Latest / THE DAILY BRIEF / 'The Kennedy Center will NEVER be torn down' Norm Eisen slams Trump for not ruling out demolition

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'The Kennedy Center will NEVER be torn down' Norm Eisen slams Trump for not ruling out demolition · THE DAILY BRIEF

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Only I can fix it, but I may tear it
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: down first. That seems to be President Trump's latest message
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: as he refuses to rule out taking a wrecking ball
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  Speaker 1: to the Kennedy Center. Time magazine actually asked the president
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: if he could commit not to tearing down the center
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  Speaker 1: without consent of Congress. He told Time, quote, I'm not
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: committing to anything. We're going to see how it plays
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: out in court. In court, the judge has given Trump
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  Speaker 1: and his self-appointed board until the end of the day
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  Speaker 1: today for a status update on the building and how
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  Speaker 1: long the current temporary closure will go on. Want to
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  Speaker 1: bring in Norm Eisen, founder and executive chair of Democracy Defenders.
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  Speaker 1: Jason Johnson is back with me. Norm, first to you.
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  Speaker 1: You represent Kennedy Center ex-officio member, Congresswoman Joyce Beatty, in
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  Speaker 1: her battle to keep the center as it is. What
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  Speaker 1: are you thinking about today as this latest deadline is approaching?
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  Speaker 1: I mean, you and I were talking about the potential
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  Speaker 1: for this building being torn down and why you're so
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  Speaker 1: confident that that will happen.
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  Speaker 2: The Kennedy Center will never be torn down on Congresswoman's
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  Speaker 2: Beatty's watch and that of the legal team, democracy defenders,
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  Speaker 2: Nathaniel Zielinski and the wonderful crew at the Washington Litigation Group.
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  Speaker 2: We got an order when it seemed like Donald Trump
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  Speaker 2: was going to pull an east wing. We got a
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  Speaker 2: court order. You must give this has been litigated in
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  Speaker 2: the case. You must give 30 days notice, essentially, if
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  Speaker 2: you're going to attempt to tear down the building alley.
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  Speaker 2: I will be in court so fast if so much
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  Speaker 2: as a bulldozer enters the parking lot of the Kennedy Center.
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  Speaker 2: So we're on patrol. It is totally illegal to demolish
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  Speaker 2: this building. And you'll notice Donald Trump said he didn't.
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  Speaker 3: Say I'll do it.
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  Speaker 2: He says, we'll see how it plays out in court.
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  Speaker 2: He knows that. that the court will come down on
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  Speaker 2: him like the proverbial son of Kennedy Center bricks if
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  Speaker 2: he tries to mess with that memorial to our slain president.
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  Speaker 2: We are going to keep it from being demolished. And
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  Speaker 2: you know the other thing that's never going to happen?
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  Speaker 2: His name is never going on the Kennedy Center. We've
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  Speaker 2: won that over and over again.
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  Speaker 1: Which is, of course, part and parcel to now why
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  Speaker 1: they're trying to say they would take it down. But
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  Speaker 1: have you heard from the center about today's deadline?
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  Speaker 2: We are in constant communication with the DOJ lawyers. We're
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  Speaker 2: in discovery. There's a deposition going on. And we've been
• 2:32
  Speaker 2: talking to them. And we'll look forward to seeing what
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  Speaker 2: gets filed.
• 2:36
  Speaker 1: There's also another case that you are a part of,
• 2:39
  Speaker 1: the judge permanently dismissing the Lincoln Memorial reflecting pool case
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  Speaker 1: against the former Olympian David Hearn. You represented him. Just
• 2:47
  Speaker 1: talk about what this win means. We had already seen
• 2:50
  Speaker 1: Jeanine Pirro, the U.S. attorney here, basically admit there wasn't vandalism.
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  Speaker 1: That would have made it difficult on its face. But
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  Speaker 1: what now?
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  Speaker 2: We I've been carrying the order around with me. This
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  Speaker 2: is a landmark. It's a monument because the single worst
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  Speaker 2: thing that you can do in a rule of law
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  Speaker 2: system is target an innocent person to take the blame for.
