President Donald Trump doubled down Monday on his proposed plan to gut and renovate the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, telling White House reporters that he will “be using the steel” for the building’s existing structure and redo the rest.
“Some of the marble comes down,” he said, adding, “It will be brand new and really beautiful.”
The president came under fire Sunday after announcing plans to close the performing arts center and memorial to President John F. Kennedy for two years after controversially renaming it the Trump-Kennedy Center.
“This important decision, based on input from many Highly Respected Experts, will take a tired, broken, and dilapidated Center, one that has been in bad condition, both financially and structurally for many years, and turn it into a World Class Bastion of Arts, Music, and Entertainment,” Trump wrote in a Truth Social post Sunday.
Maintaining Monday that the center is “in very bad shape, it’s run down, it’s dilapidated, it’s sort of dangerous,” the president said the overhaul will cost “around $200 million” and spoke to his experience as a real estate mogul to back up the decision. (“In real estate and building, I’ve done so much of it, I’ve done so well with it.”)
Asked by a reporter in the Oval Office if the renovation will tear down the arts center entirely, Trump said, “When it opens, it’s going to be brand new. Beautiful. I’m not ripping it down. I’ll be using the steel. So we’re using the structure. We’re using some of the marble and some of the marble comes down. But when it’s open, it will be brand new and really beautiful.”
“So we’ll be closing it sometime around July 4. It’s, like, we’ll close it on July 4 in order to do something great for America. And then we’re building, we’ve got great contractors, we’re going to build it and we’ll do it right,” he said. “We’re using the highest grade marble, it’s the highest grade everything. It will be brand new.”
Q: Do you plan on tearing the Kennedy Center down and how much will all of the renovations cost?
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) February 2, 2026
TRUMP: Probably around $200 million. I'm not ripping it down. I'll be using the steel. So we're using the structure. We're using some of the marble. pic.twitter.com/Y8iy4QRowg
The late President Kennedy’s familiy were among the many figures decrying the construction project on Sunday, among them Jack Schlossberg, Maria Shriver and Joe Kennedy III.
“Trump can take the Kennedy Center for himself,” Schlossberg wrote on X. “He can change the name, shut the doors and demolish the building. He can try to kill JFK. But JFK is kept alive by us now rising up to remove Donald Trump, bring him to justice and restore the freedoms generations fought for.”
Rep. Joyce Beatty (D-Ohio), a former Kennedy Center board member, also spoke out Sunday.
“Once again, Donald Trump has acted with total disregard for Congress,” she wrote in a statement. “The Kennedy Center is congressionally funded, and Congress should have been consulted on any decision to shut down its operations or undertake major renovations, especially for a two-year period.
“Countless employees, artists, and others have existing contracts and agreements with the Center. What happens to them? Has Trump or his handpicked Board given any consideration to their livelihoods or futures? This is precisely why congressional oversight is essential.”
Trump’s takeover of the performing arts center has led to declining performance at the venue’s theatrical and live event box office, with one report last summer finding a 50% drop-off in sales. Artists and executives alike have peeled off and canceled events at the center as well.
“Let’s be clear: remodeling the premises will not restore the Kennedy Center to what it was,” Beatty concluded. “A return to artistic independence will. America’s artists are rejecting this attempted takeover, and the administration knows it. That is why they are now scrambling for cover.”
