Judge: Trump's Name STAYS OFF Kennedy Center!

0:00It's time for Justice Matters, with former federal prosecutor and legal analyst Glenn Kerschner. Today, Glenn speaks with Adam Klassfeld of All Rise News about Donald Trump's latest attempt to put his name back on the Kennedy Center. That's on the way on Justice Matters. Here's what you've been missing this week on the Stephanie Miller Happy Hour podcast. So as you know, Maggie Hairman wrote that she leaves notes in Trump's private spaces. I'd like to shove something up his private space. I have a note for him. Here, let me write it out now. So we know the one you are all that matters to me. I don't ever want to let you down. Thank you for being my guardian and protector in this life. Holy Jesus. I think my hair extension just went up on the back of my hair extensions. She's starting to selling Mrs. Voorhees from Friday the 13th.

1:02Wow. I want to bring you joy to feel like we can get through a day without ever having to talk work. You're the alpha and the omega. This will be the be all and the end all. What would I be without you? Subscribe to the Stephanie Miller Happy Hour podcast on Apple Podcasts. Stephanie Miller dot com or wherever you get your favorite podcast. We have our friend Adam Klassfeld back of all rise news. You were able to make the hearing in federal court in Washington DC in the Kennedy Center case. Can you give us your top line takeaway regarding what judge Christopher Cooper said and what the atmosphere was like. How did it feel in there and how did the arguments seem to play out to you? Well, I'll say this about the atmospherics.

2:02This is such a priority for the Trump administration that they send Howard Lucknick to go down to federal court and to deliver a little press conference right outside the court house right before the hearing. And this has really animated the people of Washington DC that half of the people in the gallery sitting around where Howard Lucknick was were wearing red in solidarity with the Kennedy Center in terms of the hearing itself. You could tell how badly it went from the forward the Trump administration that the Kennedy Center's board hours after the hearing issued a little notice saying that okay. We're going to pause our latest plan to move ahead from September 8 to October 8 because judge Cooper essentially laid down the law said I'm going to need some breathing room here. I'm going to put things in a holding pattern unless you stop this self imposed deadline to move things ahead immediately after Labor Day.

3:05So that is the top line there the Trump DOJ already lost because they put in that notice acknowledging that essentially if we don't give the judge more time like he said we were going to get a TRO and they didn't want that temporary restraining order. But I want to talk about also a kind of bigger picture thing because before the hearing a reader who's an arts activist reached out to me and had a great idea she said go down to the Kennedy Center the programming they don't currently have programming but they do have three public tours on the hour you don't need to reserve just go there and see what it's like. And I have to tell you Glenn going there was such a revelation because it really shows the absurdity of the Trump administration's legal position here you have the Trump DOJ saying this place is falling apart it structurally unsound it's in crisis it's in terrible trouble and it's an embarrassment to the nation and you walk around the grandeur.

4:17The sheer grandeur of the Kennedy Center in Washington DC I've been there for a performance before but one thing I didn't understand about the grand foyer that connects all of the three concert halls there is that if you put the Washington monument on its side there would still be about 60 feet or so left in that foyer that you walk into the hall of nations and you see the contributions. Of the nations of the world including Italy which provided the irreplaceable marble the same kind of marble that Michelangelo used to sculpt the David and that's the marble that you're seeing on the walls of the Hall of Nations the Hall of States it's the same marble you see on the exterior which apparently has been damaged by Trump putting his name up on JFK's memorial and being forced to take it down because that violates the law that Congress passed.

5:25Just ahead Glenn continues his talk with Adam Klassel of all rise news this is Justice Maddox. I don't think he wants to eat what's going on right now this thing is going to be renegotiated renegotiated. The knowledge wisdom history truth and the dash of fun the mouth in my pocket joined the conversation informing the culture honoring the legacy and shaping what comes next across this country urban view morning for the podcast on the serious XM app wherever you get your podcast when I say it's the truth is the truth urban view mornings the podcast with Shauna Renee Dr. Greg card the marketing and you stay engaged urban view mornings the podcast.

