Trump’s administration is moving to put a Christopher Columbus statue replica near the White House after a prior version was removed and vandalized during the racial-justice protests that followed George Floyd’s death, the Associated Press reported. John Pica, a Maryland lobbyist and president of the Italian American Organizations United, said his group owns the statue and has agreed to loan it to the federal government for placement at or near the White House. Pica said the loan agreement was signed Wednesday, and he described the path to an installation as cautious, while noting the schedule could be short.
Pica told the AP that he was contacted around Columbus Day last year by an intermediary who said the White House was looking for a statue of the explorer. He said the organization took a straw vote, unanimously deciding to send the statue to the White House, and that the signed loan agreement formalized that decision. When asked about how soon the statue could arrive, Pica said, “Cautiously optimistic, yes,” adding that exact timing was unclear though it could be “possibly within two weeks.”
Maryland state Del. Nino Mangione, who said he has worked with the Italian American group to find a new home for the statue after it was pulled from Baltimore’s harbor, also confirmed the plans. He said artist Will Hemsley used parts of the old statue—first unveiled during Ronald Reagan’s presidency—to build and restore what Mangione described as a “beautiful, brand new statue.”
The White House declined to comment to the AP on the placement plans, but Trump’s spokesman David Ingle said the administration would keep honoring Columbus. Ingle told the AP, “In this White House, Christopher Columbus is a hero,” adding, “And he will continue to be honored as such by President Trump.” Ingle’s remarks come as the broader legacy of Columbus has shifted in classrooms and public discussions, including over how Columbus and his voyages are taught in relation to the treatment of Native Americans and enslaved Africans.
The AP reported that for Trump, the statue would be another step to reshape the telling of U.S. history as the nation marks the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. For Pica and the Italian American group, Mangione said, the placement in Washington would also serve as a celebration of an explorer who holds iconic status among Italian Americans. Trump has endorsed a traditional view of Columbus as a leader of the 1492 mission that marked what he describes as the unofficial beginning of European colonization in the Americas and the development of the modern economic and political order, and has accused critics of twisting history.
Columbus has been a focal point in monument removals and public protests in recent years. The statue headed to Washington is a replica of one toppled by protesters on July 4, 2020, and thrown into Baltimore’s Inner Harbor after anger boiled over following Floyd’s death. Protesters said Columbus was responsible for the genocide and exploitation of Native peoples in the Americas, and Columbus statues were vandalized in multiple places around that same period, according to the AP.
Mangione and Pica also indicated that the statue may not be permanent. Pica emphasized that his group is lending the statue and would reclaim it if a future administration wanted it taken down. The AP also said Trump has issued a Columbus Day proclamation and has ignored Indigenous Peoples Day, which other leaders—including President Joe Biden in 2021—have marked with proclamations.
Trump has previously criticized what he described as efforts to erase Columbus, dismissing the shift on Columbus as “left-wing arsonists” bending history and twisting Americans’ collective memory. He also has said he was “bringing Columbus Day back from the ashes” and complained that Democrats did everything possible to destroy Columbus’s reputation and the Italians who love him, according to the AP. The AP reported that the administration has tied the monument effort to a broader agenda on how history is presented, including a “Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History” executive order signed last spring that called for rolling back diversity initiatives and prompted a review of exhibits across Smithsonian museums and other federal-funded agencies.
Neither Mangione nor Pica provided a definitive installation date, and the White House did not comment on timing. Pica said only that he was “possibly” looking at a window within two weeks, while describing his overall outlook as “cautiously optimistic.”