A Democrat representative is taking legal action against President Donald Trump after his name was affixed to the historic Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, DC, which he helped save from “ruin.”
Rep. Joyce Beatty (D-OH) is suing Trump and the theater’s Board of Trustees after the site was renamed, Politico reported Tuesday.
Last week, the board voted unanimously to rename the institution “The Donald J. Trump and The John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts,” according to Breitbart News.
However, Beatty, who is an “ex officio” member of the board, argues Congress alone has the power to change its name and has also claimed she was muted during the vote.
Beatty filed the lawsuit in the United States District Court for Washington, DC, and is seeking to have the original name restored and the board’s decision thrown out.
The Politico article continued:
“In scenes more reminiscent of authoritarian regimes than the American Republic,” Beatty wrote in the complaint, “the sitting president and his handpicked loyalists renamed this storied center after President Trump. This is a flagrant violation of the rule of law, and it flies in the face of our constitutional order.”
Roma Daravi, vice president of public relations at the center, pushed back against the lawsuit, saying in a statement that “those individuals attacking now sat idly by while America’s cultural center slowly crumbled. Now the bipartisan Trump Kennedy Center is here for generations to come.”
Per Breitbart News, Daravi described the site as being in “financial ruin and physical destruction.” When he learned of the board’s vote, Trump, who is Chairman of the Kennedy Center Board, said he was “surprised” and “honored.”
He added, “We saved the building. The building was in such bad shape, both physically, financially, and every other way. And now it’s very solid, very strong.”
Although several artists are considering canceling their shows at the newly rechristened Trump Kennedy Center, there appears to be numerous events on the schedule, per its website.
Video footage shows the recent 48th Kennedy Center Honors celebration:
In a statement to Politico, White House spokesperson Liz Huston said, “After years of neglect by Democrats, President Trump stepped up and saved the old Kennedy Center by strengthening its finances, modernizing the building, and ending divisive woke programming. As a result, the Board of the Kennedy Center voted unanimously to rename it the Trump-Kennedy Center — a historic move that marks a new era of success, prestige, and restored grandeur for one of America’s most iconic cultural institutions.”
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