The statue of Trump-Epstein returns to the National Mall: NPR

A statue of President Trump jumping hand in hand with the sex offender condemned Jeffrey Epstein returned to the National Mall of DC, more than a week After being suddenly deleted Hours before dawn.

The bronze painted statue, originally entitled Best friends forever But since renowned Why can’t we be friends?Turned the heads when he appeared in front of the American Capitol on September 23. His famous plaque “The lasting link between President Donald J. Trump and his” closest friend “, Jeffrey Epstein”.

Trump sought to minimize his friendship with the financial in disgrace, who died in prison in August 2019. He argued that they had a fall for some time before Epstein was charged with prostitution solicitation in 2006, at least part of Epstein Pouching Employees – Including young women- who worked in Trump’s Mar-A-Lago Spa.

Last week, the White House spokesman Abigail Jackson, said at NPR in a statement that “it is not news that Epstein knew Donald Trump, because Donald Trump had expelled Epstein from his club to be a flap”.

A group called the secret handshake – which was behind others Satirical anti-Trump statues In DC in the past year – has obtained a license from the National Park Service (NPS) to display the friendship statue until September 28, according to the files shared with NPR. But the US Park police transported it on a truck and won before sunrise on September 24, less than a full day after its appearance.

A secret member of the hand handles group, who spoke under the guise of anonymity for fear of reprisals from the Trump administration, told NPR by e-mail at the time that they had not obtained a written notice of 24 hours, as required by the permit.

An interior ministry spokesman told NPR that the statue had been deleted “because it did not comply with the license issued”, but did not specify how. The White House did not answer the NPR questions about the deletion of the statue.

The group was then able to recover the statue – with the torn figures from their pedestals and divided into pieces – and began to try to re -evidence. A week and a failed attempt later, Why can’t we be friends? I returned to the shopping center on Thursday.

“Like a reversed Confederate general forced into a public square, the statue of Donald Trump Jeffrey Epstein is retained from the rubble to stand again on the National Mall,” wrote the member of the secret handshake in an email at NPR.

The statue is authorized to stay in the shopping center until 8 p.m. local time on October 6.

It is in fact the third license that the group received for this statue. At the end of last week, the group told NPR that he had asked for and received a second license to install the repaired statue in the same place. He said they were on their way to the shopping center when the NP suddenly revoked their license by phone “without explanation”. It prompted the group to release 3D printed versions online statue.

NPR contacted NPS to comment but did not hear in publication time. The federal government has closed its cases since last week’s events, putting Thousands of agency employees On leave.

The Trump administration continues to face calls to release the “Epstein files“A mine of documents of various Epstein surveys that the candidate of the time had sworn to release if it is re -elected. His refusal to do so caused criticism and pressures of the congress, with the chamber supervision committee, assignment – and publication – Thousands of pages of documents of documents of documents of documents of documents In his own investigation.

A NPR / PBS News / Marist Survey published Wednesday noted that 61% of Americans disapprove of Trump management of Epstein files, with 77% in favor of their release with the names of the victims abolished.