Trump says he has ‘no interest’ in Kennedy Center after judge orders his name removed from memorial – as it happened

Six-and-a-half hours after Donald Trump put the world on notice that he was entering the White House Situation Room to make his “final determination” on whether or not there is peace in Iran, the president finally returned to social media to post a 578-word statement on an entirely different matter: his rage at the federal judge who ruled that his name has to be removed from the Kennedy Center. The president first attacked the judge for having been nominated to the federal bench by Barack Obama, and largely focused on the part of the ruling that also instructed the Trump administration to halt the closure of the performing arts center for a two-year renovation. Trump then turned to his anger over the part of the ruling that gave him 14 days to have his name removed from the Kennedy Center’s facade and website. US district judge Christopher Cooper, Trump noted, had ruled that his handpicked board members, who “unanimously voted to add the name ‘TRUMP’ onto the former Kennedy Center, making it The Trump Kennedy Center, did not have the right to do such an addition, and the name, ‘TRUMP,’ must be removed”. Many, many more words followed before the screed ended with t