Trump threatens to hold up new stadium if Washington Commanders keep name
The president called on the Commanders to change their name on Sunday afternoon, writing on Truth Social, 'I may put a restriction on them that if they don't change the name back to the original 'Washington Redskins,' and get rid of the ridiculous moniker, 'Washington Commanders,' I won't make a deal for them to build a Stadium in Washington.'
The team retired its name in 2020 and rebranded in 2022, as the original title was considered offensive to Native Americans.
In the same Truth Social post, Trump said Cleveland's MLB team, the Guardians, should change its name back to the 'Indians.'
Story continues below advertisement
'Cleveland should do the same with the Cleveland Indians. The Owner of the Cleveland Baseball Team, Matt Dolan, who is very political, has lost three Elections in a row because of that ridiculous name change,' he wrote.
Dolan is a former Ohio state senator who served from 2017 to 2024.
The Washington Commanders and Cleveland Guardians have had their names for three years now, and neither team intends to change them.
Owner of the Commanders, Josh Harris, who took over in 2023, said earlier this year that the rebranded name would remain.
According to The Associated Press, not long after taking over, Harris shut down speculation about going back to the old name, saying that would not happen.
Get daily National news
Get the day's top news, political, economic, and current affairs headlines, delivered to your inbox once a day. Sign up for daily National newsletter Sign Up
By providing your email address, you have read and agree to Global News' Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy
Chris Antonetti, the Guardians' president of baseball operations, said before Sunday's game against the Athletics that their current name was here to stay.
'We understand there are different perspectives on the decision we made a few years ago, but obviously, it's a decision we made. We've got the opportunity to build a brand as the Guardians over the last four years and are excited about the future that's in front of us,' he said.
Cleveland announced in December 2020 that it would drop its Indians name. It announced the switch to Guardians in July 2021. In 2018, the team phased out 'Chief Wahoo' — long viewed as racist — as its primary logo.
Story continues below advertisement
Trump claimed the Commanders would be 'more valuable' if they restored their old name.
The team announced it would drop the Redskins name and its former logo of a Native American man's head in 2020 during a broader reckoning with systemic racism and police brutality.
View image in full screen
The Washington Commanders' new logo on the helmets during OTA on-field practice. Jonathan Newton / Getty Images
The Commanders and the District of Columbia government announced a deal earlier this year to build a new stadium for the football team on the site of the old RFK Stadium, the arena the franchise called home for more than 30 years.
Trump's ability to hold up the deal remains to be seen. Former president Joe Biden signed a bill in January that transferred the land from the federal government to the District of Columbia.
Trump's demands come as he attempts to quiet growing calls from his supporters to release unseen documents related to former financier and pedophile Jeffrey Epstein, with whom he was friends for over a decade.
Story continues below advertisement
On Thursday, Trump threatened to sue the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) after it published a note that it says Trump wrote to Epstein on his 50th birthday. The note includes a sexually suggestive hand-drawn sketch of a naked woman signed by the president.
Trump denied the note was of his creation and, according to the WSJ, said the letter was 'a fake thing.'
'I never wrote a picture in my life. I don't draw pictures of women,' he added. 'It's not my language. It's not my words.'
News of the letter broke after Trump targeted his own supporters pushing for the release of the Epstein files, saying they were 'weaklings' for demanding to see the documents, and attempted to place blame on Democrats, who he claimed created the Epstein files narrative as a 'hoax.'
Story continues below advertisement
The president spent years building political support from those who have stoked claims of a coverup of Epstein's 2019 death, which conspiracists claimed was ruled a suicide to protect the former financier's wealthy friends from incrimination.
— With files from The Associated Press
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
CBC
13 minutes ago
- CBC
Trump says he ‘hasn't thought about' pardoning Ghislaine Maxwell
After two days of meetings wrapped between convicted sex trafficker and Jeffrey Epstein associate Ghislaine Maxwell, her lawyer and U.S. Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, U.S. President Donald Trump said while he's allowed to pardon Maxwell, he has not considered it.
