White House Leans on Executive Privilege to Shield Trump’s Kennedy Center Power Grab
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A White House lawyer said President Donald Trump has formally invoked executive privilege to block a congressional inquiry into his management of the Kennedy Center, deepening concerns that he is using official power to hide his actions.
President Donald Trump, through deputy assistant counsel Joshua Hoyt, formally invoked the presidential communications privilege in a filing Wednesday, seeking to keep information, documents and communications about his role at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts confidential. The move is designed to choke off the discovery requests of Rep. Joyce Beatty, D-Ohio, who is suing over Trump’s effort to plaster his name on the Center’s façade and his directive to close the venue for two years for renovations.
"Donald Trump appointed himself as chair of the non-profit board of the Kennedy Center, and is now trying to shield his management by improperly invoking executive privilege," said attorneys Norm Eisen and Nathaniel Zelinsky.
The Justice Department claimed that Trump’s involvement with the Center falls within his official duties, pointing to the President’s power to appoint board members and arguing that the privilege covers communications between the President, his advisors and Center staff. Beatty’s lawyers pushed back, saying the Kennedy Center is a congressional entity, not an executive agency, and that the privilege should not be stretched to cover trustee functions.
The dispute comes after earlier court rulings that let Beatty’s team obtain certain records, including a photograph of Trump on Air Force One viewing a poster that read “Kennedy Center DEMOLISH.” The case remains pending before U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper.