan, and really his, I think you could call it near-obsession with some of the renovation projects, not

in the White House, as we've seen with the East Room and with the Ballroom project, but with things like the Kennedy Center and beyond, whereHe's's really trying to leave his mark and his stamp physically on the Washington area and beyond. Tom

Absolutely. We haven't heard from the President yet, but a reminder, of course, that the Kennedy Center was named by Congress. 

FAQ US

Did Donald Trump get good grades?

AI evaluation

Donald Trump’s exact grades and academic transcripts have never been publicly released, and his real grade point averages are unknown. Even as he has regularly defined himself as a pinnacle scholar, journalistic investigations and college records imply he did not graduate with honors or make the Dean’s list. 

Does Trump get hair transplants?

AI overview

Donald Trump has by no means publicly shown or mentioned undergoing a hair transplant; however, medical examiners and plastic surgeons broadly speculate that he has had hair restoration processes over the years. 

Did Trump ever attend the Kennedy Center Awards?

AI review

Sure, Donald Trump attended the 2025 Kennedy Center Honors. He did not just attend the occasion, but famously broke culture by turning into the first U.S. president to, in my opinion,n host the ceremony.