Vancouver Sun
an hour ago
- Vancouver Sun
Trump struggles to put lid on the ‘Jeffrey Epstein SCAM,' a controversy his allies once fuelled
Despite the sun bearing down on him and the sweat beading across his face, President Donald Trump still lingered with reporters lined up outside the White House on Friday. He was leaving on a trip to Scotland, where he would visit his golf courses, and he wanted to talk about how his administration just finished 'the best six months ever.' But over and over, the journalists kept asking Trump about the Jeffrey Epstein case and whether he would pardon the disgraced financier's imprisoned accomplice, Ghislaine Maxwell. 'People should really focus on how well the country is doing,' Trump insisted. He shut down another question by saying, 'I don't want to talk about that.' Start your day with a roundup of B.C.-focused news and opinion. By signing up you consent to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc. A welcome email is on its way. If you don't see it, please check your junk folder. The next issue of Sunrise will soon be in your inbox. Please try again Interested in more newsletters? Browse here. It was another example of how the Epstein saga — and his administration's disjointed approach to it — has shadowed Trump when he's otherwise at the height of his influence. He's enacted a vast legislative agenda, reached trade deals with a few key countries and tightened his grip across the federal government. Yet he's struggled to stamp out the embers of a political crisis that could become a full-on conflagration. Trump faces pressure from his own supporters The Republican president's supporters want the government to release secret files about Epstein, who authorities say killed himself in his New York jail cell six years ago while awaiting trial for sex trafficking. They believe him to be the nexus of a dark web of powerful people who abused underage girls. Administration officials who once stoked conspiracy theories now insist there's nothing more to disclose, a stance that has stirred skepticism because of Trump's former friendship with Epstein. Trump has repeatedly denied prior knowledge of Epstein's crimes and claimed he cut off their relationship long ago. For a president skilled at manipulating the media and controlling the Republican Party, it has been the most challenging test of his ability to shift the conversation in his second term. Landing in Scotland offered no refuge for Trump. He faced another round of questions after stepping off Air Force One. 'You're making a big thing over something that's not a big thing,' he said to one reporter. He told another, 'I'm focused on making deals, not on conspiracy theories that you are.' Republican strategist Kevin Madden called the controversy 'a treadmill to nowhere.' 'How do you get off of it?' he said. 'I genuinely don't know the answer to that.' Trump has demanded his supporters drop the matter and urged Republicans to block Democratic requests for documents on Capitol Hill. But he has also directed the Justice Department to divulge some additional information in hopes of satisfying his supporters. A White House official, who insisted on anonymity to discuss internal strategy, said Trump is trying to stay focused on his agenda while also demonstrating some transparency. After facing countless scandals and investigations, the official said, Trump is on guard against the typical playbook of drip-drip disclosures that have plagued him in the past. It's clear Trump wants the public to see the Epstein case as a continuation of the 'witch hunts' he says he's faced over the years, starting with the investigation into Russian interference during his election victory over Democrat Hillary Clinton nearly a decade ago. The sprawling inquiry led to convictions against some top advisers but did not substantiate allegations Trump conspired with Moscow. Trump's opponents, he wrote on social media Thursday, 'have gone absolutely CRAZY, and are playing another Russia, Russia, Russia Hoax but, this time, under the guise of what we will call the Jeffrey Epstein SCAM.' During the Russia investigation, special counsel Robert Mueller and his team of prosecutors were a straightforward foil for Trump to rail against. Ty Cobb, the lawyer who served as the White House's point person, said the president 'never felt exposed' because 'he thought he had a legitimate gripe.' The situation is different this time now that the Justice Department has been stocked with loyalists. 'The people that he has to get mad at are basically his people as opposed to his inquisitors and adversaries,' Cobb said. It was Trump's allies who excavated the Epstein debacle In fact, Trump's own officials are the most responsible for bringing the Epstein case back to the forefront. FBI Director Kash Patel and his deputy, Dan Bongino, regularly stoked conspiracy theories about Epstein before assuming their current jobs, floating the idea the government had covered up incriminating and compelling information that needed to be brought to light. 