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The Independent
8 minutes ago
- The Independent
Renaming Kennedy Center for Trumps would violate law that created it, insiders say as JFK niece weighs in
House Republicans have proposed renaming the Kennedy Center and opera house after President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump — but the change would violate the law that created the center, according to a new report. Last week, Republicans passed an amendment in committee that would rename the opera house after the first lady. The measure is now part of legislation funding the interior department, but the legislation would have to be voted through the full House and Senate before becoming law. Idaho Republican Rep. Mike Simpson sponsored the legislation. The following day, Missouri Republican Rep. Bob Onder put forward the Make Entertainment Great Again Act, which would rename the center 'the Donald J. Trump Center for Performing Arts.' The House hasn't moved on the legislation as of yet. However, three former Kennedy Center board members told NBC News that the legislation that established the center prohibits any of the facilities from being renamed, apart from the Eisenhower Theater, which was named after President Dwight Eisenhower after his administration approved its construction in 1958. But the project was delayed and later revived during the administration of President John F. Kennedy. It was named after Kennedy following his assassination. 'After December 2, 1983, no additional memorials or plaques in the nature of memorials shall be designated or installed in the public areas of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts,' the U.S. code states. Maine Democratic Rep. Chellie Pingree is the top Democrat on the Appropriations subcommittee on the interior. 'Legally, they can't just slap her name on it without congressional action,' a spokesperson for Pingree told NBC News. 'If Republicans can't pass their budget — which they usually can't — the Melania Trump renaming provision dies,' the spokesperson added. 'The only real wildcard is whether Trump or his allies ignore the law entirely and try to do it unilaterally. But that would have no legal basis — and would almost certainly trigger a court fight.' A Simpson spokesperson told the network that the White House and the office of the first lady were not made aware of the amendment before he proposed it. The spokesperson noted that the office of the first lady called Simpson's office to thank the congressman afterwards. The spokesperson added that Simpson put forward the amendment because 'he understands that the first lady has always been a very avid supporter of the arts as well. She's had a long-standing commitment to the arts. ... It really did come from his heart.' As is tradition, the first lady is the honorary chair of the center. However, unlike in his first term, Trump has shown great interest in the arts and the center. Trump named himself the chair of the center and removed the previous bipartisan Board of Trustees, as well as the previous president and chair. Trump made his White House special envoy, former Ambassador to Germany Ric Grenell, the president of the center. The president took to social media to write that Grenell 'shares my Vision for a GOLDEN AGE of American Arts and Culture.' He added that Grenell would make sure there would be no 'ANTI-AMERICAN PROPAGANDA.' Maria Shriver, Kennedy's niece, blasted the effort to rename the center on X on Monday night. 'This is insane. It makes my blood boil. It's so ridiculous, so petty, so small minded,' she wrote. 'Truly, what is this about? It's always about something. 'Let's get rid of the Rose Garden. Let's rename the Kennedy Center.' What's next?' Kennedy's grandson, Jack Schlossberg, also took to social media to criticize Republicans for the motion to rename the opera house after the first lady. 'The Trump Administration stands for freedom of oppression, not expression. He uses his awesome powers to suppress free expression and instill fear. But this isn't about the arts,' he said on Instagram. 'Trump is obsessed with being bigger than JFK, with minimizing the many heroes of our past, as if that elevates him. It doesn't,' he added.
