Trump says judge should face charges over Kennedy Center conflict
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The judge who ordered President Donald Trump’s name removed from the Kennedy Center is married to a lawyer who represented a former anti-Trump FBI lawyer, advised a House committee on Jan. 6, and now represents former President Joe Biden; These relationships are what Trump described as a clear conflict of interest after the decision.
In a fiery Truth Social post, Trump claimed that U.S. District Court Judge Christopher Cooper’s wife, Amy Jeffress, a former attorney who served at the Justice Department under Obama and became Trump’s top lawyer, encouraged her husband to reject Trump’s Kennedy Center renovation plans and remove her name from the building.
He cited Jeffress’ past and current clients, including her most prominent critics, as evidence that she was a “Radical Left Democrat” who influenced her husband to decide against her.
“Trump Hating Judge probably wants to keep the door open because his wife told him to!” Trump wrote about Cooper, noting that Trump rejected plans to close the Kennedy Center for two years for renovations.
FEDERAL JUDGE ORDERS TRUMP’S NAME REMOVED FROM KENNEDY CENTER, SAYS ONLY CONGRESS CAN BE RENAMED
The composite photo shows a worker working on an elevator at the John F. Kennedy Memorial Performing Arts Center with U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper, who ruled that President Donald Trump’s name be removed from the building. (Getty / and US District Court for DC)
Cooper issued his decision on May 29, finding that the Kennedy Center board exceeded its legal authority in voting to rename the institution to include Trump’s name. He ruled, based on the Kennedy Center’s charter, that only Congress could change the institution’s name; this makes it clear that the venue was dedicated to President John F. Kennedy.
Trump also claimed that Jeffress “did not use the name ‘Cooper’ because as a couple they did not want people to know that he had a Conflict of Interest with a prominent Judge.”
The president noted Jeffress’ professional background, which includes serving as an advisor to Attorney General Eric Holder during the Obama administration. Trump and his allies accused the Obama administration of politicizing intelligence about Russia’s interference in the 2016 election and promoting allegations about ties between Trump’s campaign and the Kremlin. The FBI has named its investigation into Russia’s alleged ties to Trump’s campaign, Crossfire Hurricane.
WHO IS NORM EISEN? MEET THE ANTI-TRUMP LAWYER WHO REPRESENTED THE FBI AGENT SUEING THE DOJ
Deputy FBI Director Peter Strzok prepares to testify before a joint hearing of the House Judiciary, Oversight and Government Reform committees at the Rayburn House Office Building on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, on July 12, 2018. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
Thousands of text messages exchanged between Peter Strzok, a senior investigator on the FBI’s Crossfire Hurricane investigation, and his then-girlfriend Lisa Page, an FBI attorney and advisor to Deputy Director Andrew McCabe, were made public in 2018. Although Page is not involved in the Russia investigation, the duo’s anti-Trump messages have sparked criticism from some who claim the conversations reveal political bias within the FBI.
Jeffress represented Page during a congressional review of the FBI’s investigation into former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server for official State Department business. Page was not involved in the Clinton email investigation.
He later represented Page again in a civil lawsuit against the FBI and Department of Justice, where he argued that the disclosure of the text messages was improper.
Years later, Jeffress served as outside counsel to the House Select Committee investigating the Jan. 6 Capitol riot, advising members on legal matters involving evidence, witness testimony and executive privilege claims. The committee examined the causes of the riot, efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election, and Trump’s actions that led to the attack.
TRUMP’S NAME WAS ADDED TO THE KENNEDY CENTER WITH THE UNANIMOUS VOTE OF THE BOARD TO RENAME THE HISTORICAL BUILDING.
A sign is displayed on the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts building. (Getty Images)
The president also noted Jeffress’s law firm, Hecker Fink LLP, formerly known as Kaplan Hecker & Fink LLP, which represented E. Jean Carroll in the civil lawsuit filed against him.
Jeffress has served as Biden’s personal attorney since July 2025 and is representing the former president in a lawsuit seeking to block the Justice Department from releasing transcripts and audio recordings of Biden’s interview with special counsel Robert Hur, who is investigating Biden’s use of classified documents.
“Amy is completely committed to the Left System, starting with her husband, and it is impossible for me to be treated fairly,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “There is a complete Conflict of Interest and he should be sued for not disclosing these facts.”
Appointed by President Barack Obama, Cooper has served on the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia in Washington, D.C., since 2014.
The criticism Cooper has faced is not the first time he has been accused of having a potential conflict of interest by Trump or his allies. Cooper had previously come under scrutiny during Special Prosecutor John Durham’s trial of former attorney Michael Sussmann with ties to the Clinton campaign; Critics had argued that his wife, attorney Amy Jeffress, should recuse herself because she represents former FBI attorney Lisa Page, a figure linked to the FBI’s Crossfire Hurricane investigation.
The Sussmann case stemmed from Durham’s investigation into the origins of the FBI’s Crossfire Hurricane investigation. Prosecutors alleged that Sussmann falsely told the FBI that he was not acting on behalf of any clients when presenting allegations regarding an alleged communications channel between the Trump Organization and Russia’s Alfa Bank during the 2016 election. Cooper rejected Sussmann’s effort to dismiss the case before trial and allowed Durham’s investigation to continue, but a jury acquitted Sussmann in May 2022 after a two-week trial presided over by Cooper.
President Donald Trump speaks during lunch with Kennedy Center board members in the East Room of the White House in Washington on March 16, 2026. (Jonathan Ernst/Reuters)
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Fox News Digital has reached out to Cooper’s office, former President Joe Biden’s representative Jeffress, Garland representative Page and Hecker Fink LLP for comment.
Cooper and Jeffress have been married since 1999. Their wedding was officiated by former Biden Justice Department Attorney General Merrick Garland, who was then a judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit.
