Construction crews hung a massive poster of President Donald Trump’s face on the facade of the Department of Justice headquarters in Washington, D.C., on Thursday.
Displayed on the corner of the building, the banner reads “Make America Safe Again,” before a black and white portrait of Trump.
The White House did not respond to a request for comment on what message it intends to spread with the new signage, instead referring NOTUS to the Justice Department. The DOJ declined to respond to criticism that the banner sends the message that the agency is no longer independent and impartial.
“We are proud at this Department of Justice to celebrate 250 years of our great country and our historic work to make America safe again at President Trump’s direction,” a spokesperson told NOTUS.
The White House previously displayed Trump’s face on giant banners at the departments of Agriculture and Labor last summer.
Democratic advocacy groups were quick to protest the new DOJ banner as a sign of the president’s influence over the DOJ, which has traditionally operated independently of political influence.
“This is also not the first time Trump has put his face or name on a building to stake claim on an agency, department or even a memorial that really belongs to the American people,” Lisa Gilbert, co-president of the progressive group Public Citizen, said in a statement. “It’s a true mark of a wannabe dictator. These banners, and similar ones displayed on government buildings across the district, should be removed immediately.”
The DOJ targeted the president’s political enemies throughout the first year of Trump’s second term, opening investigations into former FBI Director James Comey, New York Attorney General Letitia James and Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell. Additionally, the DOJ has spent recent months looking into a group of six Democratic lawmakers who made a video advising military service members that they were not required to follow illegal orders.
In a post on X, the bipartisan advocacy group the Democracy Defenders Fund said the new banner is “A visual declaration that justice is whatever he says it is—a weapon or a punishment.”
“Democracies don’t collapse overnight,” the post continued. “They die by 1,000 cuts.”
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