Democratic Rep. Joyce Beatty, who is suing President Donald Trump and the Kennedy Center Board of Trustees over the president’s takeover of the arts institution, revealed this week in court documents that she failed to check her spam folder before accusing the Trump administration of not inviting her to an upcoming meeting.
In a court filing last week, Beatty, an ex officio member of the center’s board, claimed she wasn’t invited to an upcoming meeting where Trump’s construction plans will be finalized. But one of her lawyers later admitted the invite had actually gone to her email’s spam folder.
“Upon further investigation, it appears that the email regarding the Board meeting was routed to Plaintiff’s spam folder,” Beatty’s counsel confirmed after Trump’s lawyers brought up the possibility.
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Beatty, however, remained unhappy even after the discovery that she was still invited to the board meeting. In the latest filing, the Ohio Democrat’s lawyers complained about the fact that Trump administration officials did not respond to her repeated attempts to ask about the situation, writing that it “bears emphasis” that Beatty was “ignored for two days” when she couldn’t locate the email.
“As a result, Plaintiff had reason to believe Defendants— who had already silenced her in the December meeting—had excluded her from the upcoming meeting,” Beatty’s counsel wrote. “Regardless, in any event, her being ‘permitted to attend’ does not come anywhere close to remediating her harms.”
Beatty, who said her microphone was muted during a December virtual hearing that saw the Kennedy Center board vote to add Trump’s name to the marquee, does not usually have a vote on the board due to her status as an ex officio member.
In her temporary request for relief from the court she asked a judge to grant her voting status, as well as require the board to provide her and other board members with “key documents and information” ahead of the March 16 meeting.
She also urged the judge to grant her request for extended relief that would halt Trump’s plans to “rebuild” the Kennedy Center while her case is ongoing.
“President Trump and Defendant [Richard Grenell, the Kennedy Center president] have nevertheless said they will close and intimated they will demolish the Kennedy Center, without any congressional authorization, while simultaneously attempting to remain ambiguous about the details of what will occur,” Beatty’s lawyers concluded. “This strategy appears tailor-made to shroud Defendants’ actions from scrutiny and prevent anyone from weighing in before it is too late to stop them.”
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