Trump says Kennedy Center building closes now and renovation “will not take place” if a negative ruling stands
President of the United States and chair of the Kennedy Center's board of trustees, posting on his verified Truth Social account
“The Board of The Kennedy Center today agreed, almost unanimously, to close the Building for Safety reasons, and so that it can begin the process of Reconstruction. 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 D.C. Circuit rules on the Board's approved name. If the ruling is a negative one, which it should not be, and is not overturned by the U.S. Supreme Court, the Reconstruction and the Renovation of The Kennedy Center will not take place.”
Source and context
Original text
About this source
Trump's own post on his verified account. The original URL was opened: the server-rendered page carries the full post text in its og:description, identical character for character to the trumpstruth.org capture (captured 2026-09-19) and to the screenshot in ECF 78, which shows the account and 'Sep 15, 2026, 2:54 PM'. The status ID decodes to 2026-09-15 14:54:52 EDT. Truth Social's API is Cloudflare-blocked, so the in-app view was not read.
Archived copy (opens in a new tab)Original text
About this source
The court's own 22-page opinion, read from the text extract; docket entry dated 2026-09-15. It is a ruling on the board's recognition resolution of August 13, not the D.C. Circuit ruling on the board's approved name that the post refers to.
Original text
About this source
Plaintiff's filing of the same day, hosted on the CourtListener docket. Its screenshot reproduces the post text (identical to the Truth Social page), the account and the 2:54 PM timestamp, and it describes Trump as the Chairman of the Board. The PDF page was rendered and the image read.
Before the quotation
On August 13 the Kennedy Center board passed a resolution to recognize Trump's contributions, including an inscription on the main building and naming the grounds “President Donald J. Trump Plaza.” On September 15 Judge Christopher Cooper ruled in Beatty v. Trump that the board could not carry out those two steps, and the board, meeting that day, voted to approve a closure resolution.
After the quotation
Plaintiff Joyce Beatty's counsel filed the post with the court the same day as a “Notice of Board Vote and Chairman Statement” (ECF 78). The next day, in remarks to reporters in Charlotte, Trump again addressed recognition for his administration; that statement is recorded separately.
How this statement is classified
Case context: Donald Trump's statements linking the Kennedy Center's renovation to recognition for his administration
The label describes this statement’s response within the context above.
Why this label?
The case's fixed reference point is Trump's stated position that the Kennedy Center's closure and renovation depend on recognition for his administration, as expressed in this September 15 Truth Social post and reaffirmed in his September 16 remarks in Charlotte. In the post Trump says the board agreed to close the building for safety reasons, that the closing is immediate, that renovation “cannot begin until such time as the D.C. Circuit rules on the Board’s approved name,” and that it “will not take place” if a negative ruling is not overturned, an outcome he says “should not be.” The closest competing label is mixed_or_conditional, because the renovation is stated as contingent on a court ruling. That loses because the contingency is the content of the position being recorded, not a qualification of Trump's own stance toward it; the post gives a safety reason for the closure and expresses no reservation about the position.
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- Published here
Donald Trump's statements linking the Kennedy Center's renovation to recognition for his administration
Explore the case context, sources and public responses.
More from this case
Read the full case“I keep wondering how insecure, how narcissistic, how egomaniacal you have to be to say you'll demolish a building if they don't put your name on it.”Read statement
“Donald Trump has spent countless hours on ridiculous vanity projects instead of trying to tackle the sky-high cost of living or ending his failed war in Iran, and now he's threatening to tear down the Kennedy Center just because he can't slap his name on it. It's sad, shallow, and a disgrace to the institution which by law honors our 35th president. We will continue fighting this obsession and defend this national cultural center in Congress and the courts”Read statement
“I don't mind doing the job, but if I do the job, I think the Trump administration, including Bobby, but the Trump administration should be recognized. Why should I raise and put up and do all of this work?”Read statement