Secret Handshake, the group responsible for the statue, said it took the statue down per the permit.
WASHINGTON — The statue depicting President Donald Trump and disgraced sex offender Jeffrey Epstein as close friends was once again removed from the National Mall. New video shared with WUSA9 shows the statue being taken apart and packed away around 8 p.m. Sunday night.
Secret Handshake, the group responsible for the statue, said it took the piece down this time. The group said it was always their intention to take it down Sunday night, because that was the length of the original permit.
It was a struggle to keep the popular piece of protest art up. Dubbed the “Trump-Epstein friendship statue,” it shows the two holding hands and skipping. The statue’s plaque read, “In honor of friendship month, we celebrate the long-standing bond between President Donald J. Trump and his closest friend Jeffrey Epstein.” It first appeared on the National Mall on Sept. 23, but just one day later, U.S. Park Police hauled it away. Then, on Thursday, it reappeared.
After four days, the statue is gone again. Mike Brown sent WUSA9 a video showing it being taken apart Sunday night. By Monday morning, it was nowhere to be found when a WUSA9 crew returned to the site.
In the video, the statue was removed by a couple of masked people. Brown said they told people to take their last photographs of the statue before it was taken down, but didn’t say who they were.
On Thursday, an anonymous member of the Secret Handshake told WUSA9 they hope it stays up. The member said the group spent a week putting it back together after it was broken and trying to get the statue back on the Mall.
“We are up with the Parks Department knowledge and our permitting ranger’s thumbs up. I hope it remains that way,” the member said on Thursday. “Genuine shout out and thanks to the [NPS] ranger we’ve been working with at the Parks Department. They are a true believer in free speech in the face of a lot of noise.”
The National Park Service’s communications department has been furloughed since Oct. 1 because of the government shutdown, so they haven’t been able to respond to WUSA9’s questions.