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.
On Thursday, the group responsible for creating the statue โ an anonymous collective of โsatirical activistsโ called the Secret Handshake โ said the National Park Service denied a second permit to reinstall the controversial statue, which featured a plaque reading, โWe celebrate the long-lasting bond between President Donald J. Trump and his โclosest friend,โ Jeffrey Epstein.โ
โThe statue was removed because it was not compliant with the permit issued,โ Interior Department spokesperson Elizabeth Peace told CNN on Wednesday, citing a height discrepancy.
The statue, spray-painted bronze and titled โBest Friends Forever,โ was removed 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.
Itโs a job Flaisher says sheโs 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.
โWeโve been doing this for so long. Iโve never had one rejected, ever, ever, ever,โ said Flaisher. โIโve never been thrown off of the property. Iโve never heard of such a thing. And they did it at 5:30 in the morning. … I wonder why they did that.โ
On Wednesday around noon, Flaisher says she put in an application for a new permit โ this time for a โdemonstrationโ 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.
While Flaisher was trying to obtain a second permit, members of Secret Handshake were working to retrieve their art.
The statue โBest Friends Forever,โ featuring President Trump and Jeffrey Epstein holding hands, was damaged when it was removed Wednesday morning by the National Park Service.
(Secret Handshake)
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 groupโs activism. The statue was in several pieces, with heads and knees broken in half. The group spent several hours repairing, rebuilding and โgluing it together,โ the rep said. โIt looks pretty cool, to be honest. It got kind of messed up, but in an interesting way.โ
The Times reviewed a video taken by the groupโs security that shows workers toppling the statue in the dark and removing it.
โFree speech. There goes Trump, there goes Epstein,โ a passerby can be heard saying. โTaxpayersโ dollars.โ
The damaged statue was taped back together.
(Secret Handshake)
Throughout Thursday, the Secret Handshake rep said, โwe were told [of the permit], itโs approved, itโs approved, itโs approved.โ
Flaisher called a little after noon and was informed 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, โโNo, you will not be issued a permit,โโ she says. She pushed back and asked who she could talk to, but nobody would speak with her she says.
โAbsolute silence. No oneโs called me back with anything. No answer. You donโt have a permit. There is no reason,โ said Flaisher. โIt must have come from a very high place because nobodyโs talking.โ
The NPS has not yet responded to a request for comment about why a new permit was denied or why Secret Handshake was not given 24-hour notice before the statue was initially removed.
The rep for Secret Handshake, which has been responsible for four other political satirical statues on the National Mall, including โPoop Desk,โ a bronze art installation featuring a pile of feces on former House Speaker Nancy Pelosiโs desk, says the group is currently considering what to do next with its repaired โBest Friendsโ statue.
The rep said the group hires security to protect its work at the mall, as mandated by the permit, and that their security was in place Thursday afternoon, getting ready for the statue to be installed for the second time.
โThey took video … and the amount of unmarked cars, Park Service cars, city police and giant trucks ready to haul it away if we decided to place it down anyway. … Wow. They were ready,โ the rep said. โThere were at least 10 vehicles.โ
The question of whether the statue will be allowed to be replaced comes in the midst of a fierce debate about free speech in America that was kicked off by ABCโs suspension of โJimmy Kimmel Live!โ after the comedian weighed in on the killing of Charlie Kirk.