Trump administration warns the Kennedy Center venue could face demolition

The Trump administration has raised the possibility of demolishing the Kennedy Center if the president is blocked from carrying out his planned overhaul of the Washington performing arts complex.

In a court filing submitted on Monday, Justice Department attorneys representing the venue argued that the building could deteriorate to a point where it would have to be taken down. If that happened, they wrote, one option would be a large outdoor amphitheater overlooking the Potomac River, which they said had been proposed by some for many years. The filing conceded that such a replacement would fail to adequately honour President John F. Kennedy, but described it as simpler and cheaper to build and run.

According to The Washington Post, it is the first time the president's allies have explicitly raised demolition as a possible outcome. A spokesperson for the venue afterwards stressed that the scenario was hypothetical and would only become relevant if the proposed renovations were stopped. The filing itself puts the case bluntly, stating that the centre cannot survive structurally or financially without the administration.

The filing lands in the middle of a much larger legal fight over the more than 50-year-old complex. Earlier this month its board voted again to close much of the venue for two years of renovations, after a federal judge had blocked an earlier attempt. The same board approved an inscription reading "Restored and Renovated By President Donald J. Trump" beneath the building's existing name, along with plans to name the plaza after him.

US District Judge Christopher Cooper ruled in May that the board had illegally added the president's name to a building Congress designated as a memorial to John F. Kennedy. He ordered the name removed and paused the closure, finding the board had not properly weighed the consequences. Representative Joyce Beatty, an Ohio Democrat who sits on the board as an ex officio trustee, has since asked Cooper to block the latest naming effort, with a hearing set for Thursday.

The dispute has already cost the institution performers and money. Philip Glass, Bela Fleck and Renee Fleming are among the artists who withdrew from scheduled dates after the 2025 takeover, and the Washington National Opera ended a decades-long relationship with the building. Internal documents obtained by The Washington Post showed ticket sales and fundraising falling sharply after the name change in December, a decline the board later answered by voting to shut the doors for two years and which has been reported as a $100 million revenue hit.