Trump’s name removed from Kennedy Center in predawn operation

WASHINGTON, June 13 (Reuters) – Workers stripped U.S. President Donald Trump’s name from the Kennedy Center early on Saturday, less than six months after it went up, complying with a judge’s ruling that the performing arts landmark cannot be renamed without an act of Congress.

The work began around 1:20 a.m. (0520 GMT), hours after the Department ​of Justice said the government would miss the court-ordered deadline of 11:59 p.m. on Friday to take Trump’s name off ​the Washington venue, created a half-century ago to honor an assassinated president.

The center’s board, which Trump chairs, voted in ⁠December to rename it The Donald J. Trump and The John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts. Workers began affixing ​his name to the building the next day.

After erecting scaffolding late on Friday, workers draped tarps over the ​temporary structure in the predawn hours and were seen removing letters around 3:10 a.m. in an operation that took about 30 minutes.

Late on Friday, the DOJ had said in a it would miss the deadline because of thunderstorms that could pose safety risks for the workers, seeking a 12-hour extension.

Democratic U.S. ​Representative Joyce Beatty of Ohio, who brought the lawsuit that forced Trump’s name to be removed, called the request to extend the two-week-old ​deadline “inexcusable” and part of “a pattern of non-compliance,” according to the DOJ filing.

The center opened in 1971 as a memorial to President John F. Kennedy, a ‌Democrat assassinated ⁠in 1963. Trump, a Republican, has packed its board of trustees with allies since resuming office last year.

Hours before the DOJ filing, a federal judge in Washington had declined the department’s request to pause an order to remove Trump’s name.

U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper said he would not lift the order while a federal appeals court considers his ruling that only Congress could rename the venue. The administration appealed ​that order to the U.S. Court ​of Appeals for the District ⁠of Columbia, which also rejected the government’s request for a pause on Friday.

The White House and the Kennedy Center did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Cooper ruled on May 29 that only Congress could ​rename the arts center. His order had required Trump’s name to be removed from the building’s ​facade, its website and ⁠other materials.

In urging the appeals court to pause the order, the DOJ said: “It does not make sense to alter the Center’s name and signage now, only to potentially revert the name again after what should be a successful appeal.”

Trump in February announced a two-year closure of the center for ⁠a major ​renovation. He has made a broader push to reshape Washington’s monumental core, including plans ​for a 250-foot (75-meter) arch and a 90,000-square-foot (8,400-square-meter) ballroom on the site of the East Wing of the White House, which Trump had demolished in October.