Trump invokes executive privilege in Kennedy Center court fight

A White House lawyer said President Donald Trump has officially invoked executive privilege in the court fight involving his management of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. In a court filing late Wednesday, Joshua Hoyt, a deputy assistant and deputy counsel to the president, said that at “the direction of the President,” he was “formally invoking the presidential communications privilege with respect to information, documents, and communications requested” by the plaintiff in the case, Rep. Joyce Beatty, D-Ohio. Beatty, an ex officio board member of the center, has been challenging Trump’s efforts to add his name to the front of the building and his directive that the center be shuttered for two years while it’s renovated.

She’s been seeking more information about Trump’s role in both matters, since he named himself to the board last year and was voted chairman by his handpicked board members. In February, Trump directed the center to be closed for renovations in a social media post and has since said those renovations won’t proceed if he doesn’t get “recognition” for his efforts. Beatty contends the board’s subsequent votes to close the center were a fait accompli, given Trump’s February directive. In the administration’s court filing Wednesday, Hoyt said the executive privilege invocation means Beatty is not entitled to any more details about