White House spokeswoman Liz Huston says the Kennedy Center will decline without Trump's intervention
Liz HustonWhite House spokeswoman, in a statement to news outlets including CNBC, ABC News and NBC News to news outlets including CNBC, ABC News and NBC News
In a statement to news outlets responding to questions about the Air Force One placard photograph, White House spokeswoman Liz Huston said Democrats let the Kennedy Center deteriorate for years, allowing water damage and crumbling infrastructure to turn it into a building in decay. She said that, as President Trump said the previous night, the center will continue to decline without his intervention.
“For years, Democrats let the Kennedy Center rot, allowing water damage and crumbling infrastructure to turn a national treasure into a building in decay. As President Trump said last night, without his intervention, The Kennedy Center will inevitably continue to decline.”
Reporting
Reporting
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
Reporting
About this source
News article (published 10:22 AM ET, last modified 4:22 PM ET on Sept. 17). It reports a statement Huston gave CNBC 'on the photo'; the two sentences sit in adjacent quoted paragraphs, the second marked 'Huston said'. The same two sentences run contiguously in ABC News, the New York Post and Spectrum News. The page still carries an earlier line that the White House 'did not immediately respond' about the photo, apparently left from before the statement was added. We could not find an original release or recording of the statement.
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About this source
News article (published 4:41 PM ET, updated 5:15 PM ET on Sept. 17). Both sentences appear contiguously as Huston's answer when asked for comment on the placard photograph.
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About this source
NBC News live blog (page title is the current lead entry). The 2:33 PM EDT entry says that, asked whether Trump plans to demolish the center, the White House released a statement quoting Huston's second sentence; the 2:51 PM EDT entry quotes both sentences. Used to fix when the statement was public. NBC's description of the question (whether Trump plans to demolish the center) differs from CNBC's ('on the photo').
Archived copy (opens in a new tab)Before the quotation
On the evening of Sept. 16, President Trump told reporters in Charlotte that the Trump administration should have recognition for getting involved with the Kennedy Center and referred to the center closing and being "ripped down." Photographs published that night showed him aboard Air Force One looking at a placard that appeared to read "Kennedy Center DEMOLISHED," and Rep. Joyce Beatty's lawyers filed the remark and a photograph with the federal court on Sept. 17.
After the quotation
The same day, Judge Christopher Cooper denied Beatty's request for an emergency hearing on the center's closure and ordered the defendants to give more than 30 days' written notice before any change to the scope of the project plans, including any "demolition" of the Center's main building. He also ordered a status report, supported by a sworn declaration, on the center's "temporary closure" by Sept. 23.
How this statement is classified
The label describes this statement's response within the context above.
Why this label?
Huston's statement attributes the building's condition to Democrats and describes the Sept. 16 remark as saying the center will continue to decline without Trump's intervention, which is the White House's reading of that remark and differs from readings that tie it to recognition; it does not mention recognition, the closure or the renovation and neither endorses nor criticizes conditioning them on recognition. The closest competing label is “Defended or excused”. That loses because the statement supports Trump's intervention as the remedy for decline but does not say that closing the center or conditioning its renovation on recognition is justified, and support for a remedy is not itself a defense of the conduct in question.
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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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- White House spokeswoman Liz Huston says the Kennedy Center will decline without Trump's intervention
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The Dispute Index. "White House spokeswoman Liz Huston says the Kennedy Center will decline without Trump's intervention". First published: 2026-09-19. Last updated: 2026-09-22. https://disputeindex.com/events/1187-in-a-statement-to-news-outlets-responding-to