Today in Politics, Bulletin 399. 6/12/26
It is unclear whether Trump’s name is being removed from the Kennedy Center by court order tonight. A judge denied Trump’s last minute attempt to reverse the initial ruling, and a work crew was deployed right at the deadline mandated by the court for his name to be removed. However, it began to rain and the crew was taken down.
… Then we got news that Trump filed an emergency petition claiming that the Kennedy Center board would have to give back all the donations it received since Trump took it over which would cause it to go bankrupt. It is unclear at the time of publishing what the final decision will be or whether it will come down tonight as planned.
… Norm Eisen, attorney for plaintiffs: “Donald Trump just filed his emergency stay in the DC circuit to keep his name on the Kennedy Center & it is batsh** crazy. He clearly wrote big pieces himself. We have filed our opposition, fighting for the rule of law and the American people.”
Attorney Aaron Reichlin-Melnick: “WOW: Since the court order, the Board of the Kennedy Center has seemingly amended its bylaws to take itself hostage, declaring that if anyone takes down the Trump name, they’ll have to give back all donations and go bankrupt. That seems a TEXTBOOK violation of fiduciary duty.”
… Reichlin-Melnick also noted that DOJ was doing all the work for Trump on this case: “Trump’s DOJ, which no longer works for the American people and work solely for him. This is taking up hundreds of hours of worktime for many professionals on all sides, including many taxpayer-funded attorneys and judges. All about Trump demanding that his name be on the Kennedy Center, by law a ‘living memorial’ to JFK.”
— Ron Filipkowski