Trump Kennedy Center

President Donald Trump has held a White House Situation Room meeting with his advisers as he looks to make a “final determination” on moving forward on a deal to extend a ceasefire with Iran. Trump confirmed Friday's high-level talks a day after The Associated Press reported that U.S. and Iranian negotiators had reached a tentative agreement to extend the fragile ceasefire by 60 days and start new talks on Iran’s nuclear program. Earlier Friday, a federal judge temporarily blocked Trump’s administration from paying any claims through a new $1.776 billion settlement fund for Trump allies who believe they were victims of a weaponized government. The judge also barred the government from moving forward with the fund’s creation while litigation is pending to challenge it.

A federal judge has ruled that President Donald Trump’s name was illegally added to the Kennedy Center and blocked the administration from closing the cultural and arts venue for major renovations. U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper in Washington, D.C., ruled that the Kennedy Center board’s March 16 vote to close the facility was “ill-informed and seemingly preordained” with no regard for its legal obligations. “The trustees might have assessed the propriety of closure in a number of prudent ways. This was not one,” he wrote. Cooper also concluded that the board “overstepped its statutory bounds” by unilaterally adding Trump’s name to the center. Congress gave the Kennedy Center its name, and only Congress can change it, he said.