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Browse major news stories and see what officials have said.

Sep 3, 2026· Updated

Trump Signs an Executive Order Renaming Lake Ontario "Lake America" — "All We Need Is an Ocean" — and Even Chris Christie Calls It "Completely Childish"

On August 27, 2026, President Trump signed an executive order in the Oval Office directing the Interior Department to update federal geographic information systems to rename Lake Ontario as "Lake America," effective immediately. The order asserts that because "the deepest parts of the Lake's waters" lie within United States territory, "the United States claims most of the Lake's volume," and that the lake "has long been an integral asset to American exploration, settlement, commerce, and defense." Trump had floated the idea two days earlier, on August 25, in the middle of the collapse of US–Canada trade talks and the Section 338 tariff fight. Asked what message he meant to send Canada, Trump said "No message" and then added that Canada "has been ripping us off for a long time on trade." He framed the order as a sequel to renaming the Gulf of Mexico: "we have a gulf and we have a lake. Now, all we need is an ocean." The reaction from US officials was near-uniformly negative and unusually mocking. Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer, whose state borders the lake, called it "a juvenile effort" and "a pathetic attempt at distraction" from tariffs raising costs in Upstate New York. Gov. Kathy Hochul answered in five words on X: "New York won't be calling it that." Sen. Amy Klobuchar said that "on behalf of the great Lake Superior, I call that superiorly stupid." Sen. Chris Van Hollen called it "more evidence we elected a toddler as president," and Sen. Mark Kelly asked how renaming a lake helps Americans who "can't afford their lives right now." Elected Republicans were largely silent. Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie called the order "Childish. Completely childish." Rep. Jeff Crank (R-CO), asked the next day whether the body of water is Lake Ontario or Lake America, said he was "unaware of — what's the reference?" and then, "I don't know. I — I have other more pressing issues I'm working on. Goodness!" Canadian officials rejected the renaming outright. Prime Minister Mark Carney noted the name derives from the Wendat word Ontari'io and predates both Confederation and the Declaration of Independence; Ontario Premier Doug Ford said it "will always be Lake Ontario to all Canadians and the rest of the world." The lake's name in Canada is unaffected — the order reaches only US federal usage.

“President Trump's inane executive order is a weak attempt to distract from the fact that the Trump administration has raised costs on hardworking families, caused gas prices to skyrocket, and cut the programs that Americans rely on to get healthcare and put food on the table. Instead of renaming Great Lakes for no good reason, the president should stop the political games, get back to the negotiation table, and make a deal that lowers costs for New York families. I am proud to announce this legislation to restore Lake Ontario's original name, and I look forward to getting it passed.”
Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) · Sep 3, 2026

DHS Names Its New York Immigration Sweep "Operation Rotten Apple" and Says It Ran It Because the City Elected a Socialist — 2,197 Arrests, and the Governor Answers That the Federal Government Counts "Anybody Who Crossed the Border" as a Criminal

Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin came to Manhattan on September 1, 2026 to announce the results of a month-long ICE surge across New York City, Long Island and the Hudson Valley: 2,197 arrests between July 27 and August 29, in an operation the department named "Operation Rotten Apple." Mullin framed the sweep explicitly as a punishment for New York's politics rather than as routine enforcement, saying the operation was undertaken "because you have a very liberal-slash-socialist mayor here in New York City," calling New York a "crime-ridden city," and promising to send "as many people as we have possible" now that a new state law has forced local agencies out of 287(g) partnerships with ICE. Pressed on whether everyone arrested was a criminal, he answered that entering the country outside legal channels is itself the crime. Governor Kathy Hochul and Mayor Zohran Mamdani rejected the arrest tally at a competing press conference the same day, with Hochul saying there is "no way" that number reflects crimes as New York defines them and Mamdani defending the city's sanctuary policies as bipartisan in origin.

