‘Conflict of Interest’: Judge who axed Trump name from DC landmark tied to anti-Trump conspiracy theory
The Obama-appointed judge who ordered President Donald Trump's name removed from the Kennedy Center is married to an attorney who has represented a former anti-Trump FBI lawyer, served as counsel to the House Jan. 6 committee and currently represents former President Joe Biden — relationships that Trump blasted as clear conflicts of interest following the ruling.
Trump claimed in a heated Truth Social post that U.S. District Court of D.C. Judge Christopher Cooper's wife, Amy Jeffress, a former Obama-era Justice Department attorney turned top lawyer for Trump critics, encouraged her husband to reject Trump's Kennedy Center renovation plans and remove his name from the building.
He pointed to Jeffress' past and current clients, which include some of his most prominent critics, as evidence that she is "a Radical Left Democrat" who is influencing her husband to rule against him.
"Trump Hating Judge wants to keep it open because his wife probably told him to do so!" Trump wrote of Cooper, referring to his rejection of Trump's plans to close the Kennedy Center for two years for renovations.
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Cooper issued his ruling on May 29, finding that the Kennedy Center board exceeded its legal authority when it voted to rename the institution to include Trump's name. He ruled that only Congress can change the institution's name based on the Kennedy Center's founding statute, which makes clear that the venue is dedicated to President John F. Kennedy.
Trump also alleged Jeffress "doesn't use the 'Cooper' name because they, as a couple, don’t want people to know that she has a Conflict of Interest with an important Judge."
The president pointed to Jeffress' professional background, which included serving as a counselor to Attorney General Eric Holder during the Obama administration. Trump and his allies have accused the Obama administration of politicizing intelligence about Russian interference in the 2016 election and promoting allegations of ties between Trump's campaign and the Kremlin. The FBI named its investigation into Russia's alleged ties to Trump's campaign Crossfire Hurricane.
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Thousands of text messages exchanged between Peter Strzok, a senior investigator on the FBI's Crossfire Hurricane probe, and his then-lover Lisa Page, an FBI lawyer and adviser to Deputy Director Andrew McCabe, became public in 2018. Although Page was not involved in the Russia investigation, the pair's anti-Trump messages prompted criticism from some who argued the exchanges revealed political bias within the FBI.
Jeffress represented Page during congressional scrutiny of the FBI's handling of its 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 itself.
She later represented Page again in a civil lawsuit against the FBI and the Justice Department, in which she 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 issues 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 leading up to the attack.
TRUMP'S NAME ADDED TO KENNEDY CENTER FOLLOWING UNANIMOUS BOARD VOTE TO RENAME HISTORIC BUILDING
The president also pointed to Jeffress' law firm, Hecker Fink LLP, formerly known as Kaplan Hecker & Fink LLP, which represented E. Jean Carroll in her civil lawsuit against him.
Since July 2025, Jeffress has served as Biden's personal attorney 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 investigated Biden's handling of classified documents.
"Amy is totally wired into the Left System, from her husband down, and it is impossible for me to be treated fairly," Trump wrote on Truth Social. "He has a total Conflict of Interest, and should be brought up on charges for not revealing 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 facing Cooper is not the first time he has been accused by Trump or his allies of having a potential conflict of interest. Cooper previously drew scrutiny during Special Counsel John Durham's prosecution of former Clinton campaign-linked attorney Michael Sussmann, with critics arguing that he should have recused himself because his wife, attorney Amy Jeffress, represented former FBI lawyer Lisa Page, a figure tied to the FBI's Crossfire Hurricane investigation.
The Sussmann case stemmed from Durham's probe into the origins of the FBI's Crossfire Hurricane investigation. Prosecutors alleged that Sussmann falsely told the FBI he was not acting on behalf of any clients when he presented allegations about a purported 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 prosecution to proceed, but a jury ultimately acquitted Sussmann in May 2022 after a two-week trial overseen by Cooper.
Fox News Digital reached out to Cooper's office, Jeffress, a representative for former President Joe Biden, Page, a representative for Garland, 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 at the time was a judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit.