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Queens Councilman Wants Trump's Name Removed From Jamaica Hospital Pavilion

 A Queens councilman has urged Jamaica Hospital to remove Donald Trump’s name from its Pavilion after the presidential candidate attacked Senator John McCain.
A Queens councilman has urged Jamaica Hospital to remove Donald Trump’s name from its Pavilion after the presidential candidate attacked Senator John McCain.
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DNAinfo/Tuan Nguyen

QUEENS — A councilman is urging Jamaica Hospital to remove Donald Trump’s name from its Pavillion after the Republican presidential candidate criticized Arizona Senator John McCain's war record.

Eric Ulrich (R-Queens), who chairs the council's Veterans Committee, wrote a letter to the president and board of directors of Jamaica Hospital urging them to remove Trump’s name from the Nursing and Rehabilitation Pavilion building, a 224-bed facility.

Trump said last Saturday that McCain, who was tortured for five years after being taken prisoner in Vietnam, was not a war hero.

"He is a war hero because he was captured." Trump said about McCain. "I like people that weren't captured, OK?"

Ulrich, who was born in Jamaica Hospital, said in the letter that Trump's "offensive rhetoric is a slap in the face to New York City’s veterans and their families, especially those who had been 'captured' as former POWs.”

According to the pavilion's website, the facility "was built in 1975 and named after Mary Trump, mother of businessman/investor Donald Trump." 

But the building only displays the family's last name.

Ulrich, who represents Woodhaven, South Richmond Hill, Howard Beach and Ozone Park, wrote in the letter that removing Trump's name would be an important step to maintaining "the integrity of the hospital and its standing in the community-at-large."

A spokesman for Jamaica Hospital did not immediately return a phone call seeking comment.