The Trump administration argued that the Kennedy Center will lose donor money if the President's name is removed from the building and the 'decrepit' cultural center may be 'required to be taken down.'
The argument came from a court filing late Monday on the long-running saga over whether the president's name can be added to the cultural institution and venue meant to honor John F Kennedy after his assassination.
If allowed to deteriorate further, they continued, the Kennedy Center 'will be required to be taken down, with a determination to follow on what to build on the site.'
That could be an outdoor amphitheater overlooking the Potomac River, they said, adding that it would 'fail to adequately honor President John F Kennedy' but would be easier to build and maintain.
The original attempt to add 'Donald J Trump' on the building's facade was halted by the court in May following a lawsuit from Democratic Rep. Joyce Beatty, an ex officio member of the Kennedy Center.
The center's Trump-aligned board of trustees then voted again this month to get the president's name back on the cultural institution in a different way: by appending 'Renovated and Restored By President Donald J Trump' under the title on the building's facade.
Another phrase, 'Endowed by the Trump Kennedy Center Fund' would be a possible addition, as well as renaming the plaza in front of the Kennedy Center to honor the president.
In response, Beatty again asked the federal court to block those stylings, arguing that they were 'clear violations of the Kennedy Center statute' that barred the board from making the center into a memorial to anyone else.
Trump administration attorneys have argued that if the President's name is not kept on the Kennedy Center, it will lose donor money and the 'decrepit' cultural center may be 'required to be taken down'
That came from a court filing late Monday on the long-running saga over whether the president's name can be added to the cultural institution and venue meant to honor John F Kennedy after his assassination
A federal judge will hear arguments on that request on Thursday.
Justice Department attorneys replied in Monday's filing with a grim picture of the state of the Kennedy Center: 'a financially insolvent facility, housed in a decrepit, dilapidated, crumbling building' that 'continues to race toward physical and financial ruin.'
Renovations were required, they argued, but 'an order blocking the Board from appropriately recognizing President Trump will cause donors to flee, financial contributions to dry up, and structural rehabilitation to stop.
There will simply not be the expertise or funding necessary to rebuild and renovate this decimated structure.'
This latest attempt to add Trump's name on and around the center was met with some incredulity from Beatty's attorneys, who said it 'is a transparent attempt to effectuate the renaming in another guise.'
'It´s déjà vu all over again,' they wrote. 'Plaintiff and the Court should not need to play Defendants´ game of whack-a-mole.'
They requested a final ruling to stop the renaming attempts 'and put an end to this childish gambit.'
It's not the first time the board of trustees has used the argument that fundraising could be impeded without Trump's name on the building.
Trump's name was chiseled off the Kennedy Center less than six months after it was affixed to the historic performing arts center
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A panel of judges in July said that the claim came without the support of ' specific facts or evidence .'
The Kennedy Center has fallen on harder times since Trump got more involved, with several artists canceling performances and attendance dropping.
This is one of several attempts by the presidential administration to put Trump's stamp on the U.S. capital, including a plan for a 250-foot triumphal arch, and, as Trump called it, a 'military complex slash ballroom ' at the White House.
Trump's chiseled off the Kennedy Center less than six months after it was affixed to the historic performing arts center dedicated to President John F Kennedy.
In early June, the removal of 'The Donald J Trump and' - continued, with the building's sign now going back to read 'The John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for Performing Arts' one again.
Trump's full name had been plastered on the historic building for 176 days after US District Judge Christopher Cooper deemed that the Trump-appointed Kennedy Center Board's decision to include it was unlawful in late May.
Cooper gave the Kennedy Center until Friday, June 12 to remove all the Trump-branded signage from the building, grounds and website.
The judge, an Obama appointee, was responding to a lawsuit filed by Democratic Representative Joyce Beatty, who had standing in the case because she serves as an ex officio member of the Kennedy Center Board of Trustees as a member of Congress.
'The Kennedy Center's organic statute makes crystal clear that the Center is to be named for President Kennedy, and it cannot bear any other formal name or public memorial based on the Board's unilateral say-so,' Cooper wrote.
Trump complained on Truth Social that he was going to turn the Kennedy Center's management over to Congress.
After Cooper's initial order, the Kennedy Center's website and much of the signage stopped using the Trump name.
Cooper denied the center's board's request for a delay, arguing that the defendants haven't made a strong argument that they will succeed on an appeal.
He also pointed out that 'de minimis resources that would be required to restore the Center's current name in the event of a successful appeal.'
It all comes just a little more than a year after Trump replaced the center's board of trustees with his political allies, who then elected him as board chair.
By December, they voted to rename the iconic landmark. Within hours, Trump's name was added to the website and to the building the following morning.
The addition of his name sparked immediate controversy from the public and the Kennedy family.
