A satirical statue depicting President Trump and the convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein briefly appeared Tuesday on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., with the title, “Best Friends Forever.”
Photos published by news outlets and shared on social media show a bronze-colored statue of Mr. Trump and Mr. Epstein frolicking and holding hands. A plaque at the statue’s base reads: “We celebrate the long-lasting bond between President Donald J. Trump and his ‘closest friend,’ Jeffrey Epstein.”
The United States Park Police said in a statement that it and the National Park Service had removed the statue early Wednesday morning because it was not in compliance with a permit.
Mr. Trump has sought to downplay his connection to Mr. Epstein, with whom he was friendly for around 15 years. The relationship has come under increased scrutiny after Mr. Trump’s Justice Department withheld some of its files related to Mr. Epstein’s yearslong sex-trafficking ring from public disclosure. Attorney General Pam Bondi is said to have told Mr. Trump his name appeared in some of the documents.
This month, the House Oversight Committee released a drawing by Mr. Trump that had been presented to Mr. Epstein on his 50th birthday. The sexually suggestive drawing included what appeared to be Mr. Trump’s signature and said in part, “Happy Birthday — and may every day be another wonderful secret.”
The statue placed on the National Mall included plaques with several lines from that note from Mr. Trump.
In a statement, the White House said: “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.”
While the provenance of the statue remains unknown, it resembles several other recent protest art installations that have temporarily appeared on the National Mall in opposition to Mr. Trump.
In June, a statue titled “Dictator Approved” depicted a golden thumb crushing the Statue of Liberty. Last October, a bronze artwork appeared showing a pile of feces on a desk carrying a nameplate of Representative Nancy Pelosi, the Democrat and former House speaker, a satirical reference to damage done by Trump supporters who rioted at the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.
Campbell Robertson contributed reporting.
Ali Watkins covers international news for The Times and is based in Belfast.
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