“Operation Rotten Apple did what sanctuary politicians in New York refuse to do: made the Empire State safer.”
Markwayne Mullin (R) · Sep 1, 2026

Ten Days Before the 25th Anniversary of 9/11, DHS Is Still Holding Back $87 Million of New York’s Counterterrorism Money — the Governor Calls It "Defunding the Police" and the Homeland Security Secretary Says Sanctuary States Should Not Get "One Federal Penny"

Governor Kathy Hochul and Mayor Zohran Mamdani appeared together in midtown Manhattan on September 1, 2026 to demand that the Department of Homeland Security release roughly $87 million in federal counterterrorism grant money that New York says it is still owed — about 40 percent of the state's expected allocation. New York was originally cut by $187 million, some 86 percent of what it expected. A federal court order restored roughly $100 million of that, but state and city officials say the remaining shortfall still hits NYPD counterterrorism and intelligence operations, FDNY specialized teams, National Guard deployments and bomb squads. Hochul turned the administration's own slogan back on it, saying that withholding the money amounts to "defunding the police." The state's congressional Democrats — Schumer, Gillibrand, Jeffries, Nadler, Goldman, Meng, Morelle, Latimer, Mannion and Kennedy — pressed the same point, repeatedly invoking the approaching 25th anniversary of the September 11 attacks. DHS answered that New York is sitting on $300 million in unspent FEMA money, and Secretary Markwayne Mullin said separately that he does not think sanctuary jurisdictions should receive "one federal penny."

“Donald Trump repeatedly claimed to be the law-and-order President. Instead, he has visited lawlessness and disorder upon the American people.”
Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) · Sep 1, 2026

After Losing Four Times in Court, the Administration Appeals the Order Forcing It to Keep Paying for the $16 Billion Gateway Tunnel — a Project Trump Declared "Terminated" Because It Was Money "Schumer Has Worked 20 Years to Get"

On Friday, August 28, 2026, the Trump administration filed notice that it will appeal to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit a ruling by U.S. District Judge Jeannette Vargas that permanently barred the Department of Transportation from freezing federal funding for the Gateway Hudson Tunnel Project. Judge Vargas ruled on June 29, 2026 that the freeze violated federal law. It was the administration's fourth straight loss in the case, which New York and New Jersey brought in February 2026. Gateway is a $16 billion program to bore new rail tunnels under the Hudson River and rehabilitate the existing 116-year-old North River Tunnel, the single two-track bottleneck carrying roughly 200,000 Amtrak and NJ Transit passengers a day between New Jersey and Penn Station. The federal share is $6.88 billion under a Capital Investment Grants full funding grant agreement signed before Trump returned to office. The fight began on October 16, 2025, when Trump said of the money that Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer had spent two decades securing, "Tell him it's terminated." The Transportation Department publicly disputed that the program was cancelled — Secretary Sean Duffy had called the projects "important" days earlier — but the department stopped reimbursing the Gateway Development Commission for completed work. By early February 2026 the commission had gone more than four months without payment and construction stopped, idling roughly 1,000 union workers. New York and New Jersey sued on February 3, 2026; a court blocked the freeze days later, and DOT released $235 million in withheld reimbursements on February 18. Work resumed. Judge Vargas made the block permanent on June 29. The New York–New Jersey congressional delegation has been on this continuously — a January 28, 2026 letter led by Schumer, Kirsten Gillibrand, Cory Booker and Andy Kim warning the funds had to move before the February 6 stoppage, and a February 6 press conference in which nine members of the New Jersey delegation denounced the freeze as political retaliation. Rep. Rob Menendez said flatly that Trump froze the money "to target Democratic lawmakers." Reaction to the August 28 appeal was near-uniform among the region's Democrats, who noted the administration's unbroken losing record. No Republican member of the New York or New Jersey delegation is on record supporting the appeal.

“Mr. President: keep the project on track, and support the hundreds of thousands of hard-working Americans who rely on this train line each and every day to get to work, appointments, and see friends and loved ones.”
Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ) · Aug 28, 2026