Confidential Documents Show Kennedy Center Ticket Sales and Donations Collapsed After Trump's Name Went on the Building

Confidential Kennedy Center documents obtained by The Washington Post show that ticket sales and fundraising collapsed after Trump's name was added to the building, even as the center's leaders publicly described his takeover as a financial rescue. Ticket sales had already dropped in the 10 months after the takeover, and both sales and donations fell further after the Trump-led board voted in December to rename the center and put his name on the front.

The gap between the internal records and the public account matters because the same financial argument is being made in court: a Justice Department lawyer wrote in June that renaming the center "represented a saving of The Kennedy Center which, if this doesn't happen, would go into financial and structural collapse."

A new filing on Aug. 24 went further, suggesting the building "will be required to be taken down" without Trump's name and renovation plan. The Kennedy Center's own response to the Post's reporting was not described in the material reviewed.