Philadelphia DA's Radical Fantasies and Trump's Renovation Plans Intersect
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Radical Philadelphia DA Larry Krasner openly fantasized on Tuesday about blowing up President Donald Trump’s planned White House ballroom and selling the leftover rubble as souvenir paperweights.
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Washington ExaminerPhiladelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner has an explosive vision of the future of the White House ballroom.
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“In about 10 to 15 years we are all going to be sitting here with smiles on our faces because we … will have won,” Krasner ranted. “And I’m going to have a paperweight sitting on my desk. You know what that paperweight is going to be? It’s going to be a piece of the ballroom after we all blow it up.”
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Washington Examiner“I’m gonna have a paperweight sitting on my desk,” Krasner said. “You know what that paperweight is gonna be? It’s gonna be a piece of a ballroom after we all blow it up. That’s what it’s gonna be.”
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“Just so we’re clear, in an official ceremony we’re going to blow it up and we’re going to get the taxpayers their money back by selling all the pieces as paperweights,” he pledged to the roaring crowd, promising the audience that they too would get to own a piece of the blasted debris.
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Washington Examiner“Just so we’re clear, in an official ceremony, we’re gonna blow it up, and we’re going to give the taxpayers their money back by selling old pieces as paper weights,” Krasner said. “And I will have one on my desk.”
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The Kennedy Center board voted in mid-August both to move forward with closing the facility for the two-year structural construction project and to move ahead with adding Trump’s name to the building. In a separate court filing, the Kennedy Center Board of Trustees told the federal district court that it will call the facility “The John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts, renovated and restored by President Donald J. Trump.”
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The Guardian USThe John F Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts could be demolished if repairs are not carried out, Donald Trump’s administration warned in a court filing on Monday.
Washington TimesJustice Department attorneys argued that if President Donald Trump’s name does not appear somewhere on the Kennedy Center, then the money from donors for renovations would shrivel up and the “decrepit, dilapidated” cultural center may be “required to be taken down.”
ABC NewsThe DOJ suggested the Kennedy Center could face demolition. The Justice Department suggested in a court filing Tuesday that the Kennedy Center could face demolition in the event a federal judge issues an order permanently blocking President Donald Trump's push to renovate the facility with additions intended to recognize Trump personally. This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
VoxIn a court filing, the DOJ argued that if its renovation plans for the Kennedy Center aren’t allowed to go forward, “the center will deteriorate further into an unsafe, decrepit structure that will be required to be taken down” and replaced by another structure, “such as a large outdoor amphitheater.”
NBC NewsThe Trump administration is, for the first time, threatening the demolition of the Kennedy Center if the arts institution isn’t allowed to close for two years for renovations.
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This language is a shift from what Kennedy Center Executive Director Matt Floca has used in recent months to describe what the board has said are necessary renovations. Floca has said the renovations would include a “total replacement of stage lifts and rigging systems” and wide-ranging electrical work and leak prevention that could be completed within two years if the facility was shut down during the renovations. There was no mention of the possibility of razing the site.
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Washington ExaminerThe renovations were initially recommended by the current executive director and former vice president of facilities at the Kennedy Center, Matt Floca. The construction will focus on various structural issues around the facility, including water damage, rusting steel that Floca says feels like “tissue paper,” and over three decades-old industrial chillers.
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Is that true? No. Congress already approved $257 million for the renovation last year, which the Kennedy Center board touted in a press release crediting Trump.
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Washington ExaminerThe renovation projects are set to be funded by the $257 million earmarked for the Kennedy Center in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act. The Washington Examiner has reached out to Beatty’s office for comment.
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And far from being a draw, the Washington Post reported Tuesday, Trump’s previous renaming of the Kennedy Center caused ticket sales and donations to plummet, creating a $23 million deficit even after deep spending cuts.
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The Guardian USOn Tuesday, the Washington Post reported that ticket sales, already down since Trump seized control, plummeted further after his board of trustees voted in December to rename the complex after him and put his name on its marble facade.
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That could be an outdoor amphitheater overlooking the Potomac River, they said, adding that it would “fail to adequately honor President John F. Kennedy” but would be easier to build and maintain.
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NBC NewsThe filing notes that any potential outdoor amphitheater would “fail to adequately honor” President John F. Kennedy, “but would be simpler and more economical to build, operate, and maintain.”
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What does Trump’s name have to do with the renovations? According to the DOJ filing, “an order blocking the Board from appropriately recognizing President Trump will cause donors to flee, financial contributions to dry up, and structural rehabilitation to stop.”
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Washington TimesRenovations were required, they argued, but “an order blocking the Board from appropriately recognizing President Trump will cause donors to flee, financial contributions to dry up, and structural rehabilitation to stop. There will simply not be the expertise or funding necessary to rebuild and renovate this decimated structure.”
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Independent claims that didn't surface elsewhere in our corpus. Treat as supplementary — not corroborated across outlets.
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01 Washington Examiner Krasner also asserted that the ballroom’s destruction would be done in “an official ceremony.”
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02 PBS NewsHour Kurdish-led group in Syria says it has dissolved after merging with the army The commander of the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces on Tuesday announced the official dissolution of the group, which once controlled a de facto autonomous zone in Syria's northeast.
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03 The Guardian US The warning came as Trump leaves a trail of destruction in Washington, demolishing the White House East Wing to make way for a $600m ballroom and ordering a renovation of the Lincoln Memorial reflecting pool that resulted in algae blooms and a peeling liner.
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04 NBC News The administration has “committed an enormous amount of time and energy in planning for the forthcoming renovation and restoration of this building, a task which President Trump, given his unrivaled expertise and experience in real estate and construction, and prominence as President, is uniquely qualified to accomplish,” Mayers wrote Monday in opposition to a motion from Rep. Joyce Beatty, D-Ohio, to block the administration from closing the center completely.
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05 BBC News Published The US has removed Syria from its list of state sponsors of terrorism after 47 years, lifting what it said was the "final major barriers" for private sector investment in the country and its reintegration into the global economy.
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06 Vox This story appeared in The Logoff, a daily newsletter that helps you stay informed about the Trump administration without letting political news take over your life. Subscribe here.
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07 Washington Times In response, Beatty again asked the federal court to block those stylings, arguing that they were “clear violations of the Kennedy Center statute” that barred the board from making the center into a memorial to anyone else. A federal judge will hear arguments on that request on Thursday.
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08 HuffPost A painting by Kehinde Wiley, the artist behind former President Barack Obama’s official portrait, has been removed from display at the U.S. Embassy in the Dominican Republic following criticism from Trump officials, The New York Times reported Monday.
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09 The Daily Wire But Krasner wasn’t done. He quickly turned his sights to the White House’s massive 90,000-square-foot State Ballroom project currently under construction over the old East Wing, complete with a six-story underground presidential bunker complex.
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