6:34We're ignoring America urban view we're talking powers and becomes action. So if anyone is in DC watching anyone who is going to DC take this tour so you get a real sense of what the Kennedy Center is what its history is there are only two parts of the entire campus that are named after anyone else and and Eisenhower because it was Eisenhower's idea JFK gave it force and gave it and kind of global push and LBJ after JFK's assassination Congress overwhelmingly you know they made it a memorial to JFK and that happened under Lyndon B. Johnson. So let me let me just build on that a little bit because I've been there in the last year or two for performances as well and it is Graham and it is it's not crumbling it's not falling apart it is not badly in need of renovation and it sounds like that is a ruse that is a ploy that the Trump administration is using to sort of move in the direction that they want to move in and maybe even use it as leverage.

7:52If not outright blackmail for the litigation to try to force the judge into agreeing with their position and it feeds into the title of your new piece that you just wrote about this very hearing and it is is Trump's Kennedy Center chaos all a smoke screen and what is the smoke screen piece that it looks like they're trying to cover up and divert attention away from. I'm so glad you asked that question Glenn and so the word smoke screen is in quotes there because that was a quotation for the attorney for represented Joyce Bady who brought this lawsuit got Trump's name down to begin with and it's now fighting his effort to reinsert his name twice on the building and renamed the plaza after himself and just a side note on this nobody knows what the plaza is it might be the entire John F. Johnson. Kennedy Center campus so set that to one side and the question that was asked by Bady's attorney Nathaniel Zalinski was that is this all a smoke screen for financial misconduct because they're saying that the Kennedy Center has been sacked of its finances that it's

9:09emerging money that it is structurally unsound I have to say when I was walking through it and none of us were dodging failing concrete there were no signs of hazards anywhere everyone was you are wearing hard hats nothing of that nature but they're saying that it's so structurally unsound that it's so financially unstable that it needs to in effect be closed for two years to pour in a $250 million renovation that was fit into Trump's mammoth spending bill last year and that in addition to that $250 million that will require this massive renovation that of course we have to give Trump entire credit for even though it was passed by Congress that that will require the closing of the Kennedy Center and what Bady's legal team is saying repeatedly in court is there isn't evidence of that but we've seen reporting in the Washington Post saying that it was Trump's takeover the Kennedy Center at that caused it to go south and the John F. Kennedy Center for the performing arts is a nonprofit that has public tax violence anyone watching the

10:21so can go and inspect those tax filings and see that they made net income of I think around $40 million in the fiscal year 2024 that they were well in the black as as much as a nonprofit is for many, many years when they're saying that where you have the Trump installed loyalists in the board saying that it's in financial crisis what Bady's legal team is saying is that it's not going to be a real legal team is saying is all of this is it a smoke screen to disguise their own financial mismanagement of everything going on and when you say their own I'm sorry to interrupt you their own financial mismanagement I mean it seemed like they were profitable or as you say in the black until Trump slapped his name on the building exactly that revenue began to crater so they started losing all their performers they started losing all their audience members now there's no programming whatsoever absolutely and so that I think is what the Bady's legal team wants more information about they've asked for discovery so I think all eyes were on is judge Cooper going to act by imposing some sort of injunction saying no you can either rename the building or slap your name all over it and say

11:48that the plaza is yours too that is an important legal battle that is the main legal battle but I also want to call attention in that title to the legal battle over why are we going through all this is this the board itself trying to avoid the embarrassment of admitting that Trump's ego has run this venerable institution into the ground and if I can go back to that tour is the tour it's really interesting that if you take that tour today you do see little features of Trump's intervention here one is the of course the tarp that is outside and perhaps the reason the tarp is outside is because the marble is damaged from having to take down his name that was illegally installed there but on top of that when you take the tour you see presidential boxes it's where presidents and every administration have sat for the performances but Trump put his imprint on one of them and he has right now his photograph at the world cup of all things smiling with the players and this year at the Kennedy Center here you know why are you decorating that room in that particular way and on top of that there's this is a very recent change from earlier this year there are lounges for

