Donald Trump has denied claims that administration officials are considering adding the president’s name to Ford’s Theatre, where President Abraham Lincoln was assassinated in 1865 - his latest attempt to add himself to historical landmarks.
Staff members are circulating a list of government sites that could potentially have the president’s name added to them, including Ford’s Theatre, MS NOW reported, citing people familiar with the discussions.
Trump took to Truth Social on Wednesday evening to bash the claim.
“The story that the White House, or me, want to affix my name to Ford’s Theatre, in Washington, D.C., where Abraham Lincoln was assassinated, is a ridiculous lie. It is FAKE NEWS! Who would possibly want a name on such a tragic place?” Trump wrote.
White House officials will apparently pitch renaming buildings after Trump as a way to get on the president’s good side, a former administration official told the outlet.
“They know flattery gets them everything,” the ex-official said.
It was not immediately clear how officials hoped to attach Trump’s name to the Washington, D.C., landmark, which remains operational as a theater and museum and is owned by the Interior Department. An administration official told the outlet that the idea had been discussed, but they didn’t know where it stood.
Administration officials are also looking into buildings and other government sites that they could easily add Trump’s name to without running into legal trouble, according to the report.
It comes as Trump’s long-running legal battle to rename the Kennedy Center after himself hit a boiling point earlier this month, when a federal judge blocked the addition of the president’s name for a second time. A day later, Trump was photographed looking at a poster that apparently addressed the demolition of the historic performing arts venue.
Since returning to office, Trump has slapped his name onto numerous government properties. In addition to the Kennedy Center, Trump officials have added his name to the U.S. Institute of Peace.
They have also affixed his face to a variety of goods — from National Park Service passes to passports and coins. In December, the president announced plans for a fleet of Navy battleships named after him — and last month, CNN reported that the Navy was workiing to rename an aircraft carrier after the president.
Trump has even floated the idea that Congress would rename both New York’s Penn Station in his honor. Republican lawmakers have introduced legislation to rename Dulles International Airport in Virginia after the president.
However, officials still may run into trouble trying to rename the historic theater. The site’s name is set by a federal statute signed by former President Richard Nixon, meaning renaming it would likely require an act of Congress.
Still, this did not stop administration officials from adding Trump’s name to the Institute of Peace or the Kennedy Center, both of which drew emergency legal motions to stop his plans.
The White House denied MS NOW’s reporting, telling The Independent in a statement, “This story is completely false. The reality is that failing MS Now continues to push false and baseless claims from anonymous sources who have no clue what they’re talking about, which is exactly why their credibility is in the toilet. It is embarrassing to watch.”
An Interior Department spokesperson told The Independent, “As we told MS Now, this is not true. “
