Jamie Raskin calls closing the Kennedy Center "an affront to President Kennedy's memory" and demands it remain open
U.S. Representative from Maryland, in a quote-post on his official X account (@RepRaskin)
“Closing the Kennedy Center is an affront to President Kennedy's memory, an attack on Congressional power and an outrageous assault on the livelihoods of the artists and workers who operate and perform in our cultural center. We're demanding it remain open and free from the President’s graffiti, vandalism and desecration.”
Source and context
Original post
About this source
Raskin's own post on the X account his House site lists, a quote-post of the Associated Press post (status 2100266343962406997) about the fencing; it is not a reply. Read in full (322 characters) on 2026-09-19 through api.fxtwitter.com; X's syndication endpoint returns the same text cut at 280 characters with the same timestamp and no edit. Not archived: Wayback blocks x.com.
Original text
About this source
Same words posted about 90 seconds after the X post on a Substack account named 'Rep. Jamie Raskin (@repraskin)': the page's schema.org SocialMediaPosting names that author and carries identical text. Opened 2026-09-19. Whether raskin.house.gov links this Substack account was not checked, so the X post is the primary source and this is corroboration.
Original text
About this source
Read in full on the trumpstruth.org archive, which records the original post ID, URL (truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/117276573235915643) and time; the original is behind a Cloudflare challenge and was not opened. The same text is quoted and screenshotted in Beatty's notice at ECF 78. The word recognition does not appear in the post.
Reporting
About this source
The AP story whose X post Raskin quoted (card title matches this headline; apnews.com blocks automated fetches), read on the WSLS syndicated copy published 2026-09-16 16:47 UTC. Used for the fencing, Beatty's emergency-hearing request and Trump's chairmanship of the board; AP's 'Trump-aligned' description of the board is not adopted.
Archived copy (opens in a new tab)Reporting
About this source
News report opened in full on 2026-09-19 (published 2026-09-17 18:28 UTC, modified 20:12 UTC). Used only for the context sentences: Cooper's 2026-09-15 naming ruling, where Trump made his 2026-09-16 remark, and the 2026-09-17 order. The outlet's own framing of the remark is not adopted.
Original text
About this source
Court docket as mirrored by CourtListener (RECAP), opened 2026-09-19. The minute order was read in full: it denies the emergency hearing (ECF 84), requires a sworn status report by 2026-09-23, and orders written notice more than 30 days before any change to the scope of the project plans including any 'demolition' of the main building. The docket gives dates but no clock times.
Archived copy (opens in a new tab)Before the quotation
On 2026-09-15 Judge Christopher Cooper ruled that the Kennedy Center could not put Trump's name on its exterior without congressional approval, and the board, which Trump chairs, voted to close the center. At 2:54 PM ET that day Trump posted on Truth Social that the closing would take place immediately and that if the D.C. Circuit's ruling on the board's approved name is negative and not overturned, the renovation 'will not take place'. On 2026-09-16 the Associated Press reported that fencing had gone up around the main building, and Rep. Joyce Beatty asked the court for an emergency hearing on what she called an 'unlawful closure'; Raskin's post quotes the AP report.
After the quotation
That evening Trump told reporters in Charlotte, North Carolina, that the Trump administration should have recognition and spoke of the Kennedy Center closing and ending up 'ripped down'. On 2026-09-17 Judge Cooper denied Beatty's request for an emergency hearing and required the defendants to give written notice more than 30 days before implementing any change to the scope of the project plans, including any 'demolition' of the main building.
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 President Trump's stated position that the Kennedy Center's closure and renovation depend on recognition for his administration, as expressed in his 2026-09-15 Truth Social post (which said the closing would take place immediately) and reaffirmed in his 2026-09-16 remarks to reporters in Charlotte, which came that evening, after this post. Raskin's own words call closing the center 'an affront to President Kennedy's memory' and demand that it 'remain open and free from the President's graffiti, vandalism and desecration', which rejects the closure and condemns the President's conduct toward the building without mentioning recognition by name. The closest competing label is challenges_characterization, because part of the post recasts the President's conduct in its own labels. That loses because the passage goes on to express a clearer substantive condemnation of the closure, which the label guide places under condemns.
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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