Democrat announces whistleblower allegations of construction problems at Kennedy Center - Los Angeles Times 63%
By Nicholas Riccardi73%
7/12/2026, 2:40:39 PM
BS Summary: This article contains 14 faulty reasoning types, including Post Hoc (False Cause), Confirmation Bias, and Framing Effect, with Negativity Bias as the most egregious example at 50.1% saturation with 333 hits. Analysis detected 1,232 faulty-reasoning hits from 665 analyzed words, generating a BS Score of 57.8% and a BS Rank of 63% (8,225 of 21,887 articles). This article is worse (more manipulative) than 62.40% of the article peer group.
(Mark Schiefelbein / Associated Press)
By Nicholas Riccardi
July 12, 2026 2:40 PM PT
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Sen.
Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) says whistleblowers describe rushed, shoddy renovations at the Kennedy Center, driven by President Trump’s aesthetic demands and desire for televised events at the national arts memorial.
Whitehouse released a letter citing ex-project managers, internal emails and photos that depict rusting columns, a flawed reflecting pool and costly no-bid contracts, including an $8-million hall-floor overhaul.
The allegations surface after Trump seized control of the center in his second term, installed himself as board chair and renamed the venue after himself, only to have that reversed by court order.
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A Democratic senator alleges that whistleblowers have detailed several problems stemming from rushed or improper reconstruction of the Kennedy Center, adding a new layer to the travails of the arts complex after President Trump tried to seize control of it and its name.
Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island said in a release Saturday that he had received a whistleblower disclosure from the Government Accountability Project, a nonprofit whistleblower protection group, alleging that “the Center rushed a series of renovations driven by the President’s aesthetic whims and his desire to star in a series of televised events in December.”
“The Center’s subservience to the President’s desires and its corner-cutting contracting practices have resulted in steel columns that are rusting through fresh paint, a reflecting pool that may have to be torn out and rebuilt, and a brand-new bathroom floor torn out over an offending tile color,” Whitehouse said.
“This is waste, and it treats a national memorial to President Kennedy as if it were a private renovation project.”
Whitehouse released a letter he wrote to the Kennedy Center’s executive director, Matt Floca, seeking answers by July 23.
He said the whistleblower report included “firsthand accounts of multiple former Center project managers, supported by contemporaneous documents and photographs.”
He also included an 83-page appendix full of internal center documents, emails and photos of apparently shoddy construction.
The allegations in the letter include that the center rushed work before it was authorized by Congress because it wanted it to be complete for Trump to accept the so-called FIFA Peace Prize that the soccer federation awarded him.
In doing so, the letter alleges, the center didn’t follow required contracting guidelines and wasted money replacing a bathroom because the president didn’t like the color and inking no-bid contracts.
One $8-million contract to replace the concert hall’s floor went to a firm with no experience in concert halls, Whitehouse contended.
The Kennedy Center did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Trump seized control of the arts and culture venue named for President Kennedy at the beginning of his second term.
Trump ousted the center’s leadership and replaced it with a Board of Trustees that named him chairman and added his name to the building.
Democrats sued to remove it, and a federal judge ruled that Trump’s name must come off the venue, noting that only Congress has authority to rename it.
Trump also tried to close the center for two years, only to be ordered by the court to keep it open.
Many artists have boycotted the venue in protest of the president’s actions.
Riccardi writes for the Associated Press.
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