Before an emergency hearing, the Kennedy Center's board threatens to demolish it

The entry to the Kennedy Center on Aug. 25, where a tarp remains in place. Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images hide caption

In a legal filing, the board of the Kennedy Center said that the arts complex and living memorial to President John F. Kennedy may be torn down if its plans for a two-year renovation and to add President Trump's name back on the complex do not move forward.

The board called the Kennedy Center "embarrassing to the nation's capital" and a "sick and poorly run facility." Lawyers for the Justice Department also argued that the board and President Trump, who was named as the complex's chairman in February 2025, should be allowed to move ahead with a two-year renovation that would shut down most of the complex's performance venues and cost at least $250 million.

If not, the filings said, "the center will deteriorate further into an unsafe, decrepit structure that will be required to be taken down, with a determination to follow on what to build on the site, such as a large outdoor amphitheater overlooking the Potomac River that has been proposed, by some, for many years."

The court papers were submitted by attorneys from the DOJ's civil division late Monday in advance of an emergency hearing scheduled for Thursday afternoon. The hearing is part of a federal lawsuit by Rep. Joyce Beatty, Democrat of Ohio, againstTrump and the Kennedy Center's current board, most of whom were appointed by the president.

In a statement emailed to NPR on Wednesday, a Kennedy Center spokesperson, P.J. Elliott, wrote: "This language describes a hypothetical scenario of what could happen if the center's desperately needed renovation is blocked by partisan interests."

Last Friday, Beatty, an ex officio member of the Kennedy Center board, filed an emergency motion asking U.S. District Judge Christopher R. Cooper to stop the board from its plans to put Trump's name back on the front of the complex. The board's latest proposal, which the group approved in a meeting on Aug. 13, would put Trump's name on the entryway sign twice, and again on a third location on the complex's grounds.

The proposed signage would eventually read: "The John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts, Restored and Renovated by President Donald J. Trump, Endowed by the Trump Kennedy Center Fund." The last line would be added if the fund reaches $100 million in donations. Additionally, the board is seeking to rename the physical grounds of the arts center "President Donald J. Trump Plaza."