Justice Department lawyers said the Kennedy Center may need to be demolished if renovation plans aren’t allowed, including the display of President Donald J. Trump’s name on the front of the venue.
“Without those efforts, the Center will deteriorate further into an unsafe, decrepit structure that will be required to be taken down, with a determination to follow on what to build on the site, such as a large outdoor amphitheater overlooking the Potomac River that has been proposed, by some, for many years,” the DOJ said in a Monday federal court filing.
In a new court filing, the Trump Administration is explicitly raising the possibility that the Kennedy Center building could be demolished and replaced with an outdoor amphitheater. The filing does not say there is currently a plan to demolish the Kennedy Center, but it presents…
— Ken Dilanian (@KDilanianMSNOW) August 25, 2026
The attorneys also called the Washington, D.C. performing arts center “structurally unsound, fundamentally unsafe, and embarrassing to the Nation’s Capital” in arguing for the overhaul of the building.
DOJ attorney Brantley T. Mayers also stressed the importance of featuring Trump’s name on the facade, claiming that if it isn’t allowed to recognize his contribution to the center, it could cause “donors to flee, financial contributions to dry up, and structural rehabilitation to stop.”
In addition, the filing states that a potential future outdoor amphitheater as a replacement might “fail to adequately honor” former President John F. Kennedy – the venue’s namesake – but “would be simpler and more economical to build, operate, and maintain.”
Mayers also blasted Rep. Joyce Beatty (D-Ohio), an ex officio board member who sued to have the president’s name stripped off the building, warning that if her suit is allowed to continue that it “almost guarantees the continued decline and eventual demise of the Kennedy Center, probably leading to the construction of a new, but very different kind, of venue.”
The filing’s implied threat is the latest turn in the contentious efforts by Trump to overhaul the Kennedy Center, which he has maligned as “rusted, rotted, and rat and bug infested” and the board’s ongoing battle to honor him by adding his name to the facility.
Beatty’s legal team fired back.
BREAKING: the administration is now threatening in federal court to LEVEL the Kennedy Center if Trump does not get his way
His path of destruction knows no bounds & he will answer for it in court @DDAction_ @WLG -TNhttps://t.co/gyUgFd15RX
— Norm Eisen (@NormEisen) August 25, 2026
“This is a not-so-subtle threat to demolish the Kennedy Center if the President doesn’t get his way. This is unconscionable, it is unbecoming of the Department of Justice to even put this in a filing, and we will answer in court,” Beatty’s attorneys Norm Eisen and Nathaniel Zelinsky said in a statement.
They also scoffed at the DOJ filing as “legally baseless” and said it was “unconscionable” to threaten to tear the building down if changes weren’t allowed.
“Even Beatty should prefer a healthy, restored Center to a decaying hulk that is doomed to inevitable destruction or collapse. The Court should allow the Board and President Trump to bring the Center back to a level of greatness far higher than it has ever had before. This would be the fitting tribute that President Kennedy so well deserves,” the filing says.
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