Trump’s DOJ says ‘sick and poorly’ Kennedy Center is already running out of money to pay its bills

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While congressional Republicans block efforts to ban Donald Trump from demolishing the Kennedy Center, Department of Justice lawyers argue that the Trump-dominated institution is “already in a state of collapse both financially and physically” and nearly out of money to pay its bills.

On Monday night, Republican Sen. Mike Lee blocked bipartisan legislation to prevent the Trump administration from demolishing the venue after lawmakers drafted a bill in response to apparent threats that the building could be knocked down if the president isn’t allowed to add his name to it.

The Justice Department, meanwhile, told a federal appeals court that the beleaguered institution is “dangerously dilapidated, outdated and decrepit” while its finances are “equally in disrepair.”

On September 17, a federal judge ordered the Trump administration to provide at least 30 days’ notice before making any physical changes to the Kennedy Center — including demolishing it — after the Trump-controlled board voted to shutter the venue for repairs.

The vote followed a judge’s ruling that blocked the Kennedy Center from adding the president’s name to the building after he repeatedly tried to rename the memorial after himself.

Kennedy Center officials insist that the venue is only “temporarily” closing to assess the “advanced deterioration,” fueling speculation that the president could try to tear it down altogether.

“Like many arts and entertainment facilities, the Center has been losing tens of millions of dollars each and every year for decades, and it is projected to lose around $100 million per year long into the future,” government lawyers wrote Tuesday.

“In short, both physically and financially, the Kennedy Center is in critical condition,” they added. “To bring this sick and poorly run facility back to health will require time, energy, talent, and large amounts of money.”

Congress appropriated roughly $258 million for capital restoration projects and renovations at the Kennedy Center last year. The Trump administration’s takeover, meanwhile, put the venue on track to a projected $23 million deficit, as ticket sales plunged and subscriptions fell under the leadership change.

Without “appropriate recognition” — such as putting Trump’s name on the building — the Kennedy Center will be “a financially insolvent facility and a decrepit, dilapidated, crumbling building, that is bleeding hundreds of millions of dollars in losses and that continues to race toward physical and financial ruin,” according to the government.

“The stakes are existential,” lawyers added. “Just this month, the Kennedy Center was only able to pay its bills thanks to [$17 million] raised by President Trump that were infused into the Kennedy Center account to keep it afloat.”

Those funds are “fast being expended” and will “dry up” without the president' s support, according to the filing.

Without Trump, the Kennedy Center will “continue its deterioration into an unsafe structure that will eventually collapse, with a determination to follow on how to proceed, and what to do with the site.”

Last month, after filing several court documents using increasingly hyperbolic and ominous language to keep Trump’s name on the building, the Justice Department floated the possibility that the building could be demolished altogether.

Bipartisan legislation spearheaded by Democratic Sen. Jeff Merkley and Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski sought to ban the demolition of presidential memorials. The senators lead the appropriations subcommittee that oversees funding for the center, the Interior Department and the National Park Service.

They sought to pass the bill by unanimous consent on Monday night, which would allow quick passage of a motion unless a single senator objects.

But Lee, a key Trump ally in the Senate, rejected the attempt.

“Trump’s threats to tear down the Kennedy Center — all because the law says he can’t put his name on the building — are straight out of the authoritarian playbook and should infuriate every American who values our history and the rule of law,” Merkley said in a statement.

Rep. Chellie Pingree, who is sponsoring a House version of the bill, said Trump’s threats are “beyond the pale.”

“This bill establishes a simple safeguard: if Congress created the designation, only an act of Congress can authorize its demolition,” she said.