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President Donald Trump previews renovations to the Trump-Kennedy Center while taking questions at the White House.
The judge who ordered President Donald Trump's name removed from the Kennedy Center is married to an attorney who has represented a former anti-Trump FBI lawyer, served as counsel to the House Jan. 6 committee and currently represents former President Joe Biden — relationships that Trump blasted as clear conflicts of interest following the ruling.
Trump claimed in a heated Truth Social post that U.S. District Court of D.C. Judge Christopher Cooper's wife, Amy Jeffress, a former Obama-era Justice Department attorney turned top lawyer of Trump', encouraged her husband to reject Trump's Kennedy Center renovation plans and remove his name from the building.
He pointed to Jeffress' past and current clients, which include some of his most prominent critics, as evidence that she is "a Radical Left Democrat" who is influencing her husband to rule against him.
"Trump Hating Judge wants to keep it open because his wife probably told him to do so!" Trump wrote of Cooper, referring to his rejection of Trump's plans to close the Kennedy Center for two years for renovations.
FEDERAL JUDGE ORDERS TRUMP'S NAME REMOVED FROM KENNEDY CENTER, SAYS ONLY CONGRESS CAN RENAME IT
A composite photo shows a worker on a lift at the John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts, alongside U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper, who ruled that President Donald Trump's name be removed from the building. (Getty / and the U.S. District Court of D.C.)
Cooper issued his ruling on May 29, finding that the Kennedy Center board exceeded its legal authority when it voted to rename the institution to include Trump's name. He ruled that only Congress can change the institution's name based on the Kennedy Center's founding statute, which makes clear that the venue is dedicated to President John F. Kennedy.
Trump also alleged Jeffress "doesn't use the 'Cooper' name because they, as a couple, don’t want people to know that she has a Conflict of Interest with an important Judge."