Whitehouse Statement on Kennedy Center Board Meeting

Washington, D.C. - U.S. Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), Ranking Member of the Committee on Environment and Public Works and ex officio member of the Board of Trustees of the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, released the following statement ahead of today's board meeting:

"I will not serve as a prop at today's board meeting at the White House, where we expect President Trump will host his hand-picked cronies with the intention of rubberstamping his plan to shutter the Kennedy Center for years in the name of 'renovations.' Having previously been illegally stripped of my voting rights as an ex officio board member, my presence at this sham would serve no purpose. The Kennedy Center belongs to the American people. Rather than acting as a steward of this public treasure, current management has so severely looted the Center through self-dealing, favoritism, and waste that it now seeks to cover up those failures by shuttering the Kennedy Center altogether."

During President Trump's tenure as Chairman, the Kennedy Center has taken several actions contrary to law. First, President Trump dismissed all Trustees appointed by Democratic presidents and replaced them with loyalists. Then, at a May 2025 meeting, the Kennedy Center's Board stripped all ex officio Trustees of their right to vote, in violation of the relevant statute. And at its December 2025 meeting, the Board voted to affix President Trump's own name to the Kennedy Center, in direct contravention of law. When a sitting Member of Congress and Trustee tried to speak up against those illegal actions, officials muted her microphone. While litigation remains ongoing, a U.S. District Court has since found that the Member of Congress was improperly deprived of her right to participate meaningfully in that meeting and wrote that it found it likely that all Board members are "entitled to vote at Board meetings, so the provision of the May 2025 bylaws that strips ex officio members of their ability to vote is likely void."

Ranking Member Whitehouse previously launched an investigation into the Center's financial management and operations after documents obtained by EPW Democrats showed millions in lost revenue, luxury spending, and preferential treatment for Trump allies under Ambassador Ric Grenell, whose departure from the Center was announced on Friday. Despite Grenell's public promises to "open up our books," the Center has not provided substantive answers or financial information to the Committee.

Whitehouse is an ex officio member of the Kennedy's Center's Board of Trustees by virtue of his position as Ranking Member of the Environment and Public Works Committee.