In a Wednesday court filing, White House Deputy Counsel Joshua Hoyt formally invoked the presidential communications privilege at Trump's direction, shielding information, documents and communications requested by Rep. Joyce Beatty, D-Ohio, the plaintiff in the Kennedy Center lawsuit.

According to NBC News, the declaration covers material shared between the president, his advisers — both government and non-government — and Kennedy Center staff about the management and operation of the institution, and even extends to communications to or from his advisers and center staff.

The move converts earlier signals from Justice Department lawyers into a formal assertion that now puts the dispute squarely before Judge Christopher Cooper.

The claim is untested because Trump sits in the dispute in two roles at once.

According to CBS News, the privilege assertion raises new questions about whether the protection can extend to the president's actions as chairman of a performing arts institution created by Congress in 1958 and funded by federal dollars, ticket revenue and private donations.

Beatty, an ex officio board member, has sued over the board's votes to rename the center for Trump and shutter it for two years of renovations, contending the closure votes were a fait accompli after Trump's February directive.

The administration counters that Beatty has already received more than 7,500 pages of documents, five depositions and responses to 44 requests for admission.

Beatty's lawyers, Norm Eisen of Democracy Defenders Action and Nathaniel Zelinsky of Washington Litigation Group, called the assertion improper, saying the Kennedy Center 'is not part of the executive branch' and that privilege is being invoked as a 'cover-up' and 'direct assault on the rule of law,' per NBC News.

ABC News reports the claim covers conversations with non-government advisers including Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and Floca.

The Justice Department, for its part, dismissed Beatty's request as a 'fishing expedition' with separation-of-powers concerns, arguing the president is always the president and his board-appointment duty makes his involvement official.

Discovery could reveal whether Trump privately directed the closure and renaming, including his public statement that renovations would not proceed unless he received 'recognition.'

The New Republic reports the takeover has coincided with the center's financial collapse, with cash reserves largely gone, donations drying up and ticket sales plummeting — raising the stakes of what the protected communications would show about who made those choices.

Judge Cooper has not yet ruled on the privilege assertion, though the administration's stance already conflicts with a ruling he issued this month allowing Beatty's team to investigate the circumstances of an Air Force One photo of Trump viewing a poster reading 'Kennedy Center DEMOLISH,' according to NBC News.

Cooper can either reject the privilege claim and compel the records or accept the administration's position and block Beatty's access entirely.