Some former employees of the Kennedy Center, a renowned performing arts venue in Washington, D.C., are alleging that officials there had long been aware of structural issues that were recently highlighted as new problems. According to a letter signed by David Seide, a lawyer representing the anonymous whistleblowers, the center’s executive director and chief operating officer, Matt Floca, did not treat roofing issues as a priority and in April stopped a funded plan to address them. Floca denied the allegations, stating that recent investigations revealed new safety hazards at the aging building. In a September court declaration, Floca noted there were "acute risks to public safety" after the building temporarily closed following an inspection that found a deteriorating roof terrace canopy and a partial ceiling collapse. The former employees claim that the "acute" issues Floca mentioned were known to him long before. Seide wrote that more than a year ago, Floca had requested and received the necessary funds to fix the problems he now references, citing President Donald Trump’s tax cut and spending bill signed in the summer of 2025. "Yet six months ago—with the funds in hand—he stopped the remediation process from moving forward," Seide stated. The legislation included $257 million in funding for the Kennedy Center. The letter, first reported by The New York Times, is part of a series of tensions surrounding the iconic Potomac River waterfront building, which has become a focal point for Trump’s efforts to reshape the nation’s capital during his second term. Trump has installed his own leadership on the center’s governing board and had his name placed on the building before a judge ruled the new lettering was illegally added and ordered it removed. Earlier this month, the Trump-aligned board voted to close the center indefinitely for repairs, shortly after a U.S. District Judge blocked their plans to restore Trump’s name. The judge has instructed the center to provide 30 days’ notice before making any major physical changes to the building, including any potential demolition. The Kennedy Center leadership must also submit a status report by Friday on the temporary closure and emergency repairs. In response to the whistleblowers' claims, a Kennedy Center spokesperson provided a written statement from Floca, who emphasized that the safety of patrons, artists, and staff is his priority. "The Kennedy Center has known for years that the roof overhang leaked," he wrote. "What we did not know until this summer was how far the damage had spread inside it." Floca explained that he had reassigned the work to a more comprehensive plan in April due to a contractor’s quote that was nearly three times the expected cost. He clarified that this was a change in approach, not a decision to abandon the repairs. Rhode Island Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, the top Democrat on the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works, wrote to Floca after receiving the whistleblower letter. Whitehouse said the documents showed that Kennedy Center leadership had "hoarded" congressionally appropriated funds for repairs while blaming previous leadership for the state of repairs. He added that his initial investigation into misconduct at the center focused on cronyism and corruption, with documents showing excessive spending under Trump’s leadership. Whitehouse said the new documents suggest deeper financial mismanagement. A spokesperson for the committee’s Republican majority did not immediately respond to a request for comment.