White House spokeswoman Liz Huston says the Kennedy Center will decline without Trump's intervention
White 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
“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.”
Source and context
Reporting
About this source
News article (published 10:22 AM ET, last modified 4:22 PM ET on Sept. 17), fetched with curl and read in full. 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. No original release or recording of the statement was found.
Reporting
About this source
News article (published 4:41 PM ET, updated 5:15 PM ET on Sept. 17), fetched with curl and read. Both sentences appear contiguously as Huston's answer when asked for comment on the placard photograph.
Reporting
About this source
NBC News live blog (page title is the current lead entry), fetched with curl. 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
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 Sept. 15 Truth Social post and reaffirmed in his Sept. 16 remarks in Charlotte. 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 defends_or_excuses. 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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Donald Trump's statements linking the Kennedy Center's renovation to recognition for his administration
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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