A statue of President Trump and Jeffrey Epstein was taken down Wednesday from a site outside the Capitol, despite an approved permit for the structure to remain in place through the weekend.
U.S. Park Police told The New York Times the statue was out of compliance and therefore had to be removed.
Permit regulations give officials the authority to take down displays any time if the applicant is notified of the reason at least 24 hours in advance.
The plaque below the Trump and Epstein statue said it was created to celebrate the “bond” between the two for friendship month.
“We celebrate the long-lasting bond between President Donald J. Trump and his ‘closest friend,’ Jeffrey Epstein,” a quote on a plaque below the display read.
However, the Trump administration rejected the comment.
“Democrats, the media and the organization that’s wasting their money on this statue knew about Epstein and his victims for years and did nothing to help them while President Trump was calling for transparency, and is now delivering on it with thousands of pages of documents,” the White House told the Times in a Wednesday statement.
The White House has been overly critical of narratives aligning Epstein and Trump as close friends in lieu of reporting that suggest the two were confidantes.
A Wall Street Journal article recently unveiled an alleged private letter authored by the president to Epstein that was written in the silhouette of a naked woman.
Trump said his signature was forged on the document and denied writing the piece altogether.
The reports have fueled more protests against Trump, featuring depictions of him with Epstein on sites across the world, including a recent projection on Windsor Castle during his second state visit to the United Kingdom.
