Anonymous pranksters “The Secret Handshake” had to do some “reforging” of their now-infamous Epstein/Trump friendship statue before they got it back on The White House lawn on Thursday.
Photos obtained exclusively by The Daily Beast reveal the damage the statue suffered when it was taken down by the United States Park Police at 5:30 a.m. on Sept. 24 in violation of the permit The Secret Handshake received from the U.S. Department of Interior (DOI).
One photo shows that President Donald Trump’s head was sliced clear in half during the takedown. A second shows that Trump and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein’s arms, still clasped together in the bonds of friendship, were snapped off their respective bodies during the toppling.
“They didn’t just remove it, they toppled it over into a bunch of pieces,” one of the anonymous “Secret Handshake” artists told the Daily Beast.
The artist said that right leg of the Trump statue was also ripped off, and, symbolically, the statues were broken apart right where their hands had been joined.
Repairing the statue, which is composed of foam, plastic, metal wiring, rods, and wood, cost a sum “in the thousands,” the artist said, though they did not provide a specific number.
The artists provided the Daily Beast with exclusive photos of what they said was “our property that the government officials took away and destroyed without our permission.”
The Secret Handshake said they worked tirelessly to repair the statue and obtain a new permit to get it back on display. It currently stands on 3rd street, down the street from the United States Capitol Building.
The first time the group erected the statue, they had obtained a DOI permit. A DOI spokesperson told The Daily Beast that the statue was not compliant with the permit, though a copy of the permit they gave the Daily Beast did not demonstrate how the statue was not compliant.
The document also revealed the DOI was required to give The Secret Handshake 24 hours notice before they took the statue down. However there was no notice given before they smashed the statue to bits.
This time, the statue stands on the strength of a “Freedom of Speech” permit, the group said.
“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,” a Secret Handshake artist told the Daily Beast. “So it’s almost like a ‘don’t ask, don’t tell situation.’”
With the government shutdown, there may not be enough manpower in the federal government to review the case of the statue and get it taken down within that time frame.
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