President Trump is preparing to install a statue of Christopher Columbus on the White House grounds, according to a report published Wednesday.
The statue will be located on the south side of the White House campus, just north of the ellipse, The Washington Post reported, citing three anonymous sources familiar with the plans.
A White House spokesman told The Washington Times that he had nothing to share about a statue, but reiterated Mr. Trump’s respect for the Italian explorer credited with discovering America.
“In this White House, Christopher Columbus is a hero. And he will continue to be honored as such by President Trump,” the spokesman, Davis Ingle, told the Times.
The statue Mr. Trump selected is reportedly a reconstruction of one unveiled in Baltimore by President Ronald Reagan in the 1980s and dumped into the city’s harbor by protesters in 2020 as part of the protests for racial equality following George Floyd’s death.
A group of Italian American businessmen and politicians recovered the destroyed pieces from the harbor and rebuilt it with financial support from local charities and federal grants.
Bill Martin, one of those businessmen, organized the reclamation campaign. He told the Post that the piece will be transferred from a warehouse on Maryland’s Eastern Shore to the Trump administration over the next few weeks.
If the statue is restored, it would be the latest move by the Trump administration to honor the explorer, whose legacy has touched off a cultural debate. Critics have blasted Columbus, accusing him of genocide and violently colonizing the Americas, enslaving and devastating the American Indian population.
Some states have stopped celebrating Columbus Day on Oct. 12, which honors the explorer’s 1492 voyage to America that opened trade routes with Europe. Instead, they celebrate Indigenous Peoples’ Day, something that President Joseph R. Biden started recognizing in 2021.
Mr. Trump is an outspoken defender of the Columbus legacy, saying he was dishonored and unfairly maligned by “left-wing arsonists.”
“Outrageously, in recent years, Christopher Columbus has been a prime target of a vicious and merciless campaign to erase our history, slander our heroes, and attack our heritage. Before our very eyes, left-wing radicals toppled his statues, vandalized his monuments, tarnished his character, and sought to exile him from our public spaces,” Mr. Trump said in a proclamation last year honoring Columbus Day.
“Under my leadership, those days are finally over — and our Nation will now abide by a simple truth: Christopher Columbus was a true American hero, and every citizen is eternally indebted to his relentless determination,” the president added.
Mr. Trump included Columbus among the heroes he wants honored for his proposed National Garden of American Heroes, which is aimed to highlight people who symbolize “the American spirit of daring and defiance, excellence and adventure, courage, and confidence, loyalty and love.”
