Mark Warner says Trump would rather close the Kennedy Center because it cannot have his name on the building
Mark WarnerU.S. Senator from Virginia and ex officio trustee of the Kennedy Center, in an official Senate press release
In an official Senate press release on the Kennedy Center board’s September 15 meeting, Sen. Mark Warner (D-VA), an ex officio trustee, said the board’s vote to close the Center immediately means the country is losing one of its premier arts and cultural institutions. He said the president would rather close the Center because it cannot have his name on the building than work with Congress to renovate it.
“With the president’s handpicked board voting to close the Center immediately, we are losing one of the country’s premier arts and cultural institutions. It is a shame the president would rather close the Center because it cannot have his name on the building, rather than work with Congress to renovate the building.”
Official statement
Reporting
Where this statement fits
Should Donald Trump link the Kennedy Center's renovation to recognition for his administration?
On September 15, 2026, a federal judge barred the Kennedy Center board, chaired by Donald Trump, from inscribing "renovated and restored by Donald J. Trump" on its main building or renaming the grounds for him. The board then voted to close the main building, and Trump posted that renovation "cannot begin until such time as the D.C. Circuit rules on the Board's approved name" and "will not take place" if that ruling is negative and not overturned. In Charlotte on September 16 he said the administration "should certainly have recognition. Because frankly, if we don't do that, it's going to close. It'll end up being ripped down." The White House says the center will "inevitably continue to decline" without his intervention; Rep. Joyce Beatty's lawyers wrote that Trump said "if he is not recognized on the building, it will close and be ripped down." The dispute is over whether the renovation should depend on recognition for Trump's administration and what his remarks mean.
Source and context
Official statement
About this source
Official press release on the senator’s Senate website. Printed date September 15th, 2026; published 2026-09-15 21:21:52 UTC (5:21 PM ET), which is after the board’s closure vote and Trump’s 2:54 PM ET post. The release says it is a statement on 'today’s board meeting' and identifies Warner as an ex officio member of the board of trustees; it does not mention the Truth Social post. The quotation is the last two sentences of the release, contiguous in the third paragraph of the quoted statement.
Archived copy (opens in a new tab)Reporting
About this source
News report that quotes the same two sentences and says Warner gave them 'in a statement to Al Jazeera'; it also describes him as an ex officio board member. First published 2026-09-15 20:14:22 UTC, modified 2026-09-15 22:45:25 UTC; the Warner quotation was added after the release went up, at a time the page does not show. Used to corroborate wording, date and attribution, not as the primary source.
Archived copy (opens in a new tab)Before the quotation
Judge Christopher Cooper ruled on September 15 that the Kennedy Center board could not put President Trump’s name on the building, and the board then voted to close the main building immediately. At 2:54 PM ET Trump posted on Truth Social that the closing would take effect immediately and that, if the D.C. Circuit’s ruling on the board’s approved name is negative and is not overturned by the Supreme Court, the renovation “will not take place.”
After the quotation
Warner's release was issued on September 15, 2026, the day of the board meeting.
How this statement is classified
The label describes this statement's response within the context above.
Why this label?
Warner's release, issued on the evening of September 15 after the board's closure vote and that post, rejects the linkage in his own words: he says the president "would rather close the Center because it cannot have his name on the building, rather than work with Congress to renovate the building." The closest competing label is “Mixed or conditional”, because the release acknowledges that the Center "has its own challenges." That loses because the acknowledgment is the premise for the criticism that follows, not a competing position, and the release ends by faulting the closure itself.
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- Donald Trump
More from this case
Read the full caseSheldon Whitehouse says Trump appointees' conduct is hard to square with the board's fiduciary duty
“Not easy to see how any of this behavior of Trump appointees comports with the board’s fiduciary duty to the Center.”Read statement
Dechicchis criticizes putting recognition ahead of improvements
“In Trump’s mind, if he doesn’t get the recognition he feels he deserves, there’s no point in continuing improvements on the center.”Read statement
Kerry Kennedy says Congress already funded the Kennedy Center's restoration and tells Trump "That's not your job"
“this is the memorial created by the United States Congress to a slain president. So, putting Trump's name on it would be like renaming the Washington Monument the Trump Washington Monument or the Trump Lincoln Memorial or the Trump Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. ... And their argument is they're not -- there is not money for it. But in the Big Beautiful Bill, they -- the Congress passed $246 million in order to restore the Kennedy Center. So that's just not true. ... So President Trump, do your job. Focus on the people's pain and the work that you're supposed to do in the -- in the Oval Office and not on the Kennedy Center. That's not your job.”Read statement
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The Dispute Index. "Mark Warner says Trump would rather close the Kennedy Center because it cannot have his name on the building". First published: 2026-09-19. Last updated: 2026-09-22. https://disputeindex.com/events/1183-in-an-official-senate-press-release-on-the