On Wednesday evening, while speaking with a reporter, the President said that if he cannot install a Trump sign on the Kennedy Center then “it will end up being ripped down.” (On Tuesday, a federal judge ruled for the second time that installing such a sign would be illegal.) Hours later, the photojournalist Brendan Smialowski captured an image of Trump landing at Joint Base Andrews, illuminated in the window of Air Force One, looking at a placard whose visible text appears to read “Kennedy Center DEMOLISH.” (Washingtonian has authenticated this image through the wire service AFP. The photo director for AFP North America, Pedro Ugarte, said that “I can fully, 100 percent confirm it’s an authentic picture taken by one of our staff photographers.”)
Trump looks at a placard that reads “Kennedy Center DEMOLITION” as he lands at Joint Base Andrews tonight
(Brendan Smialowski/AFP via Getty) pic.twitter.com/w1A9AxudDK
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) September 17, 2026
These renewed threats to demolish the Kennedy Center come on the heels of an August 24 court filing, in which attorneys from the Department of Justice argued that a court order “blocking the Board from appropriately recognizing President Trump [with the Trump signage] will cause donors to flee, financial contributions to dry up, and structural rehabilitation to stop. There will simply not be the expertise or funding necessary to rebuild and renovate this decimated structure.” In the same filing, the Department of Justice indicated that without the Trump sign, “the Center will deteriorate further into an unsafe, decrepit structure that will be required to be taken down.”
On Thursday morning, attorneys for Congresswoman Joyce Beatty—the Kennedy Center board member currently suing the institution over its closure and attempted renaming—filed a brief informing the court of these escalating demolition threats. The filing refers to the “emergency nature of this matter.” In a subsequent brief, Beatty’s attorneys requested that the court “enter an order making clear that either the wholesale demolition of the building or demolition that would make public access impossible” would be unlawful.
Separately, Beatty has requested an emergency hearing on the Kennedy Center’s Tuesday closure, which resulted from a vote by its board. (The decision was attributed to “acute risks to public safety resulting from continued structural deterioration.”) Beatty’s attorneys argue that the closure defies a standing court order prohibiting the Kennedy Center from effectuating the board’s March 16th vote to close for renovations. Attorneys for the Department of Justice countered in a filing that Tuesday’s emergency closure is separate from the contested board vote and thereby doesn’t violate the court order. DOJ also suggested that the closure would be temporary. The building is currently closed to the public, but according to multiple sources at the Kennedy Center, some staff are still on site.
This article has been updated to reflect new court filings.
