President Trump tried to use a secret meeting with a fellow billionaire to get his name slapped on a Big Apple landmark, according to a report.
The president is pushing to have his name added to Penn Station in New York City following a meeting with the billionaire owner of the New York Knicks, James Dolan, Page Six reports.
Dolan is the executive chairman of Madison Square Garden Entertainment, which operates the iconic arena atop Pennsylvania Station, widely considered the busiest train station in the United States.
“President Trump is focused on saving our country – not garnering recognition,” Davis Ingle, a spokesperson for the White House, told The Independent.
Ingle continued, “While we don’t comment on private meetings that may or may not have happened, President Trump undoubtedly supports a strong and revitalized Penn Station that can better serve New York and New Yorkers.”
The redevelopment of Penn Station has become increasingly controversial in recent months, with the DOT announcing in an April 2025 statement that the Metropolitan Transportation Authority would be withdrawing from the project.
Instead, the federally funded Amtrak was given control of the initiative.
Trump has reportedly tried to stamp his name on the station previously.
In January, Trump offered to unfreeze billions of dollars in funding for a major infrastructure project in exchange for renaming Penn Station and Washington Dulles International Airport, sources told CNN.
Trump made the offer to Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, who rejected the proposal and allegedly told the president that he did not have the power to grant such a request.
The president later described the reports as “FAKE NEWS” on Truth Social.
Later, in March, New York Governor Kathy Hochul shut down speculation surrounding adding Trump’s name to the Moynihan Train Hall at Penn Station.
When asked by reporters if Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan’s name should remain on the building, she said, “It will, over my dead body.”
“We are not messing with that man’s memory,” Hochul added.
That same month, sources told The Gothamist that the president was willing to rebuild Penn Station and relocate Madison Square Garden if its owner agreed.
A delegation of Trump supporters suggested the plan in a meeting at the White House in September, the publication wrote.
Under the proposal, Penn Station would reportedly be redesigned with a Greco-Roman style. The station would also be given a glass roof to let in natural light.
Currently, three proposals are being weighed up for the redevelopment of Penn Station, according to an Amtrak statement.
A decision on the future of the transport hub will be made in May and announced in June, the department says.
During his time in office, Trump has renamed several major landmarks after himself.
In December, the Kennedy Center was rebranded as the Donald J. Trump and the John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts.
That same month, the state department announced that the U.S. Institute of Peace was being renamed to “reflect the greatest dealmaker in our nation’s history.”
“Welcome to the Donald J. Trump Institute of Peace,” the State Department wrote on X. “The best is yet to come.”
The Independent has approached Madison Square Garden Entertainment for comment.
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