Trump offered to unfreeze funding for NYC tunnel if Dulles airport, train station renamed for him, source says

[LetMyPeopleVote]

25. MaddowBlog-Trump said he'll release federal funds if officials rename Dulles Airport, Penn Station after him

The president’s obsession with self-glorification is old hat, but his tactics regarding the Gateway infrastructure project are new.

Trump’s Gateway tunnel pitch sounds an awful lot like extortion: If Democrats want to save the project, restore the funds, and prevent the job losses, they’ll have to indulge his self-glorification obsession.

Articles of impeachment have been introduced over less.
www.ms.now/rachel-maddo...

— Steve Benen (@stevebenen.com) 2026-02-06T14:07:04.902Z

https://www.ms.now/rachel-maddow-show/maddowblog/trump-gateway-federal-funds-rename-dulles-penn-station

It’s also run out of money — not because of mismanagement or budget overruns, but because Donald Trump and his team announced last fall that they would pause the federal funds that had already been approved for the project. (The ostensible reason: The Republican administration wants to know whether contracts were awarded with “diversity, equity and inclusion” considerations in mind.).....

The good news is that the president recently signaled a willingness to release the resources that would allow work to continue. The bad news is the specific condition he has in mind. Punchbowl News reported:

President Donald Trump offered to release the funding for the massive Gateway infrastructure project if Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer agrees to support renaming both Washington-Dulles International Airport and New York’s Penn Station after Trump.

The Trump administration directly made the request of Schumer, according to four sources familiar with the situation.

.....For those keeping score, Trump and his allies have now applied the president’s name to the Kennedy Center and to the Institute of Peace, announced the construction of “Trump-class” battleships, unveiled a commemorative legal-tender coin that will feature his face on both sides and have launched “Trump Gold Cards,” “Trump Accounts” and “TrumpRx” (the government’s new drug-pricing website). By some accounts, the president wants the forthcoming White House ballroom to be named after him, too.....

The president’s pitch is, for all intents and purposes, an attempt at extortion: If Democrats want to save the infrastructure project and prevent the job losses, they must indulge the president’s obsession with self-aggrandizement and self-glorification.

Articles of impeachment have been introduced over less.

“This is ridiculous,” Democratic Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand of New York said in a statement. “These naming rights aren’t tradable as part of any negotiations, and neither is the dignity of New Yorkers. At a time when New Yorkers are already being crushed by high costs under the Trump tariffs, the president continues to put his own narcissism over the good-paying union jobs this project provides and the extraordinary economic impact the Gateway tunnel will bring.”

She added, “I demand that the president put people first and unfreeze this project and all the others his administration has been holding hostage for his personal gain.”