The "Best Friends Forever" statue featuring President Donald Trump and Jeffrey Epstein went on display in front of Busboys and Poets cafe 14th & V in Washington, D.C on Nov. 13, 2025. It was previously put up, then taken down, then put up again on the National Mall.

A statue of President Donald Trump and late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein holding hands is back on display in D.C.

In September, an anonymous group called The Secret Handshake unveiled a 12-foot piece of Trump and Epstein holding hands in a prancing position, with a tongue-in-cheek reference to Friendship Month. The group said the National Park Service toppled, damaged and removed the statue without warning, days before it was scheduled to come down. The Department of the Interior said it was not compliant with the permit, and the statue was eventually returned to the National Mall for a limited time.

On Nov. 13, the day after House Democrats released new emails from Epstein alleging Trump "knew about the girls," the statue was put up at a new home. The group told USA TODAY in an email that the statue will be outside the Busboys and Poets cafe on 14th & V for at least a few days. The cafe did not respond immediately to requests for comment, but posted a picture of the statue on its Instagram story, with the caption "where art & politics collide!"

The statue's organizers told USA TODAY in a statement they hope it will spark conversation following the emails' release.

What was in the recently released Jeffrey Epstein emails?

The House Oversight Committee released thousands of pages of documents from the Epstein estate on Nov. 12. The House Democrats started the day pointing to emails from Epstein where he alleges Trump "knew about the girls," and another saying Trump spent hours with one of the victims.

The release came as Congress reconvened to reopen the government, and a bipartisan effort to force a vote on releasing the Epstein files gained enough signatures.

"These emails prove absolutely nothing other than that President Trump did nothing wrong,” White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said at a Nov. 12 press briefing. Trump also took to Truth Social to call the controversy, as he has before, a hoax.

“The Democrats are trying to bring up the Jeffrey Epstein Hoax again because they’ll do anything at all to deflect on how badly they’ve done on the Shutdown, and so many other subjects,” Trump said. “Only a very bad, or stupid, Republican would fall into that trap.”

Epstein, Trump friendship statue was previously toppled by National Park Service

Controversy over Trump and Epstein had roiled the Trump administration and divided Republicans for months when a statue of the two men by The Secret Handshake was put up on the National Mall. The art installation was intended to prompt conversation about the president's relationship with the late sex offender, the group said.

The Secret Handshake told USA TODAY they are a small group of citizens using art and humor to prompt political discourse. The group had previously erected the so-called "Dictator Approved" piece, an 8-foot-tall sculpture of a hand squashing the crown of the Statue of Liberty while making a thumbs-up gesture; and the "Gold TV statue" multimedia installation, in which a golden TV showed images of Trump dancing, including with Epstein.

A National Park Service permit obtained by USA TODAY shows the Epstein and Trump statue was originally supposed to be on display on the National Mall from Sept. 22 through the evening of Sept. 28. But The Secret Handshake said NPS representatives appeared around 5:30 a.m. Sept. 24, toppled the statue and took it to a government warehouse. Footage shared by the group shows someone identifying himself with NPS telling people behind the camera the statue was not compliant because it is too big, before workers push the statue over.

The organizers said they did not receive any warning and called it "unbelievable." Eventually, the group fixed the statue, and after about a week of working with NPS on the permit, the statue was returned to the National Mall for a limited time.

Contributing: Jennifer Sangalang, USA TODAY Network

Kinsey Crowley is the Trump Connect reporter for the USA TODAY Network. Reach her at KCrowley@usatodayco.com. Follow her on X (Twitter), Bluesky and TikTok.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Like the controversy, the statue of Trump and Epstein holding hands is back in DC

Reporting by Kinsey Crowley and Kathryn Palmer, USA TODAY / USA TODAY

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