@jonathanreports.bsky.social
Washington Post reporter
@jonathanreports.bsky.socialCan Trump claim executive privilege over conversations he has as Kennedy Center chairman rather than president?
DOJ lawyers are trying to shield comms re: the center's operations from scrutiny in court. One legal expert: "This doesn't even meet the laugh test"
www.washingtonpost.com/style/2026/1...
@jonathanreports.bsky.socialEXCLUSIVE: The architect who initially designed Trump’s White House ballroom repeatedly warned the president that his plans lacked adequate emergency exits and fire-containment measures.
Trump brushed off the concerns: “I am the code.”
@jonathanreports.bsky.socialNEW: The Kennedy Center laid off about a dozen employees Friday, the latest cuts to an already diminished workforce as its main building remains closed amid a legal battle over President Trump’s transformation of the institution.
@jonathanreports.bsky.socialNEW: A photo of President Trump reviewing a printout apparently related to the Kennedy Center’s potential demolition has entered the legal fight over the institution’s future.
www.washingtonpost.com/style/2026/0...
@jonathanreports.bsky.socialHere's video of Trump's remarks:
x.com/Acyn/status/...
@jonathanreports.bsky.socialNEW: President Trump says the Kennedy Center will have to close and ultimately be “ripped down” without his intervention, arguing that his administration deserves recognition for taking on its renovation and long-term financial support.
www.washingtonpost.com/style/2026/0...
@jonathanreports.bsky.socialThe Kennedy Center closed its doors yesterday. Now Rep. Joyce Beatty is challenging the closure in court.
Her emergency motion opens a new front in the legal fight over President Trump’s transformation of the national cultural institution.
Full story:
www.washingtonpost.com/style/2026/0...
@jonathanreports.bsky.socialBreaking: Rep. Joyce Beatty has filed emergency motion challenging Kennedy Center's abrupt closure to public for two years of renovations. "It seems Defendants may be violating the “clear and unambiguous order of the Court,” her lawyers wrote.
@jonathanreports.bsky.social...and stated, 'until we change the tint and tone of our workforce, we are just dancing around the edges of our greatest failure.'"
@jonathanreports.bsky.socialTo support the accusation, Burgum cited a 2000 Bunch essay in which he described "the museum profession as 'awash in whiteness'; wrote that 'the real issue is not money but the monochromatic nature of our institutions'...
@jonathanreports.bsky.socialIn the letter, Burgum mostly retreads the arguments the administration has already made. One exception: his assertion "that visitors should be aware of Smithsonian Secretary Lonnie Bunch’s history of invidious discrimination and anti-white animus."
@jonathanreports.bsky.socialBurgum wrote in a Sept. 3 letter that the signs, which he described as temporary, will "provide visitors with important context about the exhibits they are about to encounter and the personal viewpoints that the curators of the exhibits are seeking to advance."
@jonathanreports.bsky.socialThe Trump administration is moving ahead with plans for signs outside the Smithsonian’s American History Museum warning visitors about what the White House calls ideological bias.
Interior Dept. Sec. Doug Burgum expects about 12 signs at roughly $7,000 each.
@jonathanreports.bsky.socialBREAKING: The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts just closed its doors, hours after its board of trustees, led by President Donald Trump, voted to immediately shut down for two years of renovations. From reporter Grey Battle who's on the ground.
@jonathanreports.bsky.socialLeaders of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts voted Tuesday to close the venue after administrators warned that an immediate closure was necessary to avoid endangering people’s lives.
www.washingtonpost.com/style/2026/0...
@jonathanreports.bsky.socialNEW (full article): A federal judge has blocked the Kennedy Center from putting Trump’s name back on its exterior. The ruling comes as trustees confront another extraordinary decision today: whether to immediately close the main building.
www.washingtonpost.com/style/2026/0...
@jonathanreports.bsky.socialBreaking: Federal judge bars Kennedy Center from once again adding President Donald Trump's name to the the performing arts venue.
@jonathanreports.bsky.socialI was on @npr.org w @amartinezla.bsky.social discussing our latest Kennedy Center reporting: an institution that says its running out of money, a building management says is unsafe to occupy and a new push to put President Trump’s name on its facade
Listen here:
www.npr.org/2026/09/14/n...
@jonathanreports.bsky.socialExclusive: Kennedy Center could close as early as Tuesday as officials warn that bankruptcy is imminent.
@jonathanreports.bsky.socialThe Smithsonian was charged by Congress with preserving the history of 9/11. Twenty five years later, it is carrying out that mission as the Trump administration challenges the institution’s authority to tell American history.
www.washingtonpost.com/entertainmen...