Controversial Trump-Epstein Statue Sparks Free Speech Debate
A 12-foot statue depicting President Trump holding hands with convicted sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein appeared on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., Tuesday morning and was removed by the National Park Service less than 24 hours later. The saga, which made the rounds on late-night TV this week, did not stop there. The group responsible for creating the statue, an anonymous collective of “satirical activists” called the Secret Handshake, said the National Park Service denied a second permit to reinstall the controversial statue, which featured a plaque reading, “We celebrate the long-lasting bond between President Donald J. Trump and his ‘closest friend,’ Jeffrey Epstein.”
Removal and Damage of the Statue
The statue, spray-painted bronze and titled “Best Friends Forever,” was removed on Wednesday at 5:30 a.m., said Carol Flaisher, a D.C.-based location manager who had been contracted by Secret Handshake to obtain the appropriate permit for the statue. It’s a job Flaisher says she’s been doing for film and television throughout her 40-year career, and she has never seen a permitted display on the National Mall removed, she says. If there are issues with the permit, the NPS is required to give the applicant 24-hour notice to fix the error before taking action. That notice was not given, Flaisher says.
“We’ve been doing this for so long. I’ve never had one rejected, ever, ever, ever,” said Flaisher. “I’ve never been thrown off of the property. I’ve never heard of such a thing. And they did it at 5:30 in the morning. … I wonder why they did that.” The statue was not treated kindly upon its removal, said the rep from Secret Handshake, who requested not to be named in keeping with the anonymous nature of the group’s activism. The statue was in several pieces, with heads and knees broken in half.
The statue “Best Friends Forever,” featuring President Trump and Jeffrey Epstein holding hands, was damaged when it was removed Wednesday morning by the National Park Service.
(Secret Handshake)
Denial of Second Permit and Future Plans
On Wednesday around noon, Flaisher says she put in an application for a second permit — this time for a “demonstration” one. That type of permit usually has a 24-hour turnaround, and Flaisher says an employee at NPS told her she would have the new permit in about that time frame. Throughout Thursday, the Secret Handshake rep said, “we were told [of the permit], it’s approved, it’s approved, it’s approved.”
Flaisher called a little after noon and was told that the permit had not been issued, but the person she spoke with did not know why. An hour later she tried again and this time she was told, “‘No, you will not be issued a permit,’” she says. She pushed back and asked who she could talk to, but nobody would speak with her she says. The rep for Secret Handshake, which has been responsible for four other political satirical statues on the National Mall, including “Poop Desk,” a bronze art installation featuring a pile of feces on former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s desk, says the group is currently considering what to do next with its repaired “Best Friends” statue.
