An appeals court in the District of Columbia has denied Donald Trump's emergency request to keep his name on the facade of the Kennedy Center, clearing the way for its removal. A three-judge panel rejected the stay sought by justice department lawyers acting for the former president and his appointed board members.
Shortly after the ruling, a livestream showed workers erecting scaffolding around Trump's name, while protesters cheered "take it down". The removal crew, numbering about a dozen, was vastly outnumbered by spectators. The order required the name to be deleted by the end of the day, but work proceeded slowly.
In other legal developments, a federal judge extended a block on the Trump administration's $1.8bn "anti-weaponization fund", and another declined to stop a UFC event on the White House South Lawn scheduled for Sunday, Trump's 80th birthday. The Department of Justice approved the $111bn merger of Paramount Skydance and Warner Bros Discovery, a company controlled by political allies.
Separately, a district court judge ordered the administration to reinstate history and science materials removed from public monuments, ruling that the White House had set "a dangerous precedent of censorship". In March 2025, Trump signed an executive order calling for an examination of monuments altered after January 2020, a year of racial justice protests that saw Confederate statues toppled.
The Kennedy Center removal was paused hours after the deadline, with Trump's name still in place. Nearby, the Lincoln Memorial was used to promote the UFC event, with fighters escorted down its steps. UFC president Dana White announced that World Liberty Financial, a cryptocurrency business partly owned by Trump and envoy Steve Witkoff, would add $250,000 to prize money.
