WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump said Monday that he's “not ripping down” the Kennedy Center but insisted the performing arts venue needs to shut down for about two years for construction and other work without patrons coming and going and getting in the way.
The comments strongly suggested that he intends to gut the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts as part of the process.
“I’m not ripping it down," the Republican president told reporters in the Oval Office. “I’ll be using the steel. So we’re using the structure.”
Such a project would mark the Republican president's latest effort to put his stamp on a cultural institution that Congress designated as a living memorial to President Kennedy, a Democrat. It also would be in addition to attempts to leave a permanent mark on Washington through other projects, the most prominent of which is adding a ballroom to the White House.
Shortly after taking office last year, Trump dismissed Kennedy Center board members who had been appointed by Democratic presidents and replaced them with loyalists, who voted to make him chairman. He helped choose the recipients of the 2025 Kennedy Center Honors, a program he avoided during his first term. He later hosted the event, and the board voted late last year to rebrand the Kennedy Center by adding his name to the building and website.
Trump announced Sunday on social media that he intends to temporarily close the performing arts venue on July 4 for about two years “for Construction, Revitalization, and Complete Rebuilding," subject to board approval.
The announcement followed a wave of cancellations by leading performers, musicians and groups since the president took over leadership of the arts institution. Trump did not mention the cancellations in his announcements, or during his comments Monday.
Recalling his past career in construction and real estate, Trump said, “you want to sit with something for a little while before you decide on what you want to do.” Speaking of the Kennedy Center, he said: “We sat with it. We ran it. It's in very bad shape,” asserting that the building is “run down,” “dilapidated” and “sort of dangerous.”
Roma Daravi, a Kennedy Center spokesperson, said in a social media post that “decades of gross negligence” has led to $250 million of deferred maintenance needs and that temporarily closing the institution “is the most logical choice to allow for comprehensive renovations, efficient project completion, and responsible use of taxpayer dollars.”
Deborah Rutter, the Kennedy Center president who was ousted by Trump, declined comment on Monday. In the past, she has said allegations from Trump and others about the center's management were false.
A representative for David Rubenstein, the board chairman who was also pushed out by Trump, said Rubenstein was not available on Monday to comment.
Trump, citing the complaints of a workman he said has been laying marble at the Kennedy Center, said the closure is needed because "you can't do any work because people are coming in and out.”
He pegged the cost at about $200 million, including the use of “the highest-grade marbles, the highest-grade everything.”
“We’re fully financed and so we’re going to close it and we’re going to make it unbelievable, far better than it ever was, and we’ll be able to do it properly," Trump said.
Congress earmarked $257 million for the Kennedy Center in a tax cut and spending bill that Trump signed into law last summer.
The White House said after the president spoke that some of the maintenance includes work on the building's structural, heating and cooling, plumbing, electrical, fire protection and technical stage systems. Work on the building's exterior, security standards and parking are also included.
Daravi, the Kennedy Center spokesperson, declined comment when asked how the closure would affect the annual Mark Twain Award and Kennedy Center Honors events this year.
Trump said last October, also on social media, that the venue would stay open during construction. But on Monday he said that plan was no longer feasible.
“I was thinking maybe there’s a way of doing it simultaneously but there really isn’t, and we’re going to have something that when it opens it’s going to be brand new, beautiful," Trump said.
“The steel will all be checked out because it’ll be fully exposed,” he said. “It’s been up for a long time, but as anybody knows it was in very bad shape. Wasn’t kept well, before I got there,” he said. “So we’re going to make it, I think there won’t be anything like it in the country.”
The Kennedy Center opened in 1971.
Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., who in November opened an investigation into the Kennedy Center's financial management, said the planned closure is part of Trump's “demolition tour of Washington.” Whitehouse is the senior Democrat on the Environment and Public Works Committee, which oversees public buildings, and is an ex-officio member of the Kennedy Center's board.
“If he succeeds, it will be because of a series of suspect and illegal actions to commandeer the Kennedy Center as a clubhouse for his friends and political allies and install leadership who satisfy his every whim," Whitehouse said.
Since Trump returned to the presidency, the Kennedy Center is one of many Washington landmarks that he has sought to overhaul in his second term.
He demolished the White House East Wing and launched a massive $400 million ballroom project, is actively pursuing building a triumphal arch on the other side the Arlington Bridge from the Lincoln Memorial, and has plans for Washington Dulles International Airport.
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Associated Press writers Hillel Italie in New York and Steven Sloan in Washington contributed to this report.
A woman walks outside The John F. Kennedy Memorial Center For The Performing Arts, Monday, Feb. 2, 2026 in Washington. (AP Photo/Rahmat Gul)
A bronze sculpture of President John F. Kennedy is displayed in the John F. Kennedy Memorial Center For The Performing Arts, Monday, Feb. 2, 2026 in Washington. (AP Photo/Rahmat Gul)
BOSTON (AP) — The seven victims of a marine disaster that devastated a storied Massachusetts fishing town included a fifth-generation fisherman, a young federal fisheries observer and a father-and-son crew duo. All died when their fishing boat, the Lily Jean, sank in waters off America’s oldest seaport.
The sinking underscored the risks long inherent in Gloucester’s fishing industry, which spans more than 400 years and was famously chronicled in “The Perfect Storm.” The names of the crew will be added to a city memorial honoring thousands of fishermen lost at sea over generations.
The 72-foot (22-meter) vessel was returning to port early Friday to repair fishing gear when it sank in frigid Atlantic waters. The U.S. Coast Guard announced Monday that it was launching a formal investigation into the sinking after suspending a search for survivors Saturday. It has not said what might have caused the sinking, though it said ice buildup from freezing ocean spray can cause a boat to capsize.