The Independent
8 minutes ago
- The Independent
Marjorie Taylor Greene calls Gaza a ‘genocide' after Trump counters Netanyahu and admits kids are starving
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene is calling Israel's war in Gaza a 'genocide,' her post coming hours after President Donald Trump contradicted Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who said that there is no starvation in the war-torn region. The Georgia MAGA firebrand posted a response on X to Rep. Randy Fine (R-FL), who is Jewish and one of the most outspoken supporters of Israel in Congress, who has said that Gaza should 'Release the hostages. Until then, starve away.' Fine added his opinion that the stark images and reports of starvation in Gaza 'is all a lie anyway.' 'I can only imagine how Florida's 6th district feels now that their Representative, that they were told to vote for, openly calls for starving innocent people and children,' MTG posted. Greene added that Fine's comments would cause only more antisemitism. 'It's the most truthful and easiest thing to say that Oct 7th in Israel was horrific and all hostages must be returned, but so is the genocide, humanitarian crisis, and starvation happening in Gaza. But a Jewish U.S. Representative calling for the continued starvation of innocent people and children is disgraceful.' Greene's comments came after Trump, in a rare moment of disagreement with Netanyahu on Gaza, broke with the assessment of Israel's prime minister. On Sunday, Netanyahu spoke at a Christian conference in Jerusalem, where he pushed back against accusations of starvation in Gaza. 'There is no policy of starvation in Gaza and there is no starvation in Gaza,' Netanyahu insisted. But when meeting with UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer, Trump said that Gaza had 'real starvation.' 'I don't know. I mean, based on television, I would say not particularly because those children look very hungry,' Trump said. Trump said that the United States would work with other countries to provide assistance to Gaza. At the same time, the Trump administration has sought to crack down on pro-Palestine demonstrators in the United States, such as when it arrested Columbia University graduate and activist Mahmoud Khalil and Tufts University doctoral student Rumeysa Ozturk. Alongside Israel's onslaught on Gaza that it launched after Hamas's deadly terrorist attack on October 7th, 2023, Gaza now risks an outright famine. The Integrated Food Security Phase Classification, or IPC, said on Tuesday that 'worst-case scenario of famine is currently playing out.' One United Nations representative said that Palestinians are beginning to resemble 'walking corposes ' and children are 'emaciated, weak and at high risk of dying.' This past weekend, Israel announced a humanitarian pause to let food and aid into Gaza. Gaza's Health Ministry said that 60,000 Palestinians have died as a result of the war. Plenty of progressive Democrats have called Israel's war in Gaza a genocide, such as Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI), the first Palestinian-American congresswoman, as well as Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY). But Republicans, who largely support Israel because of evangelical Christian conservatives who believe that the creation of the state of Israel is an important part of End Times theology, remain supportive of the country. Last month, House Speaker Mike Johnson invited Netanyahu to Congress. At the same time, Greene had broken with Republicans and Trump on foreign policy, most recently on Trump's decision to strike nuclear facilities in Iran. In addition, earlier this month, she attempted to have a vote on cutting off aid to Israel, though all but six members – two Republicans and four Democrats – opposed it. She specifically criticized bombing of a Catholic church in Gaza.
Daily Mail
8 minutes ago
- Daily Mail
Fears foreign countries may be using Epstein files as leverage on Trump
The Senate's leading Democrat is set to tee up the latest twist in the saga of the secret files of former financier and convicted [child predator] Jeffrey Epstein. Senate Minority leader Chuck Schumer plans to call for an FBI investigation Tuesday into whether foreign governments are trying to use the Epstein files against U.S. President Donald Trump. At a press conference during his trip to Scotland on Monday, Trump said that all of the hubbub about the files was a 'hoax', while also noting that the 'files were run by sick, sick people' during the last administration who can 'put things in the file that was a fake.' Trump is known to have run in the same social circles as Epstein, and the two were photographed at events together in the late 1990's and early 2000s. Their friendship doesn't mean the president took part in any inappropriate activity. A Wall Street Journal Report released earlier this month reported that Trump was one of Epstein's friends who wrote him a letter for his 50th birthday in 2003, accompanied by a sketch of a naked woman, prompting president to deny that reporting and sue the paper. The Trump administration's refusal to release any more files about Jeffrey Epstein has dominated the news cycle for most of the month and both the president's political allies and adversaries are growing weary. Even members of the president's own political party have been critical of the administration's handling of the files. Eric Burlison, a Missouri House Republican, told CNN's Manu Raju Sunday that part of the issue is 'that there were false expectations that are created, and that's a political mistake.' 'I think that saying that you're going to be able to deliver when you haven't even looked at all of the files, what's available, was probably a misstep,' Burlison said. During the course of his 2024 presidential campaign, Trump promised to release the files, but has yet to do so in his second term.