'Put on your big boy pants and let us know who the pedophiles are,' Patel said in a 2023 podcast. Attorney General Pam Bondi played a key role, too. She intimated in a Fox News Channel interview in February that an Epstein 'client list' was sitting on her desk for review — she would later say she was referring to the Epstein files more generally — and greeted far-right influencers with binders of records from the case that consisted largely of information in the public domain. Tensions spiked earlier this month when the FBI and the Justice Department, in an unsigned two-page letter, said that no client list existed, that the evidence was clear Epstein had killed himself and that no additional records from the case would be released to the public. It was a seeming backtrack on the administration's stated commitment to transparency. Amid a fierce backlash from Trump's base and influential conservative personalities, Bongino and Bondi squabbled openly in a tense White House meeting. Since then, the Trump administration has scrambled to appear transparent, including by seeking the unsealing of grand jury transcripts in the case — though it's hardly clear that courts would grant that request or that those records include any eye-catching details anyway. Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche has taken the unusual step of interviewing the imprisoned Maxwell over the course of two days at a courthouse in Tallahassee, Florida, where her lawyer said she would 'always testify truthfully.' All the while, Trump and his allies have resurfaced the Russia investigation as a rallying cry for a political base that has otherwise been frustrated by the Epstein saga. Trump's director of national intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard, who just weeks ago appeared on the outs with Trump over comments on Iran's nuclear ambitions, seemed to return to the president's good graces this week following the declassification and release of years-old documents she hoped would discredit long-settled conclusions about Russian interference in the 2016 election. The developments allowed Trump to rehash longstanding grievances against President Barack Obama and his Democratic advisers. Trump's talk of investigations into perceived adversaries from years ago let him, in effect, go back in time to deflect attention from a very current crisis. 'Whether it's right or wrong,' Trump said, 'it's time to go after people.' Our website is the place for the latest breaking news, exclusive scoops, longreads and provocative commentary. Please bookmark and sign up for our daily newsletter, Posted, here .
Edmonton Journal
an hour ago
- Edmonton Journal
Trump struggles to put lid on the ‘Jeffrey Epstein SCAM,' a controversy his allies once fuelled
Article content Despite the sun bearing down on him and the sweat beading across his face, President Donald Trump still lingered with reporters lined up outside the White House on Friday. He was leaving on a trip to Scotland, where he would visit his golf courses, and he wanted to talk about how his administration just finished 'the best six months ever.' Article content But over and over, the journalists kept asking Trump about the Jeffrey Epstein case and whether he would pardon the disgraced financier's imprisoned accomplice, Ghislaine Maxwell. Article content Article content 'People should really focus on how well the country is doing,' Trump insisted. He shut down another question by saying, 'I don't want to talk about that.' Article content Article content It was another example of how the Epstein saga — and his administration's disjointed approach to it — has shadowed Trump when he's otherwise at the height of his influence. He's enacted a vast legislative agenda, reached trade deals with a few key countries and tightened his grip across the federal government. Yet he's struggled to stamp out the embers of a political crisis that could become a full-on conflagration. Article content The Republican president's supporters want the government to release secret files about Epstein, who authorities say killed himself in his New York jail cell six years ago while awaiting trial for sex trafficking. They believe him to be the nexus of a dark web of powerful people who abused underage girls. Administration officials who once stoked conspiracy theories now insist there's nothing more to disclose, a stance that has stirred skepticism because of Trump's former friendship with Epstein. Article content Article content Trump has repeatedly denied prior knowledge of Epstein's crimes and claimed he cut off their relationship long ago. For a president skilled at manipulating the media and controlling the Republican Party, it has been the most challenging test of his ability to shift the conversation in his second term. Article content Article content Article content Landing in Scotland offered no refuge for Trump. He faced another round of questions after stepping off Air Force One. 'You're making a big thing over something that's not a big thing,' he said to one reporter. He told another, 'I'm focused on making deals, not on conspiracy theories that you are.' Article content Republican strategist Kevin Madden called the controversy 'a treadmill to nowhere.' Article content 'How do you get off of it?' he said. 'I genuinely don't know the answer to that.' Article content Trump has demanded his supporters drop the matter and urged Republicans to block Democratic requests for documents on Capitol Hill. But he has also directed the Justice Department to divulge some additional information in hopes of satisfying his supporters.
