The Trump administration sought a 12-hour extension as the deadline to remove President Donald Trump’s name from the Kennedy Center crept closer Friday evening.
In a new filing obtained and viewed by TheWrap, the Trump administration argued, “Defendants respectfully request a brief extension of time to file the compliance declaration required by this Court’s May 29, 2026 permanent-injunction order … as one task – the removal of signage from the Center’s front portico ‘that purports to rename the Kennedy Center after President Trump,’ id. – has been delayed because of thunderstorms in the District of Columbia that presented safety concerns for workers.”
The document defended that “the removal work is presently ongoing, and Defendants expect it will conclude in the early hours of the morning of June 13, 2026.”
They added: “Defendants reached out to Plaintiff when it became clear later in the evening of June 12 that progress on removal of the letters had been sufficiently hindered to threaten the midnight compliance deadline.”
However, Trump’s DOJ noted that the Plaintiff remained unmoved by their position, reportedly telling them that they “had two weeks to comply with the order, and only need an extension because of their inexcusable delay.” However, Trump’s camp noted the Plaintiff didn’t take a position on the 12-hour extension outside of “strongly” opposing “any further extensions.”
Matt Floca, the COO of the Kennedy Center, co-signed this reason for the delay in a declaration filed by the Trump administration on Friday.
The update came after a large crowd of spectators, including Rep. Joyce Beatty (who sued Trump and his Kennedy Center board over the rename) gathered outside the famed arts venue to watch the president’s name be taken down.
Earlier on Friday, the D.C. appeals court rejected the Trump-appointed Kennedy Center Board’s attempt to halt the court-ordered removal of the president’s name from the arts institution.
The judges denied the center’s request for an immediate administrative stay that would have put on hold a district judge’s order that Trump’s name be removed from all references to the name of the Kennedy Center by the end of the day on Friday.
The president’s name has been removed from the website and social media, but it has yet to be fully removed from the building itself.
This was the second loss of the day for Trump, as a U.S. district judge had ruled at 1 p.m. on Friday afternoon that the arts center failed to show it would win on appeal or even face “irreparable harm” if the president’s moniker was removed.
A livestream of the name removal can be viewed above.
