President Donald Trump doubled down on Monday on his proposed plan to demolish and renovate the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, telling White House reporters that he would “use steel” for the building’s existing structure and redo the rest.
“Some of the marble will come off,” he said, adding, “It will be brand new and really beautiful.”
The President came under fire Sunday after he announced plans to close the performing arts center and memorial to President John F. Kennedy for two years after controversially naming it the Trump-Kennedy Center.
“This important decision, based on input from many Highly Respected Experts, will take a tired, broken, and dilapidated Center, one that has been in poor condition, both financially and structurally for many years, and turn it into a World Class Bastion of Arts, Music and Entertainment,” Trump wrote in a Truth Social post Sunday.
While maintaining Monday that the center is “in very bad shape, it’s run down, it’s dilapidated, it’s kind of dangerous,” the president said the overhaul will cost “about $200 million” and spoke to his experience as a real estate mogul to support the decision. (“In real estate and building, I did a lot of it, I did it so well.”)
Asked by a reporter in the Oval Office if the renovation would demolish the art center entirely, Trump said, “When it opens, it’s going to be brand new. Beautiful. I’m not mirroring it. I’m going to be using steel. So we’re using the structure. We’re using some of the marble and some of the marble will come down. But when it’s brand new, it’s going to be brand new.”
“So we’ll close it sometime around the 4th of July. It’s, like, we’ll close it on the 4th of July in order to do something great for America. And then we’re building, we have great contractors, we’re going to build it and do it right,” he said. “We’re using the highest grade marble, it’s the highest grade everything. It’s going to be brand new.”
See his remarks below:
The family of the late President Kennedy were among the many figures who credited the construction project on Sunday, including Jack Schlossberg, Maria Shriver and Joe Kennedy III.
“Trump can take the Kennedy Center for himself,” Schlossberg wrote on X. “He can change the name, close the doors and tear down the building. He can try to kill JFK. But JFK is kept alive because we are now standing up to remove Donald Trump, bring him to justice and restore the freedoms that generations have fought for.”
Rep. Joyce Beatty (D-Ohio), a former Kennedy Center board member, also spoke Sunday.
“Once again, Donald Trump has acted with total contempt for Congress,” she wrote in a statement. “The Kennedy Center is funded by Congress, and Congress should have been consulted on any decision to close its operations or make major renovations, especially for a two-year period.
“Countless employees, artists, and others have existing contracts and agreements with the Center. What happens to them? Has Trump or his handpicked Board given any consideration to their livelihoods or futures? This is precisely why congressional oversight is essential.”
Trump’s takeover of the performing arts center has led to a decline in the theatrical and live event venue’s box office performance, with one report last summer finding a 50% drop in sales. Artists and executives alike have shelled out and canceled events at the center as well.
“Let’s be clear: remodeling the building will not bring the Kennedy Center back to what it was,” Beatty concluded. “A return to artistic independence will. The artists of America are rejecting this attempted takeover, and the administration knows it. That is why they are now scrambling for cover.”
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