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An Ohio Democrat in Congress is suing President Trump, arguing that Trump broke the law by adding his own name to the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts here in Washington. NPR's Chloe Veltman reports.
CHLOE VELTMAN, BYLINE: Congresswoman Joyce Beatty sits on the center's board. And her lawsuit, which also names Trump appointees to the board, argues that renaming the center requires an act of Congress. One of Beatty's counsels, Norm Eisen, says that's because the former name, the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, was established through legislation in 1964.
NORM EISEN: This case is very clear-cut. Congress has said it is to be called the Kennedy Center and only the Kennedy Center.
VELTMAN: So, Eisen says, there's no legal basis for the president's move.
EISEN: And the Congresswoman, our client, is determined to make her voice heard.
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JOYCE BEATTY: What you may hear is that there was a unanimous vote to rename the Kennedy Center.
VELTMAN: Beatty took to social media last Thursday to protest White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt's announcement that everyone on the center's board wanted the name change.
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BEATTY: Be clear. I was on that call. And as I tried to push my button to voice my concern, to ask questions and certainly not to vote in support of this, I was muted.
VELTMAN: New signage bearing Trump's name appeared on the center's website and on the building's facade shortly thereafter. In a written statement to NPR, the center's vice president of public relations, Roma Daravi, blamed critics like Beatty for having, quote, "sat idly by while America's cultural center slowly crumbled." Daravi justified the rechristening by pointing to the millions of dollars she says Trump has raised to repair and refurbish the building. This was echoed in a statement from the White House. Both the Kennedy Center and the White House said that the change does not impact the building's status as a memorial to former President Kennedy.
Chloe Veltman, NPR News.
(SOUNDBITE OF HENRI BARDOT'S "MILK") Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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