Beatty on Trump admin threats to demolish Kennedy Center: ‘Who’s going to stop them?’

Rep. Joyce Beatty (D-Ohio) said Saturday she believes the ongoing legal battle over the Kennedy Center could stand in the way of President Trump tearing down the building, after his administration raised demolition as a possibility earlier this week.

Beatty, an ex officio member of the center’s board who has successfully challenged Trump’s proposed changes to the performing arts center in court, was asked in an interview what would stop Trump from demolishing the building.

“If Donald Trump and the administration send, you know, construction crews to the Kennedy Center and decide to knock it down, who’s going to stop them?” MS Now’s Eugene Daniels asked. “He knocked down the East Wing, and it’s still unclear if he was legally able to do that.”

“This started back in December of 2025, so I’m a little more hopeful with this because we are in court,” Beatty said.

“He may have thought about doing it when he was ordered to take his name down,” she added. “So I think there is a slight difference.”

The question comes after the Justice Department warned in a court filing Monday that the Kennedy Center could eventually have to be “taken down” if the administration is unable to move forward with a two-year renovation.

The administration has described the building as deteriorating and in need of extensive repairs. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said Thursday the planned renovation is expected to cost $257 million.

The plans are tied up in a broader legal battle brought by Beatty over Trump’s efforts to reshape the congressionally established memorial, including adding his name to the building.

U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper ruled that Trump’s name could not be added to the building and ordered the lettering removed, finding that only Congress could change the center’s name.

The Trump-aligned board has since approved a new proposal that would leave the Kennedy Center’s name intact but add an inscription reading “Restored and Renovated by President Donald Trump.”

The Justice Department argued that the new inscription complies with Cooper’s ruling because it does not formally rename the building. Beatty’s attorneys contend the board is trying to get around the earlier ruling.

The center has agreed to hold off on adding the inscription until at least Sept. 8.

But Beatty said she is not dismissing the possibility that Trump could ultimately seek to demolish the building.

“This is a living memorial, the only memorial to an assassinated president that was beloved by many,” she said. “So we’re not taking it lightly.”