Trump-Epstein statue returns to National Mall after removal by NPS

A statue of President Donald Trump and sex offender Jeffrey Epstein holding hands has returned to the National Mall after it was removed by the National Park Service last week.

Called “Best Friends Forever,” the statue shows Trump and Epstein each with a foot kicked back and a hand flailing into the air, as well as a plaque between the pair titled “In Honor of Friendship Month” that reads: “We celebrate the long-lasting bond between President Donald J. Trump and his ‘closest friend,’ Jeffrey Epstein.”

Trump has denied having had a close relationship with Epstein, and has dismissed the controversies surrounding their ties as a “Democratic hoax.”

The statue was put back together by the organization responsible for it, “The Secret Handshake.” It had been dismantled and severely damaged after its ordered removal last week, and there are still visible marks of the damage.

A spokesperson for the Department of the Interior, which oversees NPS, told CNN last week that the statue was removed “because it was not compliant with the permit issued.”

The permit for the statue’s return was approved on September 30, before the federal government shutdown. A member of “The Secret Handshake” told CNN the group was told that the shutdown should not affect the statue’s installation.

A Department of Interior spokesperson responded to CNN’s request for comment from NPS, writing, “The only people holding hands in D.C. right now are (Senate Minority Leader Chuck) Schumer and (House Minority Leader Hakeem) Jeffries after they shut down the government to push their radical agenda.”

“The Secret Handshake” has previously installed other sculptures on the National Mall which went viral. In 2024, the group put up “The Resolute Desk,” a bronze replica of former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s desk – topped with an emoji-like poop the size of a basketball – meant to allude to the January 6 insurrection, when a Donald Trump supporter who stormed the Capitol was infamously photographed with his feet on the desk.

The group also installed a statue in Freedom Plaza titled, “The Donald J. Trump Enduring Flame,” a bronze statue of a tiki torch, which appeared to mock Trump’s defense of the marchers who attended a White supremacist rally in 2017. And it put up the “Dictator Approved” statue, which depicted a golden hand giving a thumbs up and crushing the Statue of Liberty’s crown, on the National Mall.

CNN’s Kaanita Iyer contributed to this report.