WASHINGTON — Lawyers for Rep. Joyce Beatty asked a federal judge Sunday to order the Trump administration to turn over emails and text messages concerning the Kennedy Center’s management, arguing that the records could clarify the president’s role in decisions to close the performing arts complex.
The request is the latest dispute in Beatty’s lawsuit over the Kennedy Center’s leadership and renovation plans. Her attorneys said a privilege log supplied Friday identifies communications involving Kennedy Center executive director Matthew Floca, White House personnel and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick that the defendants are withholding under claims of presidential communications privilege.
According to the filing, the log lists 19 text messages between Floca and presidential aide Natalie Harp from June through September, including 11 exchanged on Sept. 15, when the center’s board voted to close the facility. It also identifies roughly 180 messages between Floca and Lutnick about operations, renovation and board matters. The log describes the records but does not disclose their full contents.
Beatty’s attorneys contend that the exchanges could show whether trustees exercised independent judgment or ratified decisions made in advance. They also challenge the breadth of the privilege claims. “These communications directly bear on the issues before the Court,” the lawyers wrote in Sunday’s filing.
The administration has asserted that the withheld materials involve privileged presidential communications. The White House did not immediately respond to the Associated Press’s request for comment Sunday. U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper had not ruled on the request.
Cooper ruled in May that the center had unlawfully added Trump’s name to the building and ordered it removed. After the board again voted to close the center in September, Floca announced a temporary closure of the main building. Cooper subsequently required 30 days’ notice before major physical changes to the facility.
The filing, dated Oct. 25, also disputes the timing of the administration’s privilege log, which arrived on the last day of an extended discovery period. Beatty’s lawyers are seeking immediate production of the records before the court resolves a pending motion concerning the closure.
