Dems file bill to rename Miami prison to 'Donald J. Trump Federal Correctional Institution'

05 April 2024

House Democrats have submitted a two-page bill to name a federal building after former President Donald Trump — more specifically, a federal prison.

Axios reported that Reps. Gerry Connolly (D-Virginia), John Garamendi (D-California) and Jared Moskowitz (D-Florida) filed the bill on Friday to designate the Federal Correctional Institution Miami building as the "Donald J. Trump Federal Correctional Institution." The three Democrats notably submitted the bill just days after House Republicans filed legislation to rename the John Foster Dulles International Airport in the Virginia suburbs of Washington, DC after the former president.

"When our Republican colleagues introduced their bill to rename Dulles after Donald Trump, I said the more fitting option would be to rename a federal prison," Connolly said in a public statement. "I see no reason to wait. ... I hope our Republican friends will join us in bestowing upon Donald J. Trump the only honor he truly deserves."

Because the House of Representatives is under Republican control and House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-Louisiana) is not likely to even consider bringing the bill up for a vote, its passage is a virtual impossibility. However, according to Axios, the bill's sponsors are filing the bill as a means of drawing attention to Trump defending himself against 91 felony charges laid out in four separate indictments across three different jurisdictions.

In a tongue-in-cheek public statement, Moskowitz said the former president should logically by in favor of the bill, as it would accomplish his goal of having his name emblazoned on a federal building for the first time.

"Everyone knows President Trump loves to write his name in gold letters on all his buildings, but he's never had his name on a federal building before, and as a public servant, I just want to help the former president," he stated. "Help us make that dream a reality."

The fact that the three chose FCI Miami as the chosen building to carry Trump's name is likely not random. In addition to it being the closest federal prison to Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida, FCI Miami is also currently the home of former Trump trade advisor Peter Navarro, at least for the next four months.

Navarro was sentenced in January for his refusal to comply with a subpoena from the House Select Committee on the January 6 Attack, which he called a "kangaroo court." Navarro — who had served in the Trump administration since 2017 — was one of the architects of Trump's plot to overturn the 2020 election during Congress' certification of electoral college votes. He has already lost a motion to remain free while appealing his sentence, and it's not likely he'll win that appeal.

It's not know whether Trump would go to FCI Miami if convicted in any of his two upcoming federal trials. And because his first criminal proceeding is for crimes allegedly committed in Manhattan, he would go to a New York prison if convicted in this month's hush money trial. And of course, a conviction in Trump's trial in Fulton County, Georgia would also potentially mean the former president could go to prison in Georgia, though the logistics of how a former president would be incarcerated in multiple jurisdictions — which would be unprecedented and historic — has not yet been finalized.

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