A MARTÍNEZ, HOST:
For more on the Kennedy Center's possible closure. I'm joined by Greg Werkheiser. He's co-founder of the law firm Cultural Heritage Partners, which represents groups suing the Kennedy Center over planned renovations and its efforts to add President Trump's name to the building.
So, Greg, the board makes the argument that the center is actually physically unsafe and that it might run out of money in a few weeks. What do you make of that argument?
GREG WERKHEISER: Well, the board itself makes a remarkable connection in its latest communications. It says the Kennedy Center could face financial collapse. It says President Trump has extraordinary ability to save it. But it suggests that he may not do that without appropriate recognition.
Here's the problem. Trump is an outside donor - he's not an outside donor negotiating naming rights. He's voluntarily the chairman and a trustee. If he has extraordinary power to save the Kennedy Center, that doesn't give him more leverage over it to negotiate naming rights. It gives him more responsibility to it.
MARTÍNEZ: But so why shouldn't the center recognize Trump? If Trump, say, indeed raises enough money to revive the center's finances, why wouldn't or shouldn't he get some recognition by putting his name on the thing?
WERKHEISER: Because Trump isn't just a donor. He's a fiduciary. When he became a trustee and chairman, he took on duties to the Kennedy Center, not the other way around. Now, I'm not saying a judge can order him to make fundraising calls. But if the board says his help is essential to the center's survival, withholding that help unless he receives a personal honor raises a serious fiduciary question. The chairman's job is to serve the institution. The institution's job isn't to serve the chairman.
MARTÍNEZ: What have you been able to find out about how real or concrete the plans are to have the building torn down if it can't add Trump's name to it?
WERKHEISER: Well, certainly, there's been an exchange between lawyers behind the scenes with some cloak of confidentiality that we would not prefer. But we have some insights that what they're planning is now constrained mostly to the $250 million set of items that Congress authorized.
And that's really why we initially brought our suit, is because we didn't have transparency. The president of the United States threatened to tear the Kennedy Center down to its studs, essentially, and what we wanted and secured from the court was that transparency, to be able to see those plans and to make sure that he wasn't exceeding the mechanical improvements that Congress authorized and getting into the area of aesthetic improvements that impacted the historic nature of the building itself.
MARTÍNEZ: Greg, I've never been to the Kennedy Center. I've only driven past it when I'm in D.C. What are the chances that in two years, it'll still be up in its current form?
WERKHEISER: Well, whatever my faith or lack of faith is in the current administration, I have faith in the American people. They have pretty clearly expressed their desire that the Kennedy Center remain both the Kennedy Center in name and in physical form. And, of course, you never ask a lawyer how much confidence they have in themselves because it's usually infinite.
So I'm pretty sure that 2 1/2 years from now, minimally, you'll put on a black tie suit, go to an event at the Kennedy Center and have a wonderful time and remember why you're there, which ultimately is as a memorial to a slain president.
MARTÍNEZ: All right, if I have to wear a black-tie suit, then I'm not going, Greg. I mean, I just - I don't want to have to pack that. Greg Werkheiser represents plaintiffs suing the Kennedy Center over its renovation plans and efforts to add President Trump's name to the building. Greg, thanks.
WERKHEISER: Thank you.
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