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  Speaker 2: the government's own mistakes. And we filed, again, wonderful legal
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  Speaker 2: team ourselves, WLG, and the great folks at Steptoe, LLP,
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  Speaker 2: the law firm, Democracy Defenders and our team. We filed
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  Speaker 2: motion after motion as soon as Davey Hearn, three-time Olympian,
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  Speaker 2: many-time world champion, As soon as he was arraigned, and
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  Speaker 2: essentially we told the court, this man is innocent. Look
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  Speaker 2: at the government's own evidence. So yes, when the judge
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  Speaker 2: wrote yesterday, no crime had occurred, Ali. The observed damage
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  Speaker 2: to the reflecting pool was due to a contractor's rushed
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  Speaker 2: and botched installation. And to think that the administration and
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  Speaker 2: the president scapegoated This innocent person for their own failures. Ali,
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  Speaker 2: if that could happen to him, could happen to you
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  Speaker 2: or me or anyone. So this is a landmark. Getting
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  Speaker 2: this case dismissed with prejudice. That means it can never
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  Speaker 2: be brought again. The government said we want the option. Yep. Well,
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  Speaker 2: where's the justice in that to have that? That threat
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  Speaker 2: hanging over Davey's head permanently, the judge slammed that door
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  Speaker 2: and it's a very big day, not just for Davey,
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  Speaker 2: but for the rule of law, for our democracy, for
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  Speaker 2: all Americans who face these threats. these kinds of threats.
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  Speaker 1: So case closed on that front. But I want to
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  Speaker 1: stay on the general construction in D.C. theme, Jason, because
• 4:53
  Speaker 1: Trump said in that Time magazine interview that the Secret
• 4:55
  Speaker 1: Service wanted him to tear down the Oval Office. And
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  Speaker 1: he said no. He said this beautiful room that nobody
• 5:01
  Speaker 1: should be allowed to rip down the Oval Office. I've
• 5:03
  Speaker 1: been asking Susie, Susie Wiles, his chief of staff, for
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  Speaker 1: six months to give me a statement. Will we save
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  Speaker 1: this room? Will we make it a federal landmark? I mean,
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  Speaker 1: what do you make of that for Trump, given his
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  Speaker 1: propensity for construction projects, but also just the way that
• 5:16
  Speaker 1: Secret Services have been recommending for security bolstering, basically, in
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  Speaker 1: that room, Trump obviously airing his thoughts there with time?
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  Speaker 3: Trump is the master of creating a crisis that he
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  Speaker 3: can then turn around and say, I saved you from. Right.
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  Speaker 3: He is the person who will hold the baby out
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  Speaker 3: the window and say, well, the baby fall. I saved it.
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  Speaker 2: Right.
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  Speaker 3: That's essentially what he's doing. No one is running around
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  Speaker 3: saying they want anything to be destroyed in the White House.
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  Speaker 3: That is purely him. But we have to look at
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  Speaker 3: this again. All of this construction, all of this is
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  Speaker 3: about his ego. It's about his failures. It's about the
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  Speaker 3: fact that if Donald Trump can't put his name on something,
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  Speaker 3: he can't control it, he basically wants it destroyed. I
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  Speaker 3: think it's very on brand that what's happening right now
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  Speaker 3: in the Kennedy Center is happening in the month of
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  Speaker 3: October because if Trump were to have his way, if
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  Speaker 3: he can't get his name on that building, he basically
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  Speaker 3: would leave it like spirit of Halloween, right? He just
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  Speaker 3: wants the whole thing to just be empty and miserable
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  Speaker 3: and inaccessible to anybody, right? If he can't use it himself.
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  Speaker 3: But I don't think that any of these long term
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  Speaker 3: projects are going to end up being successful, not only
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  Speaker 3: because he faces legal challenges from our other guests, but
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  Speaker 3: also because so many of the things he's attempting to
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  Speaker 3: do are flimsy. They don't make any sense. Suing people
• 6:24
  Speaker 3: because they go to the reflecting pool, tearing down wings,
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  Speaker 3: tearing down historical buildings. That building, the Kennedy Center, was
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  Speaker 3: named after. after it was already under construction because Kennedy
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  Speaker 3: literally lost his life serving this country. I don't think
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  Speaker 3: Donald Trump is up for that level of sacrifice. And
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  Speaker 3: unless he's willing to do so, I don't think that
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  Speaker 3: he's ever going to be in a position where people
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  Speaker 3: want to put his name on something that is an
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  Speaker 3: enduring example of sacrifice and commitment to this country. So, yeah,
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  Speaker 3: whether it's the White House being changed or the Oval
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  Speaker 3: Office or anything else like that, none of these things
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  Speaker 3: are going to go anywhere forward. All the construction is
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  Speaker 3: going to be at a halt, just like most of
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  Speaker 3: this administration's plans. or just click below thanks