The Justice Department headquarters, long venerated as the nonpartisan institution tasked with enforcing the law no matter who is in the White House, is now adorned with the president’s face.
Amid accusations that the Justice Department under Attorney General Pam Bondi is carrying out President Donald Trump’s bidding rather than maintaining its independence, a massive banner unfurled outside DOJ headquarters on Thursday. The Robert F. Kennedy Building in Washington, D.C., now features a behemoth printing of President Donald Trump’s face.
Trump has made a habit of claiming Kennedy buildings in D.C. as his own. In December, he stamped his name on the John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts without congressional approval. The Kennedy buildings follow other federal buildings in displaying Trump’s name or image in the nation’s capital, after similar actions by the Labor Department and Department of Agriculture last summer.
An image of the giant banner being put up outside the Justice Department was first posted on social media by CNN’s Justice Reporter Hannah Rabinowitz.
The banner includes the president’s face under the “U.S. Department of Justice” along with the department’s seal and the words “Make America Safe Again.”
The Daily Beast requested comment from the DOJ and the White House.
Social media users were quick to sound the alarm that the banner was the latest reminder that the separation between the White House and Justice Department was long gone. Critics accused Trump of seizing control of the once-independent department, doing exactly what the president and his MAGA allies had accused his predecessor of.
Last August, Trump was repeatedly trolled for the massive banner of him unfurled outside the Labor Department. There was a similar banner with an image of President Teddy Roosevelt.
Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom compared the gigantic image of Trump on the federal building to similar moves by dictator Kim Jong Un in North Korea on Thursday.
“The Trump DoJ is a pure creature of presidential whim, retribution, and cover-up – so this banner has the virtue of candor at least,” Atlantic magazine David Frum wrote of the decision on X. Democratic strategist Mike Nellis wrote in part that the move showed “their true colors.”
It comes the same day as the Justice Department is facing mounting pressure to take action in the Jeffrey Epstein investigation after former Prince Andrew was arrested for ties to the late pedophile in the UK.
“Prince Andrew was just arrested. This was the metric I established for success of the Epstein Files Transparency Act that @RepRoKhanna and I got passed. Now we need JUSTICE in the United States. It’s time for @AGPamBondi and @FBIDirectorKash to act!” GOP Rep. Thomas Massie wrote on X.
Asked about the calls for action in the U.S. by the Daily Beast, a spokesperson for the Justice Department responded, “no comment.”
When pressed about the DOJ’s handling of the Epstein files and Trump’s own ties to the convicted sex offender earlier this month on Capitol Hill, Bondi, who previously served as the president’s personal lawyer, slammed lawmakers for asking questions and sang Trump’s praises through hours of grilling.
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