President Trump became chairman of the John F. Kennedy Center for Performing Arts in Washington, and announced Wednesday that he had solidified his grip at an agency that recently ousted Biden's appointees.
The Center's longtime president, Deborah F. Lutter, was later fired from her position, the Center said. Trump's loyalist Richard Grenell, who was Germany's ambassador during the first Trump administration, has been appointed interim president of the Center.
Trump posted on social media. “It's a great honor to be Chairman of the Kennedy Center, especially with this incredible council meeting. It makes the Kennedy Center a very special and exciting place!”
Grenell visited the centre Wednesday, according to center officials.
The Center announced on Wednesday a new slate of board members appointed by Trump, saying the new board has elected Trump's chairman and “ends” Latter's contract.
Trump's actions have spurred protests in the world of culture.
Superstar Soprano Rene Fleming said Wednesday that he would resign as the center's arts advisor. She praised the Center's departure leader, saying, “I think it's right to leave, out of respect.”
“I cherished bipartisan support for this institution as our best American beacon,” Fleming said in a statement. “We hope that the Kennedy Center continues to thrive and serve a passionate, diverse audience in our country's capital and across the nation.”
She wasn't the only famous departure. Shonda Rhimes, the treasurer of the Kennedy Center, has resigned from the board, a spokesperson for Rhimes said.
And singer and songwriter Ben Fols said he would also step down as an advisor to the National Symphony Orchestra, which is directed by the Kennedy Center.
“Considering developments at the Kennedy Center, I am effectively resigning today as an NSO's art advisor,” Fols wrote on Instagram. “Most of the time, I miss the musicians of our country's symphony orchestra more than anything else. It's the best!”
In a statement about her departure, Rutter said that in addition to the Performing Arts Center, it was an honor to lead the facility, a memorial to former President John F. Kennedy. She did not mention that she was fired.
“The goal of the Kennedy Center was to respond to our name and act as a beacon of the world and ensure that our work reflected America,” she said. “I leave my position where I am proud of everything we have achieved to meet those ambitions. From the arts of our stage to the students who have made an impact in classrooms across America, Kennedy Everything we did at the Center is to lift the human spirit to strengthen the culture of the great nation.”
The Kennedy Center has historically been run by a bipartisan board. On Monday, the Trump administration officially deleted 18 board members appointed by former President Joseph R. Biden and chairman of board president David M. Reubenstein.
The Centre posted a revised list of board members on its website on Wednesday, showing how much it has changed.
The board, until recently, was roughly divided between Biden and Trump's appointees, but now consists of Trump's appointees. The new board will include Trump's loyalty communications, including the president's chief of staff, Susie Wills. Dan Scabino, longtime Trump aide. Usha Vance, wife of Vice President J.D. Vance.
Lutter, the center's president since 2014, said last month he plans to resign at the end of the year.
The move to President Trump purge Biden's committee of appointees and set up himself as the chairman corresponds to some of the most drastic changes in the Kennedy Center's 54-year history. But it also raised questions about its legality.
In a statement last week, the Kennedy Center said that although such a purge of board members had never happened before, it had not seen anything in the law to prevent it. One source said the Center's idea was partly guided by a court ruling after Biden removed several Trump appointees from the board and council.
With a bit of symmetry, both Trump and Biden removed their predecessor's secretary from the board of directors before the conditions rose. Trump has ruled out Biden's spokesman Carine Jean-Pierre from the Kennedy Center Board. Biden has removed former Trump spokesperson Sean Spicer from the Naval Academy Visitors Committee.
Spicer was taken away from the Naval Academy Committee along with Russell Vert, who served as Director of the Office of Management and Budget during Trump's first term, and was recently reappointed to the Post in his second term. The two men sued the Biden administration, claiming that Biden had no power to remove them. The Washington District Court has taken over the Biden administration and said that board members have no such protections.
In 2023, the Federal Court of Appeals in Washington reached a similar conclusion in a lawsuit involving another Trump employee, Roger Severino. Roger Severino was dismissed by Biden from his position as a council of the U.S. Administrative Council.
“A defined term of office standing alone will not reduce the president's removal power during the service of the office holder,” the court said.
Christopher Mills, the lawyer representing Severino and Spicer, said the 2023 decision set up a precedent.
“If the law only offers a period of several years, it's clear that the courts say it won't protect against removal,” he said. “The removal of such board members is consistent with the president of both parties and historic trends insisting on more control over the agency.”
Other legal experts question the legality of the president's move, saying that the law establishing the Kennedy Center would serve a six-year term for board members. “The law is intended to create a term of office,” said Noah A. Rosenblum, an associate professor of law at New York University.
He described Trump's actions at the Kennedy Center as “it seems like a complete work with other claims of executive power we've seen over the past month.”
Legal experts say Trump's actions will leave the Kennedy Center in unknown territory.
“Usually you don't get the right to appoint yourself,” said Daniel Kurtz, a leading nonprofit lawyer. “That's not a normal rule.”
Rory Kennedy, the Oscar-appointed film director and the youngest child of Senator Robert F. Kennedy, said in an interview earlier this week that he found President Trump's actions “deeply troublesome.” Ta.
“Named in honor of my uncle, this institution stands as a beacon of cultural enrichment and artistic expression,” she said. “Let's celebrate President Kennedy's legacy by defending systems like the Kennedy Center from political interference and demanding accountability from the Enforcement Bureau.”
Trump has a history of honor and stormy history of the Kennedy Center, the facility's most important fundraiser, including a White House reception ahead of the awards. After several artists who were recognized early in the first Trump administration in 2017 criticized Trump and proposed boycotting the White House reception, Trump broke precedent and glass of honor throughout his term I've left.
