Trump places Columbus statue near White House

President Trump has placed a statue of the explorer Christopher Columbus, an increasingly controversial figure, near the White House.

In a Sunday press release, the Conference of Presidents of Major Italian American Organizations (COPOMIAO) said that the statue, a replica of one that originally stood in Baltimore, “now stands on the White House grounds in celebration of Italian American history and culture.”

White House spokesperson Davis Ingle said in a statement to The Hill that “the White House is proud to honor Christopher Columbus’s legendary life and legacy with a well-deserved statue on the White House grounds.”

In 2020, the Columbus statue in Maryland was torn down and tossed into the city’s Inner Harbor by protesters, according to The Baltimore Sun.

While seen as an icon for some in the Italian-American community, Columbus’s legacy has come under intense scrutiny over how his arrival in the Americas set in motion centuries of European colonialism as well as the harsh treatment of Indigenous people on the continent.

“President Trump has rightly hailed Christopher Columbus as ‘the original American hero, a giant of Western civilization, and one of the most gallant and visionary men to ever walk the face of the earth,'” Ingle said in a statement. “In this White House, Christopher Columbus is a hero, and President Trump will ensure he’s honored as such for generations to come.”

COPOMIO’s press release also included a Sunday letter from President Trump himself, stating that the statue “is now residing on the north side of the Eisenhower Executive Office Building on the White House campus.”

Last month, it was reported that the Trump administration was moving toward erecting the Columbus statute on White House grounds. Earlier last year, Trump signed a proclamation “bringing back” Columbus Day after former President Biden was the first president to acknowledge Indigenous Peoples Day with an official proclamation.

“They tore down his Statues, and put up nothing but ‘WOKE,’ or even worse, nothing at all!” Trump said in April 2025 on social media. “Well, you’ll be happy to know, Christopher is going to make a major comeback. I am hereby reinstating Columbus Day under the same rules, dates, and locations, as it has had for all of the many decades before!”

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