Statue of Trump holding hands with Epstein removed from Washington’s National Mall

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By Kanishka Singh

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -A statue depicting President Donald Trump and late financier and sex offender Jeffrey Epstein holding hands and kicking up their heels was removed on Wednesday from the National Mall in Washington, where it had been put on display clandestinely.

The installation, which appeared on Tuesday, featured life-sized, bronze-painted figures of Trump and Epstein standing on white plinths and smiling at each other, each with an arm and a leg raised as if dancing. A plaque revealed the piece’s title as “Best Friends Forever.”

A group called “The Secret Handshake” claimed responsibility for the statue, according to comments NPR and other media said they had received from the group.

“The statue was removed because it was not compliant with the permit issued,” an Interior Department spokeswoman said.

The U.S. Park Police loaded the piece onto a truck before sunrise on Wednesday and hauled it away, according to video posted on social media.

The statue was the latest attempt to use an art installation to embarrass Trump over his one-time friendship with Epstein. Last week, four people were arrested after images of Trump alongside Epstein were projected on Windsor Castle, during the U.S. president’s state visit to Britain.

While acknowledging he knew Epstein socially years ago, Trump has said he had a falling-out with the disgraced financier long before Epstein’s 2019 death in jail.

Earlier this month, Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives made public a birthday note that Trump purportedly wrote to Epstein more than 20 years ago. The letter, whose authenticity the White House denies, includes the line, “May every day be another wonderful secret.”

(Reporting by Kanishka Singh in Washington; editing by Frank McGurty and Bill Berkrot)