Statement on the Trump Administration’s Threat to Demolish the Kennedy Center
August 25, 2026
WASHINGTON, D.C. — In a filing yesterday evening, the Justice Department threatened to demolish the Kennedy Center, stating that the Kennedy Center could be “required to be taken down.” In response, Congresswoman Joyce Beatty’s (D-OH-03) counsel, Amb. Norm Eisen (ret.), co-founder and board member of Democracy Defenders Action, and Nathaniel Zelinsky, principal and managing counsel at Washington Litigation Group, issued the following statement:
“This is a not-so-subtle threat to demolish the Kennedy Center if the President doesn’t get his way. This is unconscionable, it is unbecoming of the Department of Justice to even put this in a filing, and we will answer in court.”
Rep. Joyce Beatty is represented by Nathaniel Zelinsky, Kyle Freeny, and Alex Kristofcak of Washington Litigation Group, and Norm Eisen, Steve Jonas, and David W. Ogden of Democracy Defenders Action.
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Democracy Defenders Action brings together a nonpartisan team to work with national, state and local allies across the country to defend in real-time the foundations of our democracy.
The Washington Litigation Group is a nonpartisan team of attorneys dedicated to defending individuals and institutions that have been unlawfully targeted for exercising their legal rights and to fighting against governmental overreach.
For media inquiries, contact, press@democracydefenders.org.
