Trump vents about judge who blocked the Kennedy Centre renovation and fumes over his legal setbacks

WASHINGTON - President Donald Trump on Saturday (May 30) branded the federal judge who blocked his renovation of the Kennedy Centre as "an anti Trump Hater" and predicted that the nation's premier performing arts centre he wanted to shutter for a two-year overhaul will "soon be closed, probably never to open again."

In a lengthy post on his Truth Social platform, Trump fumed about the Friday decision from US District Judge Christopher Cooper who also ordered Trump's name removed from the centre. Clearly angered by his latest legal setback, he said it was "impossible for me to be treated fairly," tying Cooper's ruling to earlier losses, including the Supreme Court's rejection in February of his sweeping tariffs.

His post aimed to make the case for the project even as he says he's giving up on it. Hours after Cooper's decision, Trump said he was backing away from the renovations and making arrangements to relinquish control to Congress of what, until the Republican president's second term, had been known as the John F. Kennedy Centre for the Performing Arts.

In another post on Saturday, Trump invoked the Kennedy Centre episode as he addressed a spate of musicians backing out of a celebration for the country's 250th anniversary.

"Cancel it," Trump wrote, "just like I cancelled my involvement with the failing and unsafe to be in Kennedy Centre, because a Highly Conflicted, Crooked Federal Judge, said that I should not be allowed to spend my time and money in order to MAKE THE CENTRE GREAT AGAIN."

The White House did not immediately say whether Trump would keep serving as the centre's board chairman.

Trump's signal that he's retreating from the centre gave hope to artists who had been alienated by his takeover, said Norm Eisen, a former White House ethics lawyer who is involved in a lawsuit challenging Trump's Kennedy Centre plans.

"I have already heard from artists and from audience members alike who are excited about the Kennedy Centre returning to non-partisan normality," Eisen told The Associated Press in a text message on Saturday. "It's early days yet but as and when the court's order is implemented, including Trump's name coming off the building and the Board otherwise complying with the law, I'm optimistic that the Centre will begin the long journey back."

Trump cites judge's wife

Without offering evidence, Trump suggested that Cooper's wife, lawyer Amy Jeffress, was to blame in part for the ruling. The president noted that Jeffress, a partner at the Hecker Fink law firm, is a former federal prosecutor who served as a counselor to Attorney General Eric Holder during the administration of Democratic President Barack Obama. Cooper was nominated for the bench by Obama.

Trump also noted that Hecker Fink is representing former President Joe Biden in a lawsuit against the Department of Justice to block the release of audio recordings and transcripts from the Democrat's interviews with a ghostwriter that were obtained in an investigation into Biden's handling of classified documents from his time as a senator and as vice president.

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Trump asserted that the Kennedy Centre, named for the late Democratic president and opened in 1971, was "rusted, rotted, and rat and bug infested" and that the "new Building would have been incomparable."

Cooper said in his ruling that the centre board's March 16 vote to close the venue was "ill-informed and seemingly preordained" with no regard for its legal obligations. The administration had announced the work would begin in July and last approximately two years. Cooper's ruling halts those plans for now.

The judge also found that the board "overstepped its statutory bounds" by adding Trump's name to the centre. Congress gave the Kennedy Centre its name, and only Congress can change it, he said. Cooper ordered that Trump's name be removed within two weeks.

President defends adding name to the centre

Trump on Saturday said it was the board, not him, that added the Trump name to the centre. "They thought it would be good for this dying Institution," he wrote.

Shortly after returning to office in January 2025, he ousted the centre's previous leadership and replaced it with a handpicked board of trustees that named him chairman.

Cooper held hearings in late April for parallel lawsuits challenging the project. One lawsuit was filed by a group of cultural and historic preservation organisations. The other was brought by Rep. Joyce Beatty, an Ohio Democrat who serves as an ex officio member of the board through her position in Congress. He ruled in favour of Beatty's request but rejected the other challenge.

Trump, in his post, also noted that Jeffress' firm represented E. Jean Carroll, the longtime advice columnist whose claims against Trump won her a US$5 million (S$6.4 million) award in 2023 for sexual abuse and defamation after a jury agreed that Trump sexually abused her in a New York department store dressing room in 1996. Another jury in 2024 awarded Carroll an additional US$83 million for defamation. Both awards are under appeal.

Jeffress did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

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