A federal judge just gave the Donald Trump administration a deadline to explain the mysterious tarp at the Kennedy Center. The court order demands answers about why the covering remains in place after a controversial name removal.
Judge seeks explanation behind Kennedy Center tarp
A federal judge ordered the Trump administration to explain a tarp covering the Kennedy Center’s facade, The Guardian reported Wednesday. US District Judge Christopher Cooper issued the order after workers removed Donald Trump’s name from the building. The administration must report by 31 July on “the purpose and status of the tarp and scaffolding.”
Workers stripped Trump’s name during a predawn operation this month following Cooper’s earlier ruling. That ruling found the administration had unlawfully added Trump’s name to the facade in December. The tarp was installed during the removal process and has remained in place since.
Democratic Representative Joyce Beatty originally brought the lawsuit as a Kennedy Center board member. Cooper last month ordered the name’s removal and blocked plans to close the center for two years of renovations. The Trump administration has since asked a federal appeals court to put that order on hold.
Beatty’s lawyers argued the “semi-permanent tarp” obscures President John F. Kennedy’s name from public view. They described it as the administration’s “effort to frustrate the restoration of the status quo.” Beatty separately called the obstruction an “act of petty defiance.”
Maryland Democratic Representative Jamie Raskin called the tarp “a literal cover-up.” He wrote on X: “Trump and his team got caught vandalizing federal property by posting graffiti with his name.” Raskin added the “vandal should pay for all the repair work.”
The center’s general counsel previously issued a memo ordering the removal of all Trump references by 12 June. Staff had to change email signatures, letterheads, and other documents to reflect the original name. Cooper’s ruling established that the venue cannot be renamed without an act of Congress.
Originally reported by Vritti Johar on Mandatory.com.
