Construction workers began work to remove President Donald Trump’s name from the facade of the Kennedy Center early Saturday morning, six months after a board handpicked by the president voted to rebrand the iconic performing arts venue by adding his name to it.Subscribe to read this story ad-free Get unlimited access to ad-free articles and exclusive content.Crews removed lettering on the building, added in December, that inserted Trump’s name before “The John F.Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts” — the original signage that had been in place since construction began in 1964.Several dozen attendees gathered and cheered on the workers who prepared to take the president’s name off of the building.A federal judge ruled last month that Trump’s name must be removed by June 12, writing that the center’s board did not have the authority to unilaterally rename the building.“Congress gave the Kennedy Center its name, and only Congress can change it,” U.S.
District Judge Christopher Cooper wrote on May 29.Late Friday night, the Justice Department sought a 12 hour delay to illustrate its compliance with the court order, blaming thunderstorms for the delay.“The removal work is presently ongoing, and Defendants expect it will conclude in the early hours of the morning of June 13, 2026,” DOJ lawyers wrote.Trump first raised the prospect of adding his name to the Kennedy Center in a Truth Social post last August.In a last-ditch effort to halt the judge’s order, the Kennedy Center sought to block it late Thursday.The judge denied that request Friday, hours before the deadline for removing Trump’s name.In a filing to a federal appeals court seeking to block the judge’s order, the center argued for the first time that taking Trump’s name off the building would result in having to return hundreds of millions of dollars that the center has raised for renovations due to a previously unannounced change to the center’s bylaws.“All of this mone...