Trump threw tantrum when judge blocked him renaming building, congresswoman says
Donald Trump threw a tantrum after a judge blocked him from renaming a Washington landmark after himself, a congresswoman who took part in the meeting said.
Joyce Beatty said the president lashed out at her after he was blocked from inscribing his own name on the Kennedy Centre, a major arts venue.
Donald Trump has demanded the Kennedy Centre be renamed after himself. AP Photo/Alex Brandon
"It was the most unprofessional thing that I’ve ever witnessed or been a part of," Beatty told MS NOW.
"He went into name-calling, from everything from trying to say that I was an obstructionist, I was dumb.
“He said, ‘I think you’re incompetent,’ and I said, ‘I know you’re incompetent’.”
As an ex officio member of the Kennedy Centre board, Beatty was one of the few board members not appointed by Trump himself.
On Tuesday, a federal judge ruled that the board could not rename the building after Trump without the approval of Congress.
Hours later, the board voted to close the building for safety reasons, the president himself announced.
He then said reconstruction efforts would not take place unless it is named after him.
"The closing will take place immediately, however, the Renovation and Reconstruction, which is a very large and complex job, cannot begin until such time as the DC Circuit rules on the Board’s approved name," Trump wrote on Truth Social.
Joyce Beatty told the president she knew he was incompetent. AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite
"If the ruling is a negative one, which it should not be, and is not overturned by the US Supreme Court, the Reconstruction and the Renovation of The Kennedy Centre will not take place."
The Kennedy Centre’s vice president, Roma Daravi, said the building was falling apart.
The front of the Kennedy Centre has been covered by a tarpaulin for months after a judge ordered Donald Trump’s name be removed. AP Photo/Rahmat Gul
"Compounding systemic infrastructure failures from decades of neglect have left a crumbling building and safety concerns require an immediate closure of (the Kennedy Centre) main building," she said.
"Chairman Donald Trump continues to support this great American institution while legal battles halt the progress to save it."
Lawyer Norm Eisen, who is part of the legal team suing the Trump administration, railed against the move.
"A judge told Trump's board they can't put his name on the Kennedy Centre," Eisen wrote on X.
"Minutes later they moved to shut the doors on everyone else. This is spite, not stewardship."
Beatty has now asked for an emergency hearing in federal court over what she described as an "unlawful closure".
The Kennedy Centre has seen a mass exodus of artists and audience members after Trump announced the building would be renamed after him.
People wait for President Donald Trump’s name to be removed from the centre. AP Photo/Rahmat Gul
In December, the board of trustees appointed by the president voted to rename it The Donald J. Trump and The John F. Kennedy Memorial Centre for the Performing Arts.
Trump had fired the previous board and appointed himself chairman.
When a judge ordered Trump's name be taken off the building, the facade of the facility was covered in scaffolding and a tarpaulin to obscure the signage.
Trump has spent a substantial amount of his second term focused on major renovations of landmark properties in Washington.
It includes the botched renovation of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool and the demolition of the East Wing of the White House.
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