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Trump Says He Will Fire Kennedy Center’s Trustees, Name Himself New Chairman

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The Kennedy Middle is Washington’s premier performing arts middle, and its board contains a number of cultural and political elites.

WASHINGTON—President Donald Trump on Feb. 7 mentioned he’ll hearth the chairman and a number of trustees of the John F. Kennedy Middle for Performing Arts in Washington, D.C., and identify himself because the board’s new chairman.

The Kennedy Middle, opened in 1971, is the principal venue for performing arts in Washington. Yearly, it hosts the Kennedy Middle Honors, which acknowledge lifetime contributions to American tradition and are among the many most prestigious performing arts awards in the USA. The middle is ruled by a Board of Trustees, which includes each appointees of the President of the USA and several other ex-officio members designed by Act of Congress, corresponding to Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.), Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Senate Majority Chief John Thune (R-S.D.), and Washington Mayor Muriel Bowser, amongst others.

On Feb. 7, Trump introduced in a put up on TruthSocial that he was dismissing the chairman, David Mark Rubenstein, and different presidentially appointed members of the board—stating {that a} new board of trustees, with himself because the chairman, would quickly be introduced.

“At my course, we’re going to make the Kennedy Middle in Washington D.C., GREAT AGAIN. I’ve determined to right away terminate a number of people from the Board of Trustees, together with the Chairman, who don’t share our Imaginative and prescient for a Golden Age in Arts and Tradition,” wrote Trump. “We are going to quickly announce a brand new Board, with an incredible Chairman, DONALD J. TRUMP!”

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Trump accused the board of reproachable conduct by allegedly allowing lurid performances on the Kennedy Middle. “Simply final 12 months, the Kennedy Middle featured Drag Exhibits particularly concentrating on our youth — THIS WILL STOP,” he wrote. “The Kennedy Middle is an American Jewel and should mirror the brightest STARS on its stage from all throughout our Nation. For the Kennedy Middle, THE BEST IS YET TO COME!”

Rubenstein, the dismissed chairman, is a billionaire who’s the co-chairman of The Carlyle Group, a personal fairness agency, and proprietor of the Baltimore Orioles, a Main League Baseball workforce. Rubenstein is certainly one of Washington’s most well-connected males and largest philanthropists, who was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Joe Biden shortly earlier than Biden left workplace this 12 months. Other than the Kennedy Middle, Rubenstein chairs the College of Chicago’s Board of Trustees, and the Council on International Relations‘ board of administrators, and is president of the Alfalfa Membership, a personal and unique group of high-ranking politicians and enterprise leaders.
Trump and Rubenstein have beforehand had shut relations. In 2014, Rubenstein—who additionally chairs the Financial Membership of Washington, D.C.—interviewed Trump earlier than he introduced his candidacy for president within the 2016 election. Through the interview, Trump signaled his intention to run.
It stays unclear who Trump has terminated from the board, and who he’ll appoint in lieu. Earlier than Trump’s put up, the board’s presidential appointees already included a number of Democratic and Republican members in addition to Trump allies. Lawyer Common Pamela Bondi, singer and “God Bless the usA.” songwriter Lee Greenwood, former White Home press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre, former Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao—the spouse of Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.)—and Mike Donilon, who’s certainly one of Biden’s longtime political advisers, are some notable members.

The Kennedy Middle didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark.

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