Judge Asked to Compel Trump Administration to Disclose Kennedy Center Records
Attorneys urge a federal judge to order the Trump administration to release withheld emails and text messages regarding Kennedy Center closure plans.
POLICY WIRE — Washington, United States — Attorneys representing a Democratic lawmaker are pushing a federal judge to compel the Trump administration to release hidden records detailing the president’s management influence over the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.
Legal counsel for U.S. Representative Joyce Beatty filed court documents revealing that a catalog of files in the institution’s possession points to nearly constant communication between President Donald Trump and center leadership, operating either directly or through intermediaries.
Beatty, an Ohio Democrat and ex officio member of the center’s board, is petitioning the court to order the administration to turn over withheld emails, texts, and documents previously shielded under claims of executive privilege.
These communications directly bear on the issues before the Court, and the claim of privilege cannot stand, Beatty’s attorneys stated in the court filing.
U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper did not issue an immediate ruling regarding the request to force disclosure of the contested documents.
The catalog of withheld materials features 19 text messages exchanged between Kennedy Center executive director and CEO Matt Floca and Trump executive assistant Natalie Harp concerning organizational matters. Out of those, 11 messages were sent on September 15, the exact day the board held its third vote to shut down the facility.
Furthermore, the index includes roughly 180 center-related text messages passing between Floca and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, who functioned as Trump’s go-between, according to the plaintiffs’ legal team. Attorneys representing Beatty voiced suspicions that the administration is engaging in impermissible gamesmanship.
Without access to these materials, Beatty will lack a complete picture of Defendants actions, the legal team warned in the filing.
The White House did not provide immediate remarks regarding the recent court filing.
Cooper, nominated to the bench by Democratic President Barack Obama, issued a ruling in May determining that the Kennedy Center unlawfully appended Trump’s name to the structure and mandated its removal.
Trump, appointed as the center’s chairman last year by loyalists on the board, has contended that the facility is in a hazardous state necessitating it to be ripped down. The board subsequently voted to close the center after Cooper blocked the institution from restoring Trump’s name to the edifice.
On September 16, Floca directed a temporary shutdown of the venue’s primary building. One day later, Cooper instructed the Kennedy Center to issue a 30-day notice prior to enacting any significant physical modifications to the property.
Reporting by Policy-Wire (PW)
