The Kennedy Center’s board of directors voted on Monday to shut down operations for two years as President Trump calls for a major overhaul of the D.C.-based performing arts institution.

It’s the latest move by Mr. Trump to put his stamp on the Kennedy Center, drawing stiff criticism from congressional Democrats and performing artists. The center’s board — which includes many members handpicked by Mr. Trump — voted last year to rename it the Trump-Kennedy Center, leading to a wave of performance cancellations.

Mr. Trump has cited the need for repairs as a reason for the closure, which will take effect after this summer’s July 4 celebrations.

“We’re going to ensure it remains the finest performing arts facility of its kind anywhere in the world,” the president told reporters at the White House before the board met Monday.

The board also voted to install Matt Floca as CEO and executive director, replacing Trump ally Richard Grenell, who oversaw far-reaching changes at the venue. Mr. Trump praised Grenell on Monday, saying he had been a longtime friend, and wished Floca “good luck with everything.”

The Kennedy Center said the vote was unanimous, though Rep. Joyce Beatty didn’t cast a vote. The Ohio Democrat is an ex officio member of the board and sued to preclude the Trump administration from excluding her from Monday’s meeting. Over the weekend, a federal judge ruled she was entitled to participate in the meeting but didn’t require that the board allow her to vote.

Shortly after returning to office last year, Mr. Trump ousted the center’s previous leadership and replaced it with a hand-picked board of trustees that named him chairman. He also brought in Grenell, who served in a variety of capacities during Trump’s first term.

The center’s lineup has since included more Trump-friendly programming, including serving as the venue for the premiere of first lady Melania Trump’s documentary, “Melania.” The board also announced it had renamed the facility to include Mr. Trump’s name, a change scholars and lawmakers say must be initiated by Congress, and physically added the president’s name to the building’s facade.

The fallout from the arts community was swift and intense. Actor Issa Rae, musician Bela Fleck and author Louise Penny were among the numerous artists who withdrew from appearances since last year, while consultants such as musician Ben Folds and singer Renée Fleming resigned. Earlier this month, the executive director of the National Symphony Orchestra, Jean Davidson, left to head the Los Angeles-based Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts.

Grenell has called some of the artists who canceled their shows “far-left political activists” who “were booked by the previous far-left leadership.”

Without mentioning the abandoned performances, Mr. Trump said in February he would close the Kennedy Center to fix what he has described as a dilapidated building.

Ahead of the closure, Grenell warned staff about impending cuts that will leave “skeletal teams.”

Floca, Grenell’s successor, had been serving as vice president of operations. According to his LinkedIn page, he joined the Kennedy Center in January 2024, during the Biden administration.

A center press release from the time describes him as “an experienced facilities management professional with a construction management background and an appreciation for whole building design principles.”

Previous experience for Floca listed on LinkedIn includes a handful of positions with the District of Columbia government, among them associate director of sustainability and energy and director of facilities management. He graduated from Louisiana State University in 2009 with a Bachelor of Science degree in construction management.

United States (U.S.) Border Patrol official Gregory Bovino, who recently made headlines after controversial remarks following the shooting incidents involving federal agents, is set to retire at the end of March 2026.

Two sources familiar with the matter confirmed his decision to CBS News on Monday. His retirement would mark the second high-ranking official’s departure amid the ongoing immigration crackdown under the U.S. President Donald Trump.

Earlier, Trump replaced the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Kristi Noem, following her back-to-back contentious senate hearings.

Bovino previously led federal immigration enforcement operations in several cities, since the first deployment of federal agents to Los Angeles last year.

Over the last year, Bovino and his agents were deployed to Chicago, Charlotte, New Orleans and then to Minneapolis. Although the operations drew criticism in multiple cities, they sparked the strongest backlash in Minneapolis.

Two U.S. citizens were killed in Minneapolis in separate shooting incidents involving federal agents. Renee Nicole Good was first shot dead in her car. Then a nurse named Alex Pretti was killed in a separate incident.

Bovino faced widespread backlash after claiming that Pretti wanted to “massacre” federal agents, a statement that lacked evidence.

He was later replaced by Trump’s border czar Tom Homan to lead the immigration enforcement operations in Minneapolis. 

Bovino returned to El Centro, California, where he previously served as the chief patrol agent for that sector. 

United States (U.S.) President Donald Trump’s billionaire adviser and his Artificial Intelligence (AI) czar, David Sacks, has broken with the president over the U.S.-Israel war with Iran.

Sacks, who is considered a close ally of the U.S. Vice President JD Vance, expressed his opinion regarding the ongoing conflict in the Middle East during his appearance on the All-In-One podcast.

The 54-year-old South African-American entrepreneur warned that in case Israel gets “seriously destroyed”, which he said remains a possibility, it might escalate war to the use of nuclear weapons.

He said that since the U.S. has almost obliterated the military capabilities of the Islamic Republic, “we need to find an off ramp to end the conflict.”

He advised President Trump, saying, “This is a good time to declare victory and get out.”

The White House confidante said the government needs to find ways to de-escalate the conflict, which could include some sort of ceasefire agreement or negotiation settlement with Iran.

Sacks’ opinion aligns with VP Vance’s reported position on the war, who has declined to publicly detail his position on the conflict. Trump admitted that Vance was “less enthusiastic” about the conflict.

Sacks, co-author of The Diversity Myth: Multiculturalism and the Politics of Intolerance, donated about $1 million to a super PAC backing Vance’s Ohio Senate campaign in 2022