A controversial golden statue depicting former President Donald Trump and the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein has made another unexpected appearance in Washington DC, defying federal authorities who have removed it on two previous occasions.
Third Time's the Charm for Provocative Installation
The 12-foot-tall statue, which shows the two figures holding hands, reappeared on Thursday 13 November 2025, this time positioned outside the Busboys and Poets restaurant in the U Street Corridor. This marks the third installation of the provocative artwork after it was twice torn down from its original location on the National Mall.
The piece has drawn significant national attention since first appearing, with its removal by federal agents generating widespread media coverage and public debate about freedom of expression and political statement.
The Secret Handshake Speaks Out
The anonymous artist collective behind the installation, known as The Secret Handshake, provided a characteristically cryptic statement to The Daily Beast regarding the statue's reappearance. "Much like Trump's name in an Epstein email dump, we have popped our head out to say an unannounced hello," they declared, directly referencing the ongoing public fascination with the connections between the former president and the disgraced financier.
The group's statement appears designed to maximise controversy while commenting on the persistent nature of the Trump-Epstein association in public discourse, regardless of official attempts to remove physical representations of this connection from public spaces.
Ongoing Battle Over Public Space and Political Expression
The repeated appearance and removal of the statue highlights ongoing tensions between federal authorities and political activists regarding what constitutes acceptable use of public space for artistic and political statements. The National Mall, as America's premier civic space, has frequently been a battleground for such conflicts, though the artwork's migration to the U Street Corridor suggests the artists are adapting their tactics.
With the statue having already been removed twice by federal agents, its persistent reappearance raises questions about how authorities will respond to this latest installation and whether the cycle of installation and removal will continue indefinitely.
