United States President Donald J. Trump, United States Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr., White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles, United States Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick and Executive Assistant to the President Natalie Harp walk along the White House Colonnade as President Trump returns to the White House in Washington, D.C., from a military event on Tuesday, Sept. 30, 2025. (Photo by Aaron Schwartz/SIPA USA)(SIPA via AP Images).
As the Kennedy Center's fate hangs in the balance, the lawmaker suing to block its destruction said the "privilege log" provided by the Trump administration "overwhelmingly reveals" that its "blanket basis" for withholding communications "cannot stand."
Rep. Joyce Beatty, an Ohio Democrat and board of trustees member, filed a notice before U.S. District Judge Christopher "Casey" Cooper on Sunday about the privilege log, revealing "nine categories of documents, emails, and text-message threads in the possession of the Kennedy Center, which Defendants withheld based on presidential communications privilege."
While the DOJ has said Beatty cannot compel discovery of President Donald Trump's "deliberations" about the Kennedy Center's future or his "input and instructions" to his subordinates as chairman, the plaintiff, who attached the privilege log as Exhibit A, was clear that "highly pertinent communications" involving Executive Director and COO Matt Floca, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and Trump aide Natalie Harp have been "indiscriminately" withheld.
"[W]hat the log does contain is deeply revealing. It shows that Chairman Donald Trump has been in near-constant contact with Kennedy Center management directly and through intermediaries, including on the days of the Board's closure votes," the filing said. "Defendants themselves characterize these conversations as involving the 'operations' and 'management' of the performing arts center—confirming that Trump is acting as the Chairman of the institution in these conversations."
"Defendants are withholding documents regarding Trump's ongoing, direct management of the Kennedy Center, including roughly 180 messages between Floca and Lutnick acting as Trump's go-between," Beatty added. "By logging these communications, Defendants have conceded that each is responsive to requests within the scope of the Court's discovery orders."
The plaintiff asked the Barack Obama-appointed judge in the case to ensure that she can have a "complete picture" of the administration's "actions" and not the cherry-picked and delayed version that "unfortunately suggests gamesmanship."
"Plaintiff respectfully submits that, if the Court orders production of these materials immediately, she could swiftly provide the Court with an analysis prior to its resolution of Defendants' lift-stay motion," the notice said.
The DOJ has relied on a precedent set by the late Vice President Dick Cheney to argue discovery orders touching on the communications of presidential advisers are off-limits.
The plaintiff said the government's "stone wall of executive privilege" is what needs knocking down, not the walls of the Kennedy Center.