Board Adds Trump's Name to the Kennedy Center

Goodbye, John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. Hello, Trump-Kennedy Center. Or at least that's the view of the board handpicked by President Trump to run the DC arts institution. On Thursday, the board voted unanimously to rename the facility, reports NBC News. However, the Washington Post reports that it's unclear whether the name change is legal and might need the permission of Congress.

• White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt announced the development on social media, tweeting that the board acted "because of the unbelievable work President Trump has done over the last year in saving the building."

• Roma Daravi, the center's vice president for public relations, confirmed the unanimous vote in an email to the Post, saying the decision recognizes Trump, the current board chairman, for preventing "financial ruin and physical destruction" at the center.
• Officials did not immediately cite any legal authority for renaming the institution, which was created by federal law and is widely known simply as the Kennedy Center. Trump himself used the "Trump-Kennedy Center" name in public recently.
• One person sure to be riled: Maria Shriver, niece of JFK. When word started circulating a few months ago of the possible name change, she called the idea "insane," per the AP. "It makes my blood boil. It's so ridiculous, so petty, so small minded," she wrote. "Truly, what is this about? It's always about something. 'Let's get rid of the Rose Garden. Let's rename the Kennedy Center.' What's next?"
• The vote follows a tumultuous year at the center, marked by Trump's sweeping overhaul of leadership in February and subsequent staff firings and resignations.