Judge Christopher Cooper Orders Kennedy Center To Explain Tarps Covering Facade After Trump Name Removed

A federal judge ordered the Kennedy Center to explain why tarps and scaffolding still cover the building’s facade after workers removed President Donald Trump’s name in the dead of night following a court order.

The Washington Post said readers were asking why the tarp-covered scaffolding was still up “11 days after crews used it to take Trump’s name down,” even as the Kennedy Center’s exterior remained obscured.

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The Independent reported that on Wednesday the judge overseeing the lawsuit against the president’s attempts to rename the venue ordered the Kennedy Center to “indicate the purpose for and status of the tarp and scaffolding” by July 31.

The Guardian said US district judge Christopher Cooper ordered the Trump administration to report by 31 July “the purpose and status of the tarp and scaffolding” now in place at the building.

NPR added that Cooper also mandated the Kennedy Center explain the purpose and status of the tarp and scaffolding placed over the front of the arts complex, where until recently both President Trump and President John F. Kennedy’s names were displayed.

The Independent said the judge’s latest order denied the Trump administration’s request to pause proceedings and extend a deadline to respond to the lawsuit, which the government must answer by June 29.

It also reported that Cooper and a panel of appeals court judges denied the administration’s 11th-hour attempts to keep Trump’s name on the facade, and workers began adding a tarp to the towering scaffolding shortly after 1 a.m. after the midnight deadline came and went.

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The Guardian described Beatty’s lawyers arguing that the “semi-permanent tarp” obscuring John F Kennedy’s name appears to be the Trump administration’s “effort to frustrate the restoration of the status quo as it existed prior to the renaming”.

Forbes said the report is due within seven days of a planned July Kennedy Center Board of Trustees meeting or by July 31, whichever comes first, and requests information about the tarps “to the extent they remain at that time.”

NPR reported that Cooper denied Matt Floca’s request for an extension and mandated the center file a status report within seven days of the center’s July board meeting or by July 31, whichever date is earliest.

The Independent said the Kennedy Center had until June 12 at midnight to strip Trump’s name from the building, but construction crews only started to assemble scaffolding to reach the letters that afternoon, and the scaffolding and tarp are still in place.

NPR reported that Trump, who now serves as the center’s chairman, had announced July 5 as the date the venue would close for major renovations, while Cooper ordered the center to update him on its plans and address the tarp.

Forbes said Cooper’s earlier order temporarily blocked the center from a two-year closure for renovations, and Cooper rejected the Kennedy Center’s request to pause a Monday deadline to respond to a complaint filed by Rep. Joyce Beatty, D-Ohio.

The Independent reported that lawyers said the venue will “maintain an operational model” beyond July 5, when the center initially planned to close for two years of renovations, but also said those measures mean there will be “no meaningful operations” after July 5.

The Guardian said Cooper also temporarily blocked the venue from closing down this summer for renovations, calling the decision “ill-informed” and “seemingly preordained,” after Trump had announced plans approved by his handpicked board for a $257m “revitalization project” that would shutter the center for two years.