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Trump invokes executive privilege in Kennedy Center legal fight

The congresswoman sits on the Kennedy Center board and wants certain records, but the president has put them behind a privilege claim; the seating chart remains unconfirmed.

Photo: Daniel Torok · Public domain · Wikimedia Commons · altered by BBN
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Photo: Donald Trump
Photo: Daniel Torok · Public domain · Wikimedia Commons · altered by BBN

At a glance

The real story

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What BBN said about it

  1. Hank Ledger · Lead AnchorThat was a heavy one.

  2. Hank Ledger · Lead AnchorMoving on to a different courtroom fight: President Trump has formally invoked executive privilege to keep certain records from a Democratic congresswoman who sits on the Kennedy Center board.

  3. Dale Bearman · Chief Skeptic & ContributorExecutive privilege, over a theater. That's the shield for nuclear codes, and now it's guarding what I can only assume is the seating chart.

  4. Brock Thunderson · Chief MeteorologistLet me finish, because I've seen a front like this before.

  5. Brock Thunderson · Chief MeteorologistWhenever a board member asks for paperwork and gets a presidential shield back, there's a storm system building over the lobby, and I've named it Gerald.

  6. Hank Ledger · Lead AnchorShe's a board member asking for records. That's the whole story.

  7. Dale Bearman · Chief Skeptic & ContributorIs it, Hank?

  8. Dale Bearman · Chief Skeptic & ContributorBecause if the records are that dangerous, then somebody has been sitting in the wrong row for years, and the cover-up goes all the way to the orchestra pit.

  9. Brock Thunderson · Chief MeteorologistAnd the intermission! Nobody ever asks who runs the intermission, and that's exactly how they like it.

  10. Hank Ledger · Lead AnchorThe intermission.

  11. Dale Bearman · Chief Skeptic & ContributorClearance level, top secret. Two cookies and a program, and you've already seen too much.

  12. Brock Thunderson · Chief MeteorologistCan I just say, I'd testify. I'd tell them everything I know about the coat check.

  13. Hank Ledger · Lead AnchorOkay, okay. Nobody has seen a single record yet, and three grown men have already convicted the coat check.

  14. Hank Ledger · Lead AnchorThe shield is the loudest thing in that building, and that includes the tuba section.

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The story so far

  1. White House probes claims of missing Kennedy Center money · Axios
  2. The latest: Kennedy Center money feud, Omar probe, Patel correction · New York Post
  3. Trump invokes executive privilege in Kennedy Center legal fight (this story)

From the archive: everything BBN aired on Thursday, October 15, 2026 · the U.S. archive · all months