“That’s the strategy they’re using,” said Rhode Island Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse as he considered whether Donald Trump would give his name to the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. “You float stuff and float stuff until people get used to how stupid or outrageous it is, and then you pull the trigger.”
At 11am on Thursday, December 18, Whitehouse sat in his Senate office for an interview with the Guardian. Two hours later, his words proved prophetic. White House Press Secretary Caroline Leavitt announced on X that the Kennedy Center’s board of directors voted “unanimously” to rename it the Trump-Kennedy Center.
Workers on a scissor lift were adding metal lettering to the building’s exterior Friday before lowering a blue tarp to reveal a sign that read “Donald J. Trump and John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts.” Members of the Kennedy family, who were assassinated in 1963, denounced the move as “crazy” and noted that action by Congress was needed to change the name.
The takeover of the national cultural center, which many commentators viewed as a case study in institutional capture, began in February when Trump ousted former President Joe Biden-appointed Kennedy Center board members to take over as chairman and installed longtime ally Richard Grenell, the former ambassador to Germany.
Related: Trump supporters praise US attack on Nigeria as ‘amazing Christmas gift’
Last November, Whitehouse, the top Democrat on the Senate Environment and Public Works (EPW) Committee, launched a formal investigation into allegations of widespread nepotism, financial mismanagement and corruption at what he called the “temple of secular art.”
Democrats on the committee said they obtained documents showing the national cultural center was operating as a “slush fund and private club for Trump’s friends and political allies,” resulting in millions of dollars in losses and significant deviations from its statutory mission.
The White House sent a letter to Grenell requesting detailed documents and records. Grenell issued a fiery response, accusing the senator of “partisan attacks and false accusations.” He claimed that negligence by the center’s previous leadership had plunged the center into a “financial mess” and was “effectively bringing the building down”.
Whitehouse, an ex-officio member of the Kennedy Center Board of Trustees, remains undeterred and determined to continue the investigation. Speaking from his office on Capitol Hill, he explained: “We started getting information about the shenanigans that were going on at the Kennedy Center, and we got a strong enough signal that we were trying to dig deeper to see what was going on.
“It was through this effort that reports and letters emerged that basically showed that when the bandits took possession of the ship, their first instinct was to rob it for their own benefit and hire their friends and put people in luxurious rooms at Watergate. [Hotel] And free entry for favored organizations, it’s all part of Maga’s party atmosphere.“
A central allegation of the investigation is that the Kennedy Center was providing preferential access and financial benefits to organizations with ties to the Trump administration and its allies. Under the contract, Grenell granted FIFA, world soccer’s governing body, free and exclusive use of the entire Kennedy Center campus from Nov. 24 to Dec. 12 for the World Cup draw.
Estimates provided by the White House show this will cost the center $5,038,444 in direct rent, programming rescheduling, labor, food and beverage and other services. Several events were canceled or rescheduled to accommodate FIFA requirements.
In his letter, Grenell refuted the accusation, saying: “FIFA has given us millions of dollars, in addition to covering all costs of this event, in lieu of rental fees. Focusing solely on a simple rental fee does not govern an institution as diverse as the Kennedy Center. A simple rental fee is insufficient to cover the scale of the event.”
But Whitehouse argued that this defense was not supported by any documentation. The senator said FIFA has been “ruthlessly sucking up to Trump, currying favor with him by giving him ridiculous peace trophies, along with free admission to the Kennedy Center.”
“FIFA is providing millions of dollars to the Kennedy Center – far beyond rental income – and they are covering all costs,” Roma Daravi, vice president of public relations for the Kennedy Center, said in a statement Wednesday.
Dharavi accused the White House of deliberately sharing “misleading information” with US newspapers The New York Times and The Washington Post, adding: “The media and senators should be ashamed of the lies they print and reprint – we want to build a cultural center for all Americans, but they selfishly spread lies in headlines to sow division among Americans.”
