Schumer calls Trump claim that Dem leader suggested renaming Penn Station after him an ‘absolute lie’

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) on Friday said it is an “absolute lie” that he suggested renaming Penn Station after President Trump, a claim that the president made earlier in the day.

“Absolute lie. He knows it. Everyone knows it,” Schumer said in a post on the social platform X. “Only one man can restart the project and he can restart it with the snap of his fingers.

Schumer rejected Trump’s proposal last month to rename Penn Station and Washington Dulles International Airport after him in exchange for over $16 billion in funding to go toward the Gateway tunnel project connecting New York and New Jersey, sources told Punchbowl News and CNN.

The Senate Democratic leader told Trump that it was beyond his authority to initiate the request.

While speaking to reporters on Air Force One Friday night, Trump said Schumer “suggested that to me about changing the name of Penn Station to Trump Station,” adding that Dulles Airport is “really separate” and “not too involved with Congress,” according to a pool report and reporting by NewsNation’s Kellie Meyer.

Sen. Kristen Gillibrand, Schumer’s fellow New York Democrat, called Trump’s reported renaming proposal “ridiculous” and said “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 said in a statement.

The idea of renaming Dulles after Trump initially came three days after he was sworn back into office in 2025. Rep. Addison McDowell (R-N.C.) introduced a bill to rename the airport after the president.

“It is only right that the two airports servicing our nation’s capital are duly honored and respected by two of the best presidents to have the honor of serving our great nation,” McDowell said in a statement, referring to Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport.

Adding Trump’s name to various buildings in Washington, D.C., has been a recurring feature over a year into his second administration. The U.S. Institute of Peace (USIP) and the Kennedy Center both added Trump’s name to their buildings in December, receiving pushback from USIP leadership and family members of former President Kennedy.

Trump pushed to have the Washington Commanders’ new football stadium in D.C. be named after him, ESPN reported. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt did not confirm the reporting but said it “would surely be a beautiful name.”

Florida state senators on the state Senate Committee on Transportation last month unanimously advanced legislation to rename Palm Beach International Airport to “Donald J. Trump International Airport.” The legislation received approval from all nine committee members, including three Democrats.

“President Trump is the first president that Florida has had in our history, and I think it’s very appropriate for us to be naming one of the other icons in Palm Beach after him,” state Sen. Debbie Mayfield (R), who sponsored the bill, told Politico.

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