Kennedy Center warns of bankruptcy unless Trump’s name returns, sources say

POOL via CNN Newsource

By Hanna Park, Sunlen Serfaty

(CNN) — Officials at the Kennedy Center have warned it could face fiscal collapse within weeks unless President Donald Trump’s name is added back to the building, two sources familiar with the matter said.

The warning appeared in a report circulated to the performing arts center’s board of trustees ahead of a meeting on Tuesday. The report, which includes two resolutions, said the center could be unable to make payroll and could go into bankruptcy in weeks, one source who read the report said.

The report was originally obtained and reported by The New York Times and The Washington Post.

Trump has offered to raise the money needed to keep it afloat but the report argued that if the president’s name is not on the building he won’t be able to fundraise, according to sources.

The Kennedy Center board could move to close the institution as soon as Tuesday, sources said.

CNN has reached out to the Kennedy Center and the White House for comment. CNN has not independently reviewed the draft resolution to the board.

“Trump attracts money,” board member and longtime Trump ally Paolo Zampolli told the Times. “So when Trump says donate to this place, everyone will donate.”

A Kennedy Center spokesperson said the board of trustees had inherited financial mismanagement from former leadership. The spokesperson added that putting Trump’s name on the building had attracted new donors.

The report marks the latest turn in Trump’s takeover of the national arts institution, which has been mired in financial turmoil, leadership churn and litigation since he installed loyalists to the board, who then elected him chairman last year. The change led to artists pulling out of planned events at the venue and a drop in ticket sales.

Since then, Trump has sought to put his stamp on the institution, adding his name to the building’s exterior in December, prompting a lawsuit challenging the legality of the change and a ruling from a judge that his name must be removed. The lettering was taken down in June.

In August, the center voted once again to add Trump’s name on the building and close for a yearslong renovation, court filings show. The board later told a federal judge it would not attempt to add Trump’s name to the building or grounds until October 8 at the earliest, a one-month delay from previous plans.

The lawsuit that blocked the board from adding Trump’s name to the Kennedy Center is ongoing. There is a status conference in the case scheduled for Tuesday morning.

Adding to the financial turmoil, the center previously argued in court filings it would have to return millions of dollars in private donations it had already received if Trump’s name wasn’t on the building’s facade, citing the center’s bylaws.

“All of this money, hundreds of millions of dollars, will have to be immediately returned, or not received by the Center,” the Department of Justice told an appeals court.

According to a source, there are about 10 different ways they could once again inscribe Trump’s name on the building.

Trustees are also being asked to close the center’s main building immediately, a source said, citing a September 4 incident in which a section of ceiling plaster fell.

No one was hurt, but the administration has used it to bolster its argument in court in favor of renovations.

Roma Daravi, the Kennedy Center’s vice president of public relations, said in a statement that the September incident was “another example of the urgent need to close for renovation and revitalization, as our Chairman President Trump has championed.”

“Fortunately, no one was injured when the main hall’s ceiling collapsed. This structural failure stems from decades of neglect and deferred maintenance by the previous leadership, and there’s no justification for further delays in restoring America’s cultural center,” Daravi said.

Lawyers for the venue have argued that if the current building cannot undergo extensive renovations, the center “will deteriorate further into an unsafe, decrepit structure that will be required to be taken down.”

In April, Kennedy Center officials gave CNN and other news outlets a behind-the-scenes tour of the building, showing the boiler room, behind the stages, and the HVAC system to provide evidence of the need for the renovations.

This story has been updated with additional reporting.

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