Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island said Saturday that whistleblowers had detailed several problems stemming from rushed or improper reconstruction of the Kennedy Center, adding another layer to the chaos around the arts complex as President Donald Trump tried to seize control of it and its name.
Who Has the Power
Whitehouse said in a release that he had received a whistleblower disclosure from the Government Accountability Project, a nonprofit whistleblower protection group, alleging that “the Center rushed a series of renovations driven by the President’s aesthetic whims and his desire to star in a series of televised events in December.” That’s the shape of the arrangement here: a public arts venue pulled into the orbit of presidential vanity, with workers and contractors left to clean up the mess.
“The Center’s subservience to the President’s desires and its corner-cutting contracting practices have resulted in steel columns that are rusting through fresh paint, a reflecting pool that may have to be torn out and rebuilt, and a brand-new bathroom floor torn out over an offending tile color,” Whitehouse said. “This is waste, and it treats a national memorial to President Kennedy as if it were a private renovation project.”
The Kennedy Center did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Silence from the institution, of course, fits the moment.
Trump seized control of the arts and culture venue, named after former President John F. Kennedy, at the beginning of his second term. Trump ousted the center’s prior leadership and replaced it with a Board of Trustees that named him chairman and added his name to the building. Democrats sued to remove it and a federal judge ruled Trump’s name must come off the venue, which had been wracked with boycotts by artists during the turmoil. Trump tried to close the center for two years, only to be ordered to keep it open by the court because only Congress could change its name.
Who Pays for the Mess
Whitehouse released a letter he wrote to the center’s executive director, Matt Floca, demanding answers by July 23. He said the whistleblower report included “firsthand accounts of multiple former Center project managers, supported by contemporaneous documents and photographs.” He also included an 83-page appendix full of internal center documents, emails and photos of apparently shoddy construction.
The allegations point to the usual hierarchy of damage: decisions made at the top, costs dumped downward. The letter says the center rushed work before it was authorized by Congress because it wanted it to be complete for Trump to accept the new FIFA Peace Prize that the soccer federation awarded him. In doing so, the letter alleges the center didn’t follow required contracting guidelines and wasted money replacing a bathroom because the president didn’t like the color and inking no-bid contracts.
One $8 million contract to replace the concert hall’s floor went to a firm with no experience in concert halls, Whitehouse contended. That’s not just waste. It’s the machinery of patronage and control, dressed up as renovation.
What the Documents Say
The whistleblower disclosure came through the Government Accountability Project, a nonprofit whistleblower protection group, and Whitehouse said it was backed by firsthand accounts, documents and photographs. The 83-page appendix, he said, contained internal center documents, emails and photos showing apparently shoddy construction.
The center’s rush to finish work before Congress had authorized it, according to the letter, was tied to the goal of having the venue ready for Trump’s televised events in December and for the FIFA Peace Prize. That timeline, set from above, appears to have driven the contracting decisions that Whitehouse says produced rusting steel columns, a reflecting pool that may need to be torn out and rebuilt, and a bathroom floor ripped out over tile color.
The Kennedy Center did not immediately respond. Trump’s takeover, the board reshuffle, the naming fight, the lawsuits, the boycott, the court order, the alleged no-bid contracts, the $8 million floor job with a firm lacking concert hall experience — it all sits in one ugly pile. The public gets the bill. The powerful get the stage.