The towering bronze statue of President Donald Trump and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein holding hands has reappeared on the National Mall after being toppled by the president’s henchmen.
On Sept. 23, it was erected directly in front of the Capitol, highlighting Trump’s relationship with Epstein, who died by suicide in a Manhattan jail in 2019.
But the United States Park Police quietly removed the provocative bronze sculpture around 5:30 a.m. the next day, violating a permit issued by the U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI) to “The Secret Handshake,” the anonymous activist group behind the installation.
At the time, a spokesperson for The Secret Handshake called the statue’s removal “a literal example of the Trump administration toppling free speech when it has been legally permitted and approved because they are scared about whatever Trump is hiding in the Epstein files.”
“We found out at the end of the day that some people within the parks department aka most likely the Trump administration were trying to find ways to say we were not in compliance,” the spokesperson said.
Now, the statue is standing proudly on 3rd Street—at least for now.
“Just like a toppled confederate general forced back onto a public square, the Donald Trump-Jeffrey Epstein statue has risen from the rubble to stand gloriously on the National Mall once again,” the spokesperson said in an interview with the Daily Beast on Thursday.
According to the group, they’ve been working behind the scenes for weeks to reinstall the statue.
When the statue was first removed, a DOI spokesperson told The Daily Beast it was taken down “because it was not compliant with the permit issued.” The department declined to elaborate.
But even if it had been noncompliant—something the permit obtained by the Daily Beast doesn’t appear to support—DOI is still required to notify the artists at least 24 hours before removing a permitted installation.
This time, the group says they’re operating under a “Freedom of Speech” permit.
“There is a special stipulation that if they receive it and acknowledge it and don’t outright reject it in 24 or 48 hours, then it is considered granted,” the artist said. “So it’s almost like a ‘don’t ask, don’t tell situation.’”
Ironically, the U.S. government shutdown that went into effect on Wednesday may be working in the statue’s favor. Fewer federal staff means fewer people available to take it down—again.
“With the shutdown, I don’t think they have the manpower to break their own rules right now,” the spokesperson said.
Even so, they say some inside the system are helping protect the project.
“Genuine shout out and thanks to the ranger we’ve been working with at the Parks Department,” he said. “They are true believers in free speech in the face of a lot of noise.”
The artists knew their latest piece wouldn’t necessarily be a hit with the administration.
A plaque on the statue reads: “In Honor of Friendship Month we celebrate the long-lasting bond between President Donald J. Trump and his ‘closest friend,’ Jeffrey Epstein.”
Others feature Trump’s own words from a 2003 birthday card to Epstein. Trump has denied writing the birthday message.
Trump has insisted that he and Epstein were never close friends, repeating several times that he distanced himself from the late financier after he was put on the sex offender list in 2008, shortly after he pleaded guilty to a charge of solicitation of prostitution with a minor.
But his claims haven’t yet buried the mounting public pressure to release the so-called “Epstein files.”
When the statue first appeared last month, White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson dismissed it as political theater.
“Liberals are free to waste their money however they see fit—but it’s not news that Epstein knew Donald Trump, because Donald Trump kicked Epstein out of his club for being a creep,” Jackson began.
“Democrats, the media, and the organization that’s wasting their money on this statue knew about Epstein and his victims for years and did nothing to help them while President Trump was calling for transparency, and is now delivering on it with thousands of pages of documents.”
Yet the Trump administration has previously allowed installations by The Secret Handshake to remain in place.
In June, an eight-foot sculpture titled “Dictator Approved,” showing a Trumpian thumbs-up crushing Lady Liberty’s crown, appeared on the National Mall. A week later, it was replaced with a golden “television” statue depicting Trump dancing shoulder-to-shoulder with Epstein.
“In June, the White House literally praised themselves for allowing free speech to stay up in reference to our ‘Dictator Approved’ statue,” the artist said. “I guess a lot has changed since then.”
The Daily Beast has reached out to the White House for comment.
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