One of President John F. Kennedy’s nieces on Tuesday weighed in on President Donald Trump’s battle to rebrand the cultural institution named in honor of her uncle, accusing him of “hostage-taking” the Kennedy Center.
Trump has fought for nearly a year to have the institution renamed after himself, and the center’s board has for months sought to work around a ruling from U.S. District Court Judge Christopher Cooper in May prohibiting it from renaming the institution after the president. When Cooper on Tuesday blocked the Kennedy Center’s board from adding any sort of a memorial to Trump on the building or site without congressional approval, the board responded by voting to close the institution immediately for a two-year renovation, to which Congress has allocated $257 million. Trump then issued a message stating the renovations would not take place unless his name is added to the building.
Kerry Kennedy responded to the saga during a CNN interview, calling the situation “hostage taking by the president of the United States.”
“President Trump has said they have $250 million ready to hand over tomorrow,” the 35th president’s niece said. “He’s just withholding it because he wants his name on the building. So, this is like so many other things that Trump has touched. It’s a bankruptcy because he adds his name to it.
“President Trump, please focus on what’s important,” she said. “Leave the Kennedy Center alone. Allow us to move forward with this great art center, this monument to a slain president, and leave it alone. Focus on your job.”
The latest attempted closure tests the limits of Cooper’s May order that blocked the Kennedy Center from closing in July for the two-year renovation. At the time, Cooper wrote that no board members had “sufficient information” to make the decision and said that any subsequent vote regarding closure would require further review and data.
The board on Tuesday sought to use an emergency basis to close the center. Trump said the board voted to close the institution down for emergency renovation for “safety reasons,” after a large piece of concrete and steel dropped from the ceiling of a “heavily trafficked main hallway.” The president said a security guard had passed the area one minute prior to the ceiling collapse.
“If the Building were open, innocent people would have been killed,” Trump said.
Trump said the renovation would not begin unless the court rules in favor of the name change. He promised the Justice Department would request an expedited appeal in the case.
“In the meantime, 17 Million Dollars, raised by President Trump, has been put into The Kennedy Center account to keep it afloat,” he wrote in a post to Truth Social.
Another one of Kennedy’s nieces, Maria Shriver, responded by condemning Trump in a post to X.
“What a sad state of affairs,” she wrote. “What a tragedy. Actually, how small minded, how narcissistic. Actually great men, devoted to public service and the public good do not act like this.”
TRUMP VOWS TO DELAY KENNEDY CENTER RENOVATION UNTIL COURTS ALLOW HIS NAME ON VENUE
Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick defended the president, saying only Trump could deliver the renovation on time and on budget, and raise funds to keep the Kennedy Center out of bankruptcy.
“Like many other Centers, it operates at a huge loss,” he said in a statement. “For the Kennedy Center, that has historically been $80-$100 million a year … a major fundraising effort must take place to cover the Kennedy Center’s operating expenses. Failing roofing, collapsing concrete supports, and steel that is rotting have created completely unsafe conditions.”