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Kennedy Center to be renamed Trump-Kennedy Center, White House says
The Board of the Kennedy Center voted unanimously to rename the center to the "Trump-Kennedy Center," White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt announced on Thursday. FOX 5's Sydney Persing has the latest.
WASHINGTON - Just one day after the Board of Trustees voted to rename the Kennedy Center, President Donald Trump's name has already been installed on the building.
Trump-Kennedy Center
What we know:
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt announced Thursday that the board voted unanimously to add Trump's name to Washington, D.C.'s iconic performing arts center, dubbing it the "Trump-Kennedy Center."
On Friday, crews could be seen outside the performing arts center, working behind tarps to mount new signage on the walls.
WASHINGTON, DC - DECEMBER 19: Workers adjust the name of the "John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts" on December 19, 2025 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Heather Diehl/Getty Images)
Leavitt said that the decision was because of "the unbelievable work President Trump has done over the last year in saving the building. Not only from the standpoint of its reconstruction, but also financially, and its reputation."
PREVIOUS COVERAGE: Kennedy Center Board votes to rename facility after Donald Trump
The backstory:
The Kennedy Center was established in 1958 and renamed in honor of President John F. Kennedy in 1964.
President Trump has been critical of some of the center's previous programming, and in February, announced plans to remove several members of the Board of Trustees. Former Chairman David M. Rubenstein, a billionaire investor and philanthropist who had served in the role since 2010, was one of those removed.
The board is now made entirely of Trump appointees.
'Beyond comprehension'
What they're saying:
Several people spoke out against the board's decision Thursday, including some of JFK's own relatives.
Maria Shriver, Kennedy's niece, called the move "beyond comprehension," and "downright weird" in a post on X Thursday.
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"Can we not see what is happening here," Shriver wrote. "C’mon, my fellow Americans! Wake up! This is not dignified. This is not funny. This is way beneath the stature of the job. It’s downright weird. It’s obsessive in a weird way. Just when you think somone can’t stoop any lower, down they go."
House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries, Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer, and all the ex-officio members of the Kennedy Center Board of Trustees issued a statement Thursday saying that the move was illegal, and that only Congress has the authority to change the center's name.
"Beyond using the Kennedy Center to reward his friends and political allies, President Trump is now attempting to affix his name to yet another public institution without legal authority. Federal law established the Center as a memorial to President Kennedy and prohibits changing its name without Congressional action," the statement said, adding that, "…This whole process displays the corruption that permeates the entire Trump Administration…"
The Source: Information in this story is from White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt and Maria Shriver via X, a statement from the ex-officio members of the Kennedy Center Board of Trustees and previous FOX 5 reports.