The latest installment in the Kennedy Center drama arrived Wednesday with a court-mandated filing by President Donald Trump’s Department of Justice (DOJ), explaining his rationale for abruptly closing the performing arts venue last Tuesday.

It made no mention of the possible “DEMOLITION” of the center, recently threatened by Trump.

The executive director of the Kennedy Center, Matt Floca, said in the DOJ filing that the closure would extend another week, claiming “deterioration” that is “widespread” at the center. Floca cited the engineering consulting firm charged with assessing the building’s infrastructure to make the determination, ABC News reports.

When and if the center reopens depends on what else the engineering firm finds, he said.

The “temporary” closure was undertaken by the Kennedy Center board last week at Trump’s behest and immediately followed a ruling by the judge in the case challenging Trump’s stewardship. He barred the board for a second time from inscribing the president’s name on the center’s facade.

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[–] 4 points 22 hours ago*

Just a reminder, structural damage has been intentionally done to the building

A staff member at Washington Litigation Group, one of the law firms representing Beatty, swore in a court filing that she witnessed a forklift "run into and hit the pillars on the building" several times on Wednesday as construction crews erected gates around the Kennedy Center.

https://www.npr.org/2026/09/17/nx-s1-5973036/trump-threat-tear-down-kennedy-center

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