Interior Secretary Doug Burgum would not commit to removing President Donald Trump’s name from the Kennedy Center when asked about it Sunday, despite a court order requiring it be removed within the next two weeks.

Burgum told CNN’s Dana Bash on State of the Union, “I’m not sure if that’s going to be appealed or not, but I think, you know, there’s controversy on on both sides of this about that ruling.”

Burgum then launched into praise for his boss’s desire to revamp the structure:

The only thing I can tell you about the Kennedy Center is, this is another thing, when President Trump took office, the structural integrity of the building, the deterioration issues with the heating, ventilation, air conditioning, the HVAC systems, needed massive repairs. And President Trump was willing to get out, raise private funds, dedicate his time as a master builder to restore this building. And now, a judge says ‘No.’ And it needed to be shut down to complete the substantial repairs of 65 years of deferred maintenance going on. I mean, I think people would say it’s great that we have a president that wants to fix up our institutions.

“I think the judge just said he needs to take his name off of the site,” Bash pushed back.

“And he also said you can’t shut it down for repairs. I mean, this is —”

“Without more information given…by the board,” Bash added.

Burgum went on, “And the the judge had photographs, details. I mean, the amount of information that he was given about the condition of that building. I mean, it’s shocking to me that he would say, ‘No, you can’t shut it down.’ I guess. I mean, the conclusion is we’d rather have an institution that is deteriorating and falling apart than let our president step in. And again, arguably the most experienced builder we’ve ever had in the oval office to step in and turn this thing around.”

“He says it’s going to be given back to Congress,” Bash continued. “Do you think that’s going to happen, or is there going to be a pause until the appeal process goes through?”

“Well, I think right now, President Trump has made a statement that he if he can’t fix it, then give it to Congress and let them figure out how to how to manage this thing,” Burgum said.

Burgum then mentioned the Reflecting Pool project and how Trump cleaned up graffiti marring Union Station.

Bash said, “And I mean, no residents of D.C. or visitors to D.C. would say anything other than ‘Thank you’ for the idea of cleaning it up —”

“Well, thank you for saying that,” Burgum said, as Bash added, “The question is… how it’s getting done.”

Watch the clip above via CNN.

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