IT'S A WRAP

Kennedy Center Covers Up Trump’s Latest Humiliation

Scaffolding put up on the deadline to remove the president’s name is blocking proof that the sign was removed.

Visitors can no longer spot Donald Trump’s name across the front of the Kennedy Center building—or the 35th president’s name that the living memorial is named after, for that matter.

That’s because most of the large sign on the performing arts center in Washington, D.C., is now completely covered in scaffolding and tarps, days after the deadline for the Kennedy Center to remove Trump’s name.

Workers quickly erected the scaffolding and tarps on Friday, June 12. It was the deadline for the center to remove the president’s name from the building’s exterior. But since then, there’s no visual proof that Trump’s name has come down, thanks to the tarps blocking it from view.

Last month, U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper found that the president had illegally put his name on the performing arts center when it was added in December, and that only Congress had the power to change the name of the Kennedy Center, formally known as “The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.”

In a court filing on Saturday, the Kennedy Center’s executive director and chief operating officer, Matthew Floca, confirmed the center had complied with the court’s order, and the president’s name had come down from the building.

But visitors would not be able to tell by looking at it some six months after the board, appointed by Trump, voted to change the center’s name to include the MAGA president.

The scaffolding and tarps extend almost entirely up the side of the building. The crews even ensured that the doors to the center below where the sign is located could still be accessed, suggesting the cover-up would remain in place for some time.

The Daily Beast spotted workers moving in equipment for an upcoming musical at the Kennedy Center through the doors below the scaffolding and tarps.

When asked by the Daily Beast about how long the scaffolding would remain in place covering the now Trump-less Kennedy Center sign, a Kennedy Center employee on the scene said they had not been told when the construction equipment would come down, if at all.

The Daily Beast asked the Kennedy Center about the timeline for removing the scaffolding and tarps that block the center’s name from view, but it did not receive a response by the deadline.

As the deadline for the Center to remove Trump’s name from the building loomed on Friday, tens of thousands of viewers tuned into live feeds from outside the building to watch.

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But those excited to see the president’s name torn down were met with disappointment. While onlookers got to watch the scaffolding and tarps go up, they were then blocked from seeing any of the lettering spelling out Trump’s name on the side of the building, officially coming down on the video feeds.

Other signs on the premises that had previously been changed to The Trump Kennedy Center had been changed back to simply The Kennedy Center. The center’s website has also removed all references to Trump in the name.

On Tuesday, Cooper also gave the Kennedy Center just days to update the court on its plans to remain open after the judge also blocked the president’s plan to shutter the institution for two years.

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