13:15major donors one of the lounges is now called the cyber jet lounge that's named after one of the Trump donors who Trump pardoned for securities fraud the CEO of that company was a cyber jet company he gets a Trump pardon and he does a big donation to change what was once known as the Russian lounge that name changed after the invasion of I believe it was crammy at the time might have been Ukraine that they stopped calling it that but it's now called cyber jet lounge and that's one of Trump's touches on the Kennedy Center so if this renovation moved ahead if it's Trump steering it are we going to see other pardoned cronies that are going to have its imprint what will happen to all that history what will happen to all the art that you see inside you can see the artworks by Henri Matisse you can see beautiful sculpture of Eisenhower in the building and there's artwork all around what will happen if this 250 million dollar renovation snuck into Trump's mammoth spending bill next year comes to fruition Trump puts his name all over the place and what is it going to look like I think by taking the tour you can see what sort of

14:43history art and culture is that state you know I think the fact based on the reporting that after Trump slapped his name on the Kennedy Center the revenue began to crater I think it proves the saying that we often hear which is that everything Trump touches dies indeed everything he slaps his name on at this point seems to die coming up next Glenn concludes his discussion with Adam Klausfeld of all rise news this is Justice Matisse when Donald Trump was inaugurated like all presidents he swore no to preserve protect and defend the Constitution instead Donald Trump has decided to swerve deflec and up and the Constitution and treat it like a terms and conditions page I'm Professor Corey Brecciider and I'm deeply unqualified comedian John Fiegelstein we'd like to invite you to listen to the Oath in the office podcast where every week we interpret the constitution and hold Trump accountable to his oath

15:52it's a podcast that offers real insight on how to take action against tyranny and mayhem because despair is not a strategy well hold him to his pledge despite his threats to democracy and the law itself it's a podcast that's all about hope for what a real democracy should look like from an esteemed respected constitutional scholar and a deeply neurotic comedian who thought the emoluments clause was a breakfast item subscribe to the oath in the office where every week we talk about how citizens can preserve our democracy and fight back against the threat to democracy subscribe to the Oath in the office on the apple Spotify or wherever you get your podcast So what are next steps with respect to where this litigation may go I know you said that the board paused doing anything now until October 8th is there another court hearing scheduled well since they announced that pause the court hasn't said any other schedule we've already had that hearing I think that judge Cooper is going to consider the major issues such as is Trump but you know their position the Trump installed boards position is that they're not renaming the building anymore they're merely dedicating this renovation that Trump in his great generosity is helping out with he's going to have to determine

17:22is that enough to get rid of the congressional prohibition that has been in place since 1983 that there are no memorials for anyone else anywhere what is a memorial there are if you go into the hall of states and the hall of nations you'll see recognition for people who have contributed money to get this thing off the ground to create our great cultural institution but they're designated areas for that if it's outside of a designated area is that a memorial that's one of the issues that judge Cooper is going to have to address the other is going to have to be is the entire campus fair game if so I think what babies legal team is making a point is where does this end do you sell it off to the highest bidder do you have a space X grounds do you look like a NASCAR you know vehicle at some point will it just be slapping stickers and advertisements all over the exterior of the Kennedy center about that right and I that's exactly the danger and I think that that argument actually resonated with judge Cooper because he asked the DOJ's look at the

18:40lawyer said why not have the Obama garage the bush campus are you saying that the is the government's position that you can do that and so I think that those are the issues that he's going to be grappling with but the kind of dark horse candidate issue that I named that article after is look out for the discovery rolling because Congresswoman is legal team is looking for the backstory why all this chaos at the Kennedy center why are we talking about it to your closure is their evidence that they are seeing the effects of the mass cancellations by artists by audience members no longer coming to the institution and are they trying to avoid embarrassment because of their own financial mismanagement so that is an issue that came up late in the hearing it didn't get a lot of attention but it could emerge as one of the more important issues as things go ahead well let's hope we don't you know discover that under the cloak of darkness bulldozers and wrecking balls had been moved into position and they just start tearing down the Kennedy center

20:01the east wing of the White House because what we know is Trump likes to engage in lawlessness and unconstitutionality first and then dare the courts to catch up and they often can't as we see in the ballroom construction case so Adam thank you for the great coverage the great collar from inside the courtroom tell everybody where they can find your great work thank you so much Glenn you can find my work at www dot all rise news dot com all rise news right here on sub stack and it's the supporters that who subscribe to all rise news that keep me on the road to cover hearings like this all right thank you adamant thank you everybody for joining us will see you again soon thank you you can watch Glenn on his YouTube channel also find him on sub stack blue sky instagram and patreon this is justice matters