Trump Announces Withdrawal from Project and Orders “Full and Complete Transfer” of Institution to Congress
A federal judge on Friday blocked the U.S. government’s decision to rename the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts—a ruling that deals a fresh blow to President Donald Trump, who, in December 2025, had decided to affix his own surname to the façade of this prominent institution.
District of Columbia Judge Casey Cooper concluded in his ruling that only Congress possesses the authority to change the institution’s name. He further ordered the Trump administration to remove the signage bearing the tycoon’s name from the building’s façade, as well as to update the center’s website, within a maximum of two weeks.
The ruling, spanning over 90 pages, also overturns a plan announced last March to close the center in order to undertake renovation work. Consequently, the judge has asked the Board of Trustees to reconsider the impact such a measure would have on the center’s programming, according to CNN.
The occupant of the White House criticized the ruling in a lengthy social media post, in which he disparaged the fact that the decision was made by “a judge appointed by (former President) Barack Hussein Obama,” acting against the unanimous vote of the “36 members” of the Board of Trustees.
Furthermore—citing opposition to the project from the “radical left” and the center’s alleged financial losses—he announced that his administration “will work with Congress to return this institution in crisis to them, so that they may decide what to do with it.”
In this regard, he indicated that he has issued an order to the Department of Commerce to take the necessary steps, in coordination with Congress, “to facilitate a full and complete transfer of this institution, thereby granting them responsibility for its operation, maintenance, and management.”
Trump also cited the building’s alleged state of disrepair—claiming it would pose a safety risk to visitors—as a justification for his withdrawal from the project. “I cannot become involved in a situation where a danger to the public is allowed to flourish in plain sight. Unless I am free to do what I do better than anyone else—namely, to restore this institution physically, financially, and artistically—I have no interest in continuing what could only be a hopeless journey into ‘Neverland,'” he noted.
This development follows a unanimous vote by the center’s board of directors to change its name to the “Donald J. Trump and John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts”—a vote that took place after the Republican magnate dismissed half of the board’s members, thereby ensuring a favorable outcome from the governing body responsible for directing, managing, and maintaining this important cultural institution.
The decision triggered a cascade of cancellations by artists, amidst criticism from the Democratic opposition. The U.S. Congress established the National Cultural Center in 1958 to present musical programs, lectures, and other arts programming for audiences young and old—an institution that was subsequently renamed by an act of Congress following the death of President Kennedy.
