President has taken over as chairman of the institution and replaced the board of trustees with loyalists

Hello and welcome to the US politics live blog. My name is Tom Ambrose and I will be bringing you all the latest news.

We start with the news that Donald Trump will be visiting the Kennedy Center on Wednesday, the same day that the recipients of this year’s honors are announced .

Trump avoided the Kennedy Center Honors during his first term after artists said they would not attend out of protest. This year, he has taken over as the Kennedy Center‘s new chairman and fired the board of trustees, which he replaced with loyalists.

In a Truth Social post Tuesday, Trump teased a name change for the performing arts center and said it would be restored to its former glory, AP reported.

“GREAT Nominees for the TRUMP/KENNEDY CENTER, whoops, I mean, KENNEDY CENTER, AWARDS,” Trump wrote. He said work was being done on the site that would be “bringing it back to the absolute TOP LEVEL of luxury, glamour, and entertainment.”

“It had fallen on hard times, physically, BUT WILL SOON BE MAKING A MAJOR COMEBACK!!!” he wrote.

It is unclear how this year’s batch of honorees were chosen, though Trump had indicated he wanted a more active role. Historically, a bipartisan advisory committee selects the recipients, who over the years have ranged from George Balanchine and Tom Hanks to Aretha Franklin and Stephen Sondheim. A message sent to the Kennedy Center press office asking how this year’s honorees were selected wasn’t returned Tuesday.

The Kennedy Center did post this on social media, however: “Coming Soon ... A country music icon, an Englishman, a New York City Rock band, a dance Queen and a multi-billion dollar Actor walk into the Kennedy Center Opera House ...”

The DC national guard began deploying on the city’s streets Tuesday night, a day after Trump ordered their arrival and took control of the city’s police force, calling Washington DC a “lawless” city, despite official crime statistics saying otherwise.

A federal judge ordered the Trump administration to immediately improve conditions at a New York City immigration holding facility , acting on mounting complaints from detainees that the cells are overcrowded, unsanitary and inhumane.

The Texas Senate approved a GOP-drawn congressional map that would give Republicans five more House seats ahead of the 2026 midterms.But since House Democrats continue to break quorum, the legislation isn’t going anywhere. Speaker Dustin Burrows said the House will adjourn until Friday, at which point the legislature will attempt to reach quorum one more time.

President Trump is due to speak with European leaders, including Volodymyr Zelenskyy, today ahead of Friday’s meeting with Russian president Vladimir Putin.Trump’s press secretary Karoline Leavitt characterised Friday’s meeting between Trump and Putin as a “listening exercise” for the president, confirming that Zelenskyy would not be in attendance, but the president has hopes for a trilateral meeting in the future. For more on the upcoming meeting, follow our Europe live blog here.

California governor Gavin Newsom says the state will draw new electoral maps after Trump “missed” a deadline on Tuesday night in an ongoing redistricting battle between Democratic and Republican states.

The Trump administration is evidently extending its control of cultural representation at the Smithsonian , the world’s largest museum and research complex. In a letter posted on the White House website, the administration told the Smithsonian that it plans a wide review of exhibitions, materials and operations ahead of the US’s 250th anniversary celebrations in 2026.