'In Honour of Friendship': Statue of Trump and Epstein holding hands appears outside US Capitol
"We celebrate the long-lasting bond between President Donald J. Trump and his ‘closest friend,’ Jeffrey Epstein," a plaque on the statue read
A spray-painted bronze showing President Donald Trump and disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein holding hands was spotted on the National Mall outside the US Capitol on Tuesday.
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A plaque by the two statues reads “In Honor of Friendship Month”, adding: “We celebrate the long-lasting bond between President Donald J. Trump and his ‘closest friend,’ Jeffrey Epstein.”
Another plaque beneath them quotes a message Mr Trump allegedly wrote as a birthday present for the sex offender over two decades ago.
A series of politically charged sculptures have since emerged in Washington and elsewhere criticising the president for his alleged ties to Epstein. It is not clear which groups have put up the statues.
But it comes as the controversy around Mr Trump’s alleged friendship with the convicted paedophile deepens.
In a letter released by Democrats on the House Oversight Committee on social media last month bears Trump's name and what appears to be his signature, including a text framed by a hand-drawn outline of a curvaceous woman.
The letter reads: "A pal is a wonderful thing. Happy Birthday - and may every day be another wonderful secret."
The president has vehemently denied his ownership of the letter and filed a $10 billion (£7.3 billion) lawsuit against The Wall Street Journal for earlier reporting on his link to it.
The release of the drawing came as the president faces increasing pressure to force more disclosure in the case of Epstein and his former accomplice, Ghislaine Maxwell.
Donald Trump faced numerous questions about the relationship while on the campaign trail ahead of the 2024 US election. He said he would declassify the Epstein files.
But in April, he said he was not sure when the files would be released in full. He later came out swinging, stating that there should be greater priorities.
"It's pretty boring stuff. It's sordid, but it's boring, and I don't understand why it keeps going," Mr Trump said.
"I think really only pretty bad people, including fake news, want to keep something like that going."
The Justice Department in August began turning over records from the Epstein sex trafficking investigation to the House Oversight Committee.
The committee subpoenaed the Epstein estate for documents in August.
In addition to the birthday book, legislators requested Epstein's last will and testament, agreements he signed with prosecutors, his contact books, and his financial transactions and holdings.
Epstein killed himself in a Manhattan jail while awaiting trial in 2019 on charges that said he sexually abused and trafficked dozens of underage girls.
He had been accused of paying underage girls hundreds of dollars in cash for massages and then molesting them, while Maxwell was convicted of luring teenage girls to be sexually abused by him.
Trump's former friendship with Epstein, which the president has said ended two decades ago after a falling-out,