“You fish in federal waters, you fish in a Gloucester boat, and you lose your life, you’re forever a Gloucester fisherman,” Gloucester fisherman Al Cottone said.
Coast Guard officials identified the victims Monday as captain Accursio “Gus” Sanfilippo and crewmembers Paul Beal Sr., Paul Beal Jr., John Rousanidis, Freeman Short and Sean Therrien. Also aboard was Jada Samitt, a fisheries observer for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
On Monday, the community was quick to push back against speculation about a possible cause, recalling Sanfilippo as someone who cared about his crew and didn't take risks.
Vito Giacalone, head of the Gloucester Fishing Community Preservation Fund, said such sinkings are unfortunately not out of the ordinary.
“We’ve had multiple sinkings. All hands lost. No radio communication at the very last minute. Nobody alive to say, oh, no, it wasn’t that," he said. "So, it’s just unfair to everyone involved with the folks that were lost feeling like someone did something wrong.”
“All those guys on that boat were seasoned fishermen,” former Lily Jean crew member Gryphon Orfanos said while doing boat repairs Monday at the same dock where the Lily Jean used to tie up. “They knew how dangerous it was.”
Orfanos and friend Nate Dennen attached a stainless steel memorial cross with the name “Lily Jean” to a wooden beam at the dock.
Dennen, a longtime friend of the boat's captain Gus, said he was a mentor who looked out for his crew.
“It taught me everything I know,” Orfanos said of his more than a year working on the Lily Jean — his first offshore fishing job. “Out on the ocean, it teaches you everything. But as far as I want the word to spread, Gus was the best guy ever.”
Cottone said any vessel leaving port needs a Coast Guard inspection decal, which requires up-to-date safety equipment — and the fishery observer conducts a safety check before each outing.
“If the observer deems the boat not to be safe or have any piece of safety equipment that’s not up to date ... that observer will shut the trip down,” he said.
Sanfilippo was well known in Gloucester. The Lily Jean, Sanfilippo, and his crew were featured in a 2012 episode of the History Channel show “Nor’Easter Men.” The captain is described as a fifth-generation commercial fisherman, out of Gloucester, in the Georges Bank. The crew is shown working in dangerous weather conditions for hours on end, spending as many as 10 days offshore catching haddock, lobster and flounder.
“We loved each other,” Giacalone said. “He treated me like a big brother and I treated him like my younger brother. To know the tragedy of this and to know the kind of character that Gus had, he’d be mortified to know that these lives were all lost.”
Giacalone said the Sanfillipo and Beal names were synonymous with local fishing going back decades. He said Sanfillipo “followed in the footsteps of his dad" while the Beal family has built boats and a brother is also a fisherman.
“Those two families are absolutely etched in centuries of these multiple generations of fishermen,” Giacalone said.
Just as Sanfillipo had years of experience, Samitt was undertaking her first job at sea as an observer. The 22-year-old was tasked with collecting data from the catch, used for making government regulations and other purposes.
Samitt’s family said in a statement that she was originally from Virginia and had a deep love of Gloucester’s fishing community and "conveyed to us how critical it was to protect the seas and fisheries.”
NOAA, meanwhile, offered its condolences.
“Our thoughts and deepest sympathies are with Jada’s family, the families of the six fishermen, the NOAA observer community, and everyone affected,” its statement said.
Therrien, 44, was working his first season on a commercial fishing vessel, joining the Lily Jean after his close friend Rousanidis said the boat needed another crew member, his partner Becky Carp said. He had been on about a half-dozen trips already, she said, and appeared to be settling into the job despite complaints about the cold.
Therrien, she said, was "always up for an adventure” but took thed job mostly so he could provide for his family. The lifelong Massachusetts resident was the family's breadwinner and sought to supplement his construction work, which was scarce in the winter.
“He wanted to make sure his family was safe and taken care which is why he was busting his butt,” Carp said.
Carp last talked to Therrien on Tuesday before he headed out. She had wanted him to take the week off to spend time with him but he felt he needed to make money. She only learned about the sinking when alerts began popping up Friday.
“You always want to hold out hope that they are found. Come Saturday morning, I kind of knew at that point that they wouldn’t find any survivors,” Carp said. “I feel like it’s a nightmare that I am going to wake up from. It's just a bad dream and everything will be OK. But unfortunately, it's not."
Whittle reported from Scarborough, Maine.
Al Cattone, friend of the late Capt. Gus Sanfilippo, reacts while listening to friends and officials remember the victims of the fishing boat that went missing, Monday, Feb. 2, 2026, in Gloucester, Mass. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)
Christine Porper of Gloucester, Mass. pauses at the fisherman's memorial near the homeport of a fishing boat that went missing with seven onboard, Monday, Feb. 2, 2026, in Gloucester, Mass. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)
A crucifix, made by a friend of the captain of the fishing boat "Lily Jean", is displayed on the pier of the homeport of the fishing boat that went missing with seven onboard, Monday, Feb. 2, 2026, in Gloucester, Mass. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)
Gryphon Orfanos, who in the past worked on the fishing vessel "Lily Jean", stands on the pier of the homeport of the fishing boat that went missing with seven onboard, Monday, Feb. 2, 2026, in Gloucester, Mass. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)
Flowers are left at fisherman's memorial near the homeport of a fishing boat that went missing with seven onboard, Monday, Feb. 2, 2026, in Gloucester, Mass. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)
Christine Porper of Gloucester, Mass. pauses at the fisherman's memorial near the homeport of a fishing boat that went missing with seven onboard, Monday, Feb. 2, 2026, in Gloucester, Mass. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)
A group of women gather at the fisherman's memorial near the homeport of a fishing boat that went missing with seven onboard, Monday, Feb. 2, 2026, in Gloucester, Mass. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)
