WASHINGTON – The administration of President Donald Trump is withholding records that could shed light on the president’s role in managing the Kennedy Center, attorneys for a Democratic lawmaker said in court filings. The lawmaker is challenging Trump’s plan to shut down the performing arts institution for renovations.
A log of documents held by the Kennedy Center indicates that Trump maintained “near-constant contact” with the organization’s management, either personally or through intermediaries, lawyers for the plaintiffs said in a filing Sunday.
Attorneys for Rep. Joyce Beatty, an Ohio Democrat and ex officio member of the Kennedy Center board, are asking the court to require the administration to release documents, emails and text messages it has withheld under claims that they contain privileged presidential communications.
“These communications directly bear on the issues before the Court, and the claim of privilege cannot stand,” Beatty’s attorneys wrote.
U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper had not immediately ruled on the request to force disclosure of the records.
The withheld-document list includes 19 text messages between Kennedy Center Executive Director and CEO Matt Floca and Trump executive assistant Natalie Harp concerning matters involving the center. According to Beatty’s lawyers, 11 of those messages were exchanged Sept. 15, the day the center’s board voted for a third time to close the facility.
The list also identifies roughly 180 Kennedy Center-related text messages between Floca and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, whom Beatty’s lawyers describe as Trump’s “go-between.” The plaintiffs’ attorneys suspect the administration is engaging in impermissible “gamesmanship.”
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“Without access to these materials, (Beatty) will lack a complete picture of Defendants’ actions,” the attorneys wrote.
The White House did not immediately respond to the court filing.
Cooper, who was nominated to the federal bench by Democratic President Barack Obama, ruled in May that the Kennedy Center had unlawfully added Trump’s name to the building. He ordered the name removed.
Trump was named Kennedy Center chairman last year by board members loyal to him. He has argued that the building is in dangerous condition and may need to be “ripped down.” The board voted to close the center after Cooper blocked the institution from restoring Trump’s name to the building.
Floca ordered a temporary closure of the Kennedy Center’s main building on Sept. 16. The following day, Cooper directed the center to provide 30 days’ notice before undertaking any major physical changes to the structure.
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