Former employees of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts say that center officials canceled a plan to start overhauling its leaking infrastructure months ago, despite those officials now asserting the leaks posed an urgent safety risk requiring the building to close.
On Thursday, a lawyer for the former employees sent internal documents and a letter that detailed their concerns to Congress amid mounting scrutiny of President Trump’s reign over the Washington arts institution.
The center’s main building remains closed because of what officials have characterized as escalating structural deterioration that was never properly addressed by former leadership. But in the letter to Congress sent via a lawyer, the former employees say it’s clear the problems have been exaggerated because, given the chance, the center deferred responding to them over the past year.
In a statement on Friday, the center disputed the whistle-blowers’ assessment, saying that in recent months, new reviews of the leaks had revealed more pronounced problems than officials had previously known.
“The safety of our patrons, artists, and staff comes first,” Matt Floca, the center’s executive director, said in the statement. “The Kennedy Center has known for years that the roof overhang leaked. What we did not know until this summer was how far the damage had spread inside it.”
For months, Mr. Trump has been championing a two-year closure of the center, which he has called dilapidated and...
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