Donald Trump's name removed from Kennedy Center in pre-dawn operation
The center opened in 1971 as a memorial to President John F. Kennedy
Workers stripped US President Donald Trump's name from the Kennedy Center early on Saturday, less than six months after it went up, complying with a judge's ruling that the performing arts landmark cannot be renamed without an act of Congress.
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The work began around 1:20 am, hours after the Department of Justice said the government would miss the court-ordered deadline of 11:59 pm on Friday to take Trump's name off the Washington venue, created a half-century ago to honour an assassinated president.
The center's board, which Trump chairs, voted in December to rename it The Donald J. Trump and The John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts. Workers began affixing his name to the building the next day.
After erecting scaffolding late on Friday, workers draped tarps over the temporary structure in the predawn hours and were seen removing letters around 3:10 am in an operation that took about 30 minutes.
Late on Friday, the DOJ had said in a court filing it would miss the deadline because of thunderstorms that could pose safety risks for the workers, seeking a 12-hour extension.
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Democratic US Representative Joyce Beatty of Ohio, who brought the lawsuit that forced Trump's name to be removed, called the request to extend the two-week-old deadline "inexcusable" and part of "a pattern of non-compliance," according to the DOJ filing.
The center opened in 1971 as a memorial to President John F. Kennedy, a Democrat assassinated in 1963. Trump, a Republican, has packed its board of trustees with allies since resuming office last year.
Hours before the DOJ filing, a federal judge in Washington had declined the department's request to pause an order to remove Trump's name.
US District Judge Christopher Cooper said he would not lift the order while a federal appeals court considers his ruling that only Congress could rename the venue.
The administration appealed that order to the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, which also rejected the government's request for a pause on Friday.
The White House and the Kennedy Center did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Cooper ruled on May 29 that only Congress could rename the arts center. His order had required Trump's name to be removed from the building's facade, its website and other materials.
In urging the appeals court to pause the order, the DOJ said: "It does not make sense to alter the Center’s name and signage now, only to potentially revert the name again after what should be a successful appeal."
Trump in February announced a two-year closure of the center for a major renovation.
He has made a broader push to reshape Washington's monumental core, including plans for a 250-foot (75-meter) arch and a 90,000-square-foot (8,400-square-meter) ballroom on the site of the East Wing of the White House, which Trump had demolished in October.