Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), Ranking Member of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee (EPW), has issued a statement following President Trumps announcement that he is closing the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts for two years.

In a statement Whitehouse said, “As President Trump continues his demolition tour of Washington, he’s now setting his sights on one of America’s great cultural institutions.  And yet again, he’s bucking rules and convention to do so. If he succeeds, it will be because of a series of suspect and illegal actions to commandeer the Kennedy Center as a clubhouse for his friends and political allies and install leadership who will satisfy his every whim: first, he gutted the Center’s board, dismissing all Trustees appointed by Democratic presidents and replacing them with loyalists eager to rubber stamp his power grab; next, he illegally stripped ex officio Trustees of their rights to vote in contravention of the relevant statute; then he illegally slapped his own name on the living memorial to President Kennedy, literally silencing Trustees who tried to speak up against it. Now, with his hostile takeover leading to artists’ withdrawals and declining ticket sales, he is covering up his failures by shuttering a national landmark that belongs to the American people—and he’s announcing it as a fait accompli before input from the Board, Congress, and others, as law and precedent dictate.”

The statement comes a day after Trump said that he had obtained financing to renovate the Kennedy Center and said, “Based on these findings, and totally subject to Board approval, I have determined that the fastest way to bring The Trump Kennedy Center to the highest level of Success, Beauty, and Grandeur, is to cease Entertainment Operations for an approximately two year period of time, with a scheduled Grand Reopening that will rival and surpass anything that has taken place with respect to such a Facility before.”

Trump Loyalist Executive Director Richard Grenell also celebrated the news on X stating, “I am grateful for President Trump’s visionary leadership. I am also grateful to Congress for appropriating an historic $257M to finally address decades of deferred maintenance and repairs at the Trump Kennedy Center. Our goal has always been to not only save and permanently preserve the Center, but to make it the finest Arts Institution in the world. It desperately needs this renovation and temporarily closing the Center just makes sense – it will enable us to better invest our resources, think bigger and make the historic renovations more comprehensive. It also means we will be finished faster. President Trump has a reputation for delivering large construction projects on time, under budget and beautifully finished. This will be a brief closure in retrospect – and I am confident this sets the stage for a stronger, revitalized National Cultural and Entertainment Complex.”

Since the Trump takeover, ticket sales have declined and many high profile artists have canceled performances leaving the Center with very little programming except the National Symphony Orchestra, which announced it would not be leaving the Institution. Since the Trump takeover, the “Performing Arts Center” has been used for loyalist events including debates by NewsNation and the premiere of Melania Trump’s documentary, “Melania,” which was a financial flop, raking in just $7 million per Box Office Mojo in its opening weekend despite a $40 million budget and $35 million in marketing costs.

Whitehouse is currently investigating Grenell for using tens of thousands of dollars from the Kennedy Center on luxury hotel rooms, lavish meals, and entertainment for friends and newly hired staff. Additionally, Whitehouse has also accused Grenell of discounting the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts to political allies for events.

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