A 12-foot-tall statue of President Donald Trump and late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein holding hands has reappeared once again in Washington D.C., after being torn down by federal authorities twice already.
The statue, which drew national attention after being removed from the National Mall, has popped up yet again, this time outside the Busboys and Poets restaurant in the U Street Corridor.
It comes as the White House has scrambled to deal with the release of tens of thousands of messages from Epsteinâs estate by lawmakers, including emails between the financier and his partner-in-crime, Ghislaine Maxwell, mentioning the president by name.
Trump did not send or receive any of the emails and has not been accused of any wrongdoing.
âMuch like Trumpâs name in an Epstein email dump, we have popped our head out to say an unannounced hello,â the group behind the piece, The Secret Handshake, told The Daily Beast Thursday.
Titled âBest Friends Forever,â the piece first appeared on September 23 on the Mall, accompanied by a plaque that read: âWe celebrate the long-lasting bond between President Donald J. Trump and his âclosest friend,â Jeffrey Epstein.â
The statue had a permit to remain on the property until September 28, but it was hauled off only one day after it was installed. The Interior Department told The Washington Post that park officials removed the statue because it was ânot compliant with the permit issued,â but did not elaborate further.
Less than a week later, it returned to the Mall after D.C.-based location manager Carol Flaisher applied for another permit on behalf of the artists, according to the outlet.
The statue first appeared as the Trump administration faced ongoing calls for greater transparency on the investigation into Epstein, who died by suicide in 2019 while in custody on charges he trafficked and abused young girls. Epsteinâs death in custody has been ruled a suicide.
The issue came to a head over the summer after the Trump administration said there would be no further disclosures on the case.
Since then, lawmakers have subpoenaed and released some documents from Epsteinâs estate. Justice Department officials also released transcripts from a July interview with Ghislaine Maxwell, Epsteinâs ex-girlfriend, who is serving a 20-year sentence for her role in helping him abuse girls.
On Wednesday, the tranche of emails released by the House revealed that Epstein told Maxwell that Trump âspent hoursâ at his house with one of the disgraced financierâs victims. Another message from Epstein to author Michael Wolff says Trump âknew about the girls,â suggesting that the president was more aware of the convicted sex offenderâs history of abuse than previously reported.
Following the release, administration officials have reportedly held private meetings in the White House Situation Room to discuss how to handle the controversy.
Publicly, the president and the White House have tried to downplay the emails, with Trump and White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt both calling the latest release a âhoax.â It’s clear this is another Democrat + Mainstream Media hoax, fueled by fake outrage, to distract from the President’s wins,â Leavitt wrote on X Thursday.
