Idaho Falls news, Rexburg news, Pocatello news, East Idaho news, Idaho news, education news, crime news, good news, business news, entertainment news, Feel Good Friday and more.
(CNN) — The Kennedy Center’s general counsel ordered staff on Thursday to remove President Donald Trump’s name from the building by June 12, according to a memo obtained by CNN, in order to comply with a recent court order.
Staff were also instructed to immediately update some Kennedy Center documentation — including their email signatures and marketing materials — to remove Trump’s name, according to the memo.
“To comply with this order, you must immediately change email signatures, letterhead, and other documents to reflect the name as ‘The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts,’ or ‘Kennedy Center.’ Other changes, such as to templates and forms, signage, brochures, and website pages, must be completed no later than Friday, June 12, 2026,” the general counsel wrote in the memo, which was first reported by The Washington Post.
The directive is a blow to the president’s bid to control the performing arts center and his broader effort to put his stamp on the nation’s capital. His takeover of the institution began in the early days of his second term, when he gutted the existing board and installed loyalists.
When asked for comment on the memo, the White House referred CNN to Trump’s Truth Social posts responding to last week’s court ruling. A federal judge blocked the Kennedy Center from temporarily closing its doors for a yearslong renovation and said its board violated the law when it added Trump’s name to the historic performing arts venue.
US District Judge Casey Cooper concluded that the law establishing the center “makes crystal clear that the Center is to be named for President Kennedy, and it cannot bear any other formal name or public memorial based on the Board’s unilateral say-so.”
“Congress gave the Kennedy Center its name, and only Congress can change it,” Cooper wrote in his 94-page opinion.
He gave officials two weeks to remove any signage that includes Trump’s name and update its website to remove all references to the name “Trump Kennedy Center” or the “Donald J. Trump and John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts.”
Shortly after the ruling, Trump signaled he was moving away from his focus on the arts center, suggesting he would be transferring control to Congress. (Since its founding, the executive branch has had oversight over the board of trustees while Congress has been responsible for annual appropriations for its operations and maintenance.)