Donald Trump has responded after a federal judge ordered that his name should be removed from the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.
US District Judge Christopher Cooper, appointed by Barack Obama in 2014, has ruled all signage with Mr Trump's name must be removed from the building and all reference to a "Trump Kennedy Center" removed from official material within 14 days.
In his 94-page ruling, he wrote: "The Kennedy Center’s organic statute makes crystal clear that the Center is to be named for President Kennedy, and it cannot bear any other formal name or public memorial based on the Board’s unilateral say-so.
"Congress gave the Kennedy Center its name, and only Congress can change it."
Judge Cooper has also temporarily blocked the arts venue from closing this summer for planned renovations.
Shortly after the ruling, Mr Trump took to social media to express frustration that the venue "which was to be transformed by the Trump Administration into the finest facility of its kind" would no longer be allowed to close.
Stating the centre had faced years of "neglect, decay and poor maintenance", the President said "Judge Cooper and the radical left would rather see it DIE than have President Trump transform it into something that everyone could be proud of".
Mr Trump said he now plans to transfer ownership of the Kennedy Center to Congress after the ruling.
The Kennedy Center will now be forced to remove signage including Donald Trump's name
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He added: "Unless I am free to do what I do better than anyone else, bring this institution back, physically, financially, and artistically, I have no interest in continuing what could only be a hopeless journey into 'NEVER NEVER LAND'."
A spokesman for the centre said they planned to appeal the name-changing order.
He appointed himself the chairman of the venue shortly after taking office last year.
In February 2025 he dismissed the arts institution's board members, having criticised its "woke" programming decisions after it hosted drag and LGBT performances.
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PICTURED: Donald Trump and First Lady Melania attended a performance of musical Chicago in the arts venue earlier this year
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The board of trustees then voted in favour of a proposal to add his name to the centre, one of several moves he has made in order to make his mark on Washington, DC, including his East Wing ballroom, reflecting pool, and the United States Triumphal Arch.
Jack Schlossberg, the only grandson of John F Kennedy, said at the time the decision to rename the centre was "not unanimous", claiming microphones in the meeting were muted.
Performances of the musical Hamilton, along with performances from artists including Philip Glass, Ben Folds, and Issa Rae were cancelled in protest after the President renamed the arts venue.
Joyce Beatty, a Democratic Representative from Ohio and a member of the Kennedy Center board, brought forward the lawsuit which Judge Cooper ruled on.
Jack Schlossberg, only living grandson of JFK, said the decision to rename the centre was 'not unanimous'
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Joyce Beatty, a US Representative and member of the Kennedy Center board, brought forward the lawsuit decided by Judge Chris Cooper
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In a statement she said: "Today’s ruling rightly affirms that this administration’s efforts to rename and close the Center have no basis in law.
"The Kennedy Center is an institution that belongs to the American people, not to Donald Trump. He has desecrated this sacred memorial for his own vanity."
The arts centre was named after the former president John F Kennedy, who was assassinated in 1963.
His grandnephew, John Kennedy III, criticised the decision by the President to rename the centre at the time, adding that he doubted the name could be legally changed.
"The Kennedy Center is a living memorial to a fallen president and named for President Kennedy by federal law. It can no sooner be renamed than can someone rename the Lincoln Memorial, no matter what anyone says," he said.