Contracts show significant rental discounts were offered to conservative groups: NewsNation received a $19,820 discount at a town hall event; the American Conservative Union Foundation received a $21,982.60 discount at a CPAC gathering called the Christian Persecution Summit. The contract documents clearly state “OOP” (Office of the President) fees are “waived”.
Whitehouse added: “If they don’t pay the appropriate general Kennedy Center rate, they’re getting benefits that only seem to be going to groups associated with Trump and Magga. It’s basically a direct way to use this public facility to put money into the pockets of allied groups.”
The investigation also found that individuals with personal or political ties to Grenell and his allies received lucrative contracts.
On April 14, the center signed a $15,000-per-month contract with a former colleague of Grenell’s when he was ambassador to Germany. The letter noted that the contract was “devoid of any detail” and that there was no evidence of substantive speech to justify the payment.
Grenell defended the hire in a letter to the White House, calling his former colleague an “outstanding editor, researcher and writer” whose work on a special exhibit was “100 percent” covered by donors who gave $10 million to the center.
In May, the center awarded a $10,833.33-per-month contract to Jeff Halperin, the husband of staunch Trump ally Kari Lake, to provide “social media capture/editing” services. In his response, Grenell praised Halperin’s “incredible multimedia expertise.”
It’s a second-term strategy that has made Trump a Trump without guardrails, taking him into countless places no president has gone so far
Sheldon Whitehouse
The documents detailed extensive spending on lavish hospitality and entertainment for employees and colleagues, which the letter said was not related to official fundraising or development purposes.
Between April 21 and July 16, Grenell’s group charged the center $27,185 for rooms at the luxury Watergate Hotel. The fees, which include multi-night stays, missed booking fees and valet parking fees, have been described as “unprecedented”.
Whitehouse contrasted this with previous administrations, where such hospitality was often reserved for performers or award winners, rather than “having people you know put in Watergate.”
Between April 17 and July 2, private lunch, dinner and drinks will cost $10,773.19. Receipts show charges for “champagne service,” multiple bottles of wine orders (including rosé) and charcuterie. Senior staffers Nick Meade and Rick Loughery, who also hold leadership positions in political organizations founded or led by Grenell, appear on several invoices for this expenditure.
The investigation pointed to reports that the Kennedy Center was operating over budget amid declining ticket sales. Whitehouse said the decline was due to new leadership “sending a bad signal to Washington,” programming changes that “appeal to a narrower market of maga enthusiasts” and the cancellation of major shows. He likened the Trump administration’s takeover to the “destroyer of Rome.”
Grenell insisted that the center’s previous leaders were responsible for the center’s financial problems and that his team was addressing them. Whitehouse countered that there is “little reason to believe that this version of events is supported by facts” and that Grenell’s team “has provided no documentary support for any of the events.”
The Senate EPW Committee’s investigation continues. “We’re going to continue to dig deeper until we’re confident that we understand the depth of the problem,” Whitehouse said. “But it should be clear to people that when a new administration comes to Washington, it’s not an ordinary and appropriate thing to do when you start filling your own pockets, your friends’ pockets, your political allies’ pockets with public goods.”
The Kennedy Center is just the tip of the iceberg in what will truly be a culture war in Trump’s second term. He unveiled plans to build a triumphal arch and a garden of American “heroes” statues in Washington to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. Reports emerged last week that the administration was threatening to withhold federal funding from Smithsonian Institution museums if they failed to submit extensive documents for content review.
Whitehouse commented: “This is a second-term strategy that has allowed Trump to be Trump without guardrails, which has taken him to countless places that no president has gone before. That’s just one factor in it. Trump sees the crowd. He sees an event. He wants to be in it so that you can see the Kennedy Center as a place where he puts himself in front of people and seeks acclaim and admiration, and that’s going to be pretty irresistible.”
“It’s a little different than the Smithsonian, which is a narrative enforcement battle, trying to restore a selective view of American history that is consistent with the Republican and MAGA narratives. I think you can’t underestimate the importance of narrative enhancement to the MAGA movement. They will protect the narrative by lying about very obvious facts.”