Kennedy Center to close for renovations after judge blocks returning Trump’s name to landmark venue

Most of the Kennedy Center in the US capital, Washington, DC, will close for repairs following a board vote Tuesday, hours after a federal judge again blocked the landmark venue from being renamed after President Donald Trump. “Simply put, Defendants cannot install memorials for President Trump or anyone or anything else at the Kennedy Center without Congress’s blessing,” US District Judge Christopher Cooper said in the latest ruling Tuesday. Trump, in response to the ruling, said the $257 million allocated by Congress for the repairs would only be released if the renaming was permitted to proceed — a condition federal courts have twice ruled cannot be met without Congressional approval.