Trump elected President of the Kennedy Center of Recently Compiled Board

Cnn
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The recently composed board of the Kennedy Center for Performing Arts has elected President Donald Trump as his chairman.

According to the president, the vote was unanimous.

“It is a great honor to be chairman of the Kennedy Center, especially with this fantastic board. We will make the Kennedy Center a very special and exciting place! “Said Trump in A statement On his truth social platform.

CNN has reached the Kennedy Center for Comment.

Trump on Monday appointed Ric Grenell, a long -time confidential one who already earned in several administrative positions, to lead Kennedy Center temporarily after declaring late last week that he rejected the center’s board and would install himself as the institution’s chairman.

The president’s aggressive push to reshape the Kennedy Center sets Washington, DC-based performing arts complex in the midst of the cultural wars. While announcing his acquisition last week, he shouted the center’s programming.

“Just last year contained the Kennedy Center Dragshows, specifically aimed at our youth – this will stop,” Trump said of truth on February 7th. “The Kennedy Center is an American jewel and has to reflect the brightest stars on its stage from everyone across our nation. For the Kennedy Center, the best has not yet come! ”

Trump told journalists Monday, ”so we took over the Kennedy Center. We didn’t like what they showed and various other things. ”

“I want to be chairman of it, and we have to make sure it’s good and it won’t wake up. There is no more waking up in this country, ”he added. “The awake has cost us a fortune and cost us our reputation, but the reputation comes back very, very quickly.”

The Kennedy Center, which opened in 1971 in Washington, DC, was appointed as a memorial to President John F. Kennedy after his murder in 1964. It is home to the Kennedy Center and puts on more than 2,000 performances in a typical year, according to its site.

Among the board’s most immediate tasks had been to identify a replacement for the center’s president, Deborah Rutter, who confirmed on Wednesday that she has officially left her position in a long statement offering a subtle criticism of Trump’s efforts.

Rutter had previously announced his intention to resign as Kennedy Center’s President, and the board had retained a headhunting company to help identify a new leader, but her departure was accelerated following Trump’s announcement of Friday night to remodel the board.

“The goal of the Kennedy Center has been to live up to our namesake, serve as a guy for the world and ensure that our work reflects America. I raise my position proud of everything we achieved to meet this ambition, ”she said.

“Just as our democracy itself, artistic expression must be nurtured, promoted, prioritized and protected. It is not a passive endeavor; In fact, there is no clearer signs of American democracy at work than our artists, the work they produce, and the audience’s unmistakable right to actively participate, ”she added.

This story has been updated with additional developments.

CNNS Betsy Klein and Kevin Liptak contributed to this report.