President Trump says Washington's Kennedy Center will get a $200 million overhaul—and go dark for two years—but he insists the landmark itself isn't coming down, NBC News reports. Speaking to reporters Monday, Trump said the renovation of the performing arts venue on the Potomac River will focus on infrastructure, including new heating and air-conditioning systems. He described the project as fully funded but did not specify who is paying for it. "I'm not ripping it out," he said of the building. "I'll be using the steel. So we're using the structure. We're using some of the marble, and some of the marble comes down, but when it's open, it'll be brand new and really beautiful." A senior White House official who spoke to Politico described the project as a "pretty significant renovation."
The president said he had considered keeping the center open during construction but rejected that option, arguing that closing it entirely would allow for higher-quality work. The shutdown, slated to begin in July, came as a "shock" to the center's staff and even some board members, the Washington Post reports; one staffer calls the move "a self-inflicted crisis" created by Trump. The Kennedy Center receives federal support and was established and named by Congress, a fact that is now at the center of a political and legal fight as Trump's handpicked new board voted to add the president's name to the center. Following Trump's renovation announcement, the same lawmaker who sued the administration over the renaming attempt released a statement saying, "The Kennedy Center is congressionally funded, and Congress should have been consulted about any decision to shut down its operations or make major renovations, especially for two years."
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