Garbled Trump tunnel threat signals scramble to save face after court smackdown

Just days after retreating from his threat to withhold $16 billion in federal funding for a critical tunnel project, President Donald Trump took to social media Monday to denounce the project as a “disaster,” while simultaneously outlining an apparent offramp that could help him save face.

The “Gateway Project,” a planned tunnel connecting New York and New Jersey that local leaders say is desperately needed, had been controversially halted after Trump scrapped federal funding last year, despite Congress having already appropriated the funds.

Last week, a judge ordered the administration to release the money.

“I am opposed to the future boondoggle known as ‘Gateway,’ in New York/New Jersey, because it will cost many BILLIONS OF DOLLARS more than projected or anticipated,” Trump wrote Monday on his social media platform Truth Social.

“Gateway will be financially catastrophic for the region, unless hard work and proper planning is done, NOW, to avoid insurmountable future cost overruns.”

Trump had initially halted funding for the project, saying it was to ensure funding was “not flowing based on unconstitutional DEI principles," Earlier this month, Trump reportedly told Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) that he’d release the funds if Congress agreed to rename Washington’s Dulles International Airport and New York’s Penn Station after him — a request Schumer apparently refused.

The Trump administration complied last week with a judge who ordered the unfreezing the project’s federal funding. And on Monday, Trump carved out an offramp for himself to still maintain some control on the project.

“Please let this statement represent the fact that, under no circumstances, will the Federal Government be responsible for ANY COST OVERRUNS – NOT ONE DOLLAR!” Trump wrote, in a confusing message that suggested measures would be put in place to stop that happening.

“The Federal Government is willing to meet, however, to make sure that this does not happen!”