The Latest: Board votes to close Kennedy Center amid financial woes and name dispute

The Trump-aligned Kennedy Center board voted on Tuesday to close most of the iconic performing arts venue just hours after a federal judge blocked the institution from returning President Donald Trump’s name to the building.

In a social media post, Trump said the closure was needed for safety repairs. But he said the repairs, which Congress has allocated $257 million to cover, would only happen if the board was allowed to move forward with plans to add his name to the building. A federal judge has twice said that can’t happen without the approval of Congress.

Earlier Tuesday, Trump denounced the Supreme Court after it rejected his push to restrict mail-in voting in this year’s midterm elections, saying justices who opposed him are “not the people I interviewed.” His last-minute push to empower the U.S. Postal Service to refuse to deliver ballots in states that didn’t submit a list of eligible voters was opposed by election officials, who argued that the changes weren't necessary or even possible with ballots already being mailed.

Appearing before a Senate Judiciary Committee oversight hearing, FBI Director Kash Patel defended the bureau’s loose hiring requirements regarding prostitution and bestiality. Patel said the changes were meant to protect people forced into such acts from automatic disqualification.

Here’s the Latest:

Trump administration plans $2.8 billion weapons sale to Israel

The Trump administration is planning to deliver powerful 2,000-pound bombs to Israel as part of an upcoming arms deal.

The $2.8 billion package includes 40,000 of the bombs, made up of 20,000 Mk84s and 20,000 BLU-117s, according to two U.S. officials and a person familiar with the plan who spoke Tuesday on condition of anonymity to discuss the package, which is not yet final.

Such weapons prompted such concerns about the possibility of mass casualties in Gaza that the Biden administration paused their delivery two years ago.

Congress has been informally notified about the pending deal, most of which is to be paid for with foreign military financing — in which U.S. taxpayer dollars are given to Israel to turn around and buy the weapons from the United States.