U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper of Washington, D.C., delivered a blow on Friday to President Donald Trump‘s planned two-year renovation for the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, previously set to commence on July 5, and ordered the president’s name to be removed from the arts center.
Judge Cooper was nominated to the bench in 2014 by then-President Barack Obama and subsequently confirmed by the Senate in a unanimous vote. Trump grouped Cooper among the “Radical Left Democrats” in a Truth Social post, due to his association with Obama.
Apart from the Kennedy Center lawsuit, Cooper has presided over cases tangentially related to Trump, including the prosecutions of defendants who took part in the Capitol riot on Jan. 6, 2021.
In one such case, the judge sentenced Christopher Alberts of Maryland to seven years in prison in 2023 for entering the U.S. Capitol armed with a loaded handgun and attacking police officers with a wooden pallet. When Alberts claimed he didn’t want to hurt anyone, Cooper said he was one of the leaders of the mob during the riot that day and “not simply a bystander.”
Among hundreds of Jan. 6 riot participants, Alberts was later pardoned by Trump once he returned to the White House last year.
Cooper also has ties to former President Joe Biden through his wife, Amy Jeffress. She became Biden’s new personal attorney last year, replacing Bob Bauer. Jeffress was involved in behind-the-scenes work for the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 riot, according to Politico. Besides her experience in private law practice, she worked for the Department of Justice from 1996 to 2014.
The 94-page ruling struck a nerve with Trump, who penned a lengthy screed criticizing Cooper for keeping the building open despite hearing the federal government’s reasoning for the closure.
“Judge Cooper was given a presentation by leading Building and Construction Experts as to how structurally dangerous the Building is, with rotting beams, parking areas that are subject to collapse, and various other Life and Safety problems, in addition to the fact that it also needs a MAJOR renovation, from an aesthetic standpoint, but he was not ‘swayed,’ and said he wants the Building to, incredibly, remain open and, therefore, dangerous,” the president posted on Truth Social.
Trump told Cooper to “be ashamed of himself” following the ruling.
TRUMP SLAMS JUDGE FOR REVERSING KENNEDY CENTER NAME CHANGE AND BLOCKING CLOSURE
“I took great pride in taking over a losing Institution, and looked forward to making it into a Great and Prestigious WINNER for Washington, D.C., and indeed, the United States of America,” he added. “Unfortunately, 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.”
Handing down the ruling on former President John F. Kennedy‘s 109th birthday, Cooper ordered the administration to remove Trump’s name from the theater, website, and other branding within 14 days. As of now, the planned two-year renovation is no longer moving forward.
