‘Hold On!’ CNN Host Has Epic Comeback When Ex-Trump Official Says President Doesn’t Care About Name on Kennedy Center

Former Trump official Matt Mowers was met with a sharp “Hold on!” from CNN’s Pamela Brown on Thursday after he insisted President Donald Trump doesn’t care about having his name on the Kennedy Center.

The back-and-forth came after The New York Times reported Thursday, citing “two people with direct knowledge of the proceedings,” that the board of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts voted to display “Restored and Renovated by President Donald J. Trump” just below the building’s main signage. The outlet further added that the board voted again to approve Trump’s plan to close for renovations.

The vote will now go before a federal judge for approval following a ruling that the board had been “derelict” in its review of the original closure plan. That same ruling ordered Trump’s name removed from the Kennedy Center after it was added to the building last year, emphasizing that Congress alone had the power to rename the institution. The center removed the lettering in June and has appealed the decision.

Mowers, who served as a senior adviser during Trump’s first term, gave his two cents on displaying the president’s name across the iconic building on Thursday’s edition of CNN’s The Arena, explaining, “Look — it doesn’t bother me, it doesn’t help me. I don’t really care too much about it. I don’t think most Americans do.”

“Honestly,” he continued, “I don’t think the president truly cares that much either.”

“Hold on!” Brown interjected. “Let me tell you why I know he does. He’s cared about this since his 20s. He told my mom [former First Lady of Kentucky Phyllis George], in his 20s, that his dream was to have his name on every building in the world.”

“Well, okay,” Mowers scrambled. “He put it on a lot of buildings in the world, you know?”

Watch the clip above via CNN.

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