Trump says he shoots the Kennedy Center Board of Trustee’s members and names himself chairman

Washington (AP) – President Donald Trump said Friday that he is shooting members of the board of the Kennedy Center and naming himself chairman.

He also indicated that he would dictate Programming At one of the country’s leading cultural institutions that specifically stated that he had ended events with artists in a row.

Trump’s message came as the new president has Bulldozed his way Across official Washington in the first weeks of his second period trying to close federal agencies, freezing the expenses and end of diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives across government.

“In my direction, we have to make the Kennedy Center in Washington DC, great again. I have decided to immediately end several persons from the board, including the chairman who does not share our vision for a golden age in art and culture, ”Trump wrote on his social mediation.

“We will soon announce a new board with a fantastic chairman, Donald J. Trump!”

In a statement late Friday on its website, the Kennedy Center said it was aware of Trump’s post. “We have not received any official communication from the White House regarding changes in our board,” the statement states. “We are aware that some members of our board of directors have received termination notifications from the administration.”

The declaration continued: “According to the center’s governance, established by the Congress in 1958, the chairman of the board of directors is appointed by the center’s board members. There is nothing in the center’s statute that would prevent a new administration from replacing board members; However, this would be the first time such action has been taken with the Kennedy Center’s Board of Directors. “

Unlike the former president Joe Biden And other commander -in -chief of decades did not attend the annual Trump Kennedy Center honors Ceremonies in his first period held at the Performing Arts meeting place in Washington’s Foggy Bottom Quarter, which opened in 1971.

Shortly after Trump’s post, the Kennedy Center -Websted began to experience technical difficulties. Visitors received a message that read “We are experiencing high traffic” and were redirected to a “waiting room” that listed how many hundreds of people tried to access the place in front of them.

Trump suggested in his post that he would implement some changes to the center’s performance plan and noted that last year “The Kennedy Center contained drag shows specifically aimed at our youth – this will stop.”

According to its site, the center in July hosted a press show entitled “A Drag Salute to Divas” and a “Drag Brunch.”

In his post, Trump did not clarify which board members he would end besides the current chairman, philanthropist David Rubenstein. The board often contains political powerbrokers and larger donors and currently consists of members from both sides at a time.

Rubenstein was first elected to the position in 2010 and re -elected every year since that time. Also the most important owner of Baltimore Orioles, Rubenstein was originally named the Kennedy Center board of President George W. Bush and then re -appointed by President Barack Obama and Biden.

The current board contains the bite’s press secretary in the White House, Karine Jean-Pierreas well as Mike Donilon, the bite’s long -time allies, and Stephanie Cutter, a former Obama advisor. Treasurer of the Center’s Board of Directors is TV producer Shonda RhimesThere hosted Fundraisers for Biden before giving up his re -election bid last summer.

But the current board also contains Trump -allies, including PAM BONDI, the new president’s recently confirmed legal lawyer, and Lee Greenwood, whose song “God bless the United States” was the unofficial anthem of Trump’s presidential campaign.

During his first period in 2019, Trump announced that he was tapping actor Jon Voight, a long -time supporter, to the board, along with former Arkansa’s government manager Mike Huckabee, whom he has chosen as American ambassador to Israel this time.

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