Hand-Holding Trump and Epstein Statue Appears on National Mall
The apparently satirical artwork portrays the president and the convicted sex offender gazing giddily at each other.
A statue of President Donald Trump and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein holding hands mysteriously appeared on the National Mall in Washington, DC, on Tuesday, September 23. The anonymous monument, billed as a cheeky tribute to the pair's chummy alliance in recognition of Friendship Month, comes weeks after congressional Democrats released a purported birthday scrapbook gifted to Epstein on his 50th birthday in 2003.
In the apparently satirical portrayal, the two billionaires stand on one foot in a giddy stance, as if skipping away together from the United States Capitol. One of the artists behind the dual effigy told the Daily Beast that the 12-foot-tall (~3.7-meter-tall) work was produced by an anonymous group using the moniker The Secret Handshake. Hyperallergic has been unable to contact the group, which appears to have no online presence.
By Wednesday morning, the statue was removed by US Park Police, as confirmed by the Department of the Interior (DOI), which oversees the National Park Service, in an email to Hyperallergic. The creator of the work filed a permit with the National Park Service that was supposed to remain in effect until Sunday, but the spokesperson for the DOI said the statue was "not compliant with the permit issued." The spokesperson did not say what the specific violation was.
Plaques accompanying the installation read: "In honor of Friendship Month, we celebrate the long-lasting bond between President Donald J. Trump and his 'closest friend,' Jeffrey Epstein. Voice Over: There must be more to life than having everything."
The final line comes directly from a letter released to the public earlier this month that Trump allegedly signed in a birthday book gifted to Epstein by his accomplice and former girlfriend Ghislaine Maxwell in 2003. The message is formatted as an imagined script within an outline of a woman’s body, opening with a voice-over and devolving into Trump's alleged final remark: “May every day be another wonderful secret.”
Parts of the dialogue appear on a plaque on the plinth of the statue, alongside the president's alleged signature. (Trump has denied authoring the letter.)
The installation is across the street from the Capitol. In photos shared on social media, Henry Merwin Shrady's 1922 Ulysses S. Grant Memorial on Capitol grounds can be seen in the background.
The monument popped up as Arizona holds a special election that could force the House of Representatives to formally vote on the release of the Epstein files.
Tuesday's installation builds upon a series of satirical artworks critiquing Trump, right-wing politics, and the January 6 insurrection that have cropped up around the United States over the last year. Last October, a bronze-colored turd appeared on the National Mall, and that same month, in Philadelphia, a crudely gesturing Trump likeness called attention to his infamous "grab them by the pussy" remark. It is unclear whether the artist or artists responsible for the most recent installation also authored these previous works.
Editor's note 9/24/25 12:15pm EST: This article was updated with information about the artwork's removal on Wednesday, September 24.
