Yet another statue of Donald Trump has appeared in Washington, D.C., this one featuring the President dancing with Jeffrey Epstein, the convicted sex offender whose ties to Trump have been the subject of scrutiny from people on seemingly every part of the political spectrum.
Sculpted from wood, foam, and resin, the work was created by the same artists behind several other Trump-related statues that have appeared near the Capitol, including one resembling a golden television with an eagle atop it. It comes with three plaques, one of which reads: “In the United States of America you have the freedom to display your so-called ‘art,’ no matter how ugly it is. — The Trump White House, June 2025.”
Titled The Secret Handshake, the statue of Trump and Epstein is designed to look like a monument and features the two men smiling as they hold hands and twirl. The artists who produced the work declined to identify themselves to ARTnews, asking only to collectively be called the Secret Handshake.
“We like the idea that September is unofficially called Friendship Month,” said a representative for the artists behind the piece, speaking under the pseudonym Patrick. “We felt that Trump had quite a few friends throughout his life. One of his friends was Jeffrey Epstein, so we wanted to celebrate that with a statue of what that friendship might feel like.”
Asked about the meaning of the piece, the representative said, “There’s a lot of uproar on the left and the right about releasing the Epstein files. We have nothing to do with that. The information about their bond that’s public says a lot.”
The statue measures 12 feet tall and comes with a plaque that quotes from the birthday message Trump reportedly wrote Epstein. In a form shaped like a nude female body, typewritten text reads, in part, “A pal is a wonderful thing. Happy Birthday—and may every day be another wonderful secret.” Beneath those words appear Trump’s signature.
Trump has denied writing the message to Epstein, despite the New York Times noting close similarities between Trump’s signature and the one that appears at the end of the note. Trump sued the Times over its reporting on the Epstein message, though the action was dismissed not long after it was filed. The White House said Trump “did not draw this picture, and he did not sign it.”
The artists’ representative said, “These two people had an affinity for each other, and they also seemingly had an affinity for abusing women in different their ways. Maybe that was their bond, maybe it wasn’t. But they have been pretty reliably accused of similar things.”
Asked if the work was intended to resemble a monument, the representative said, “What is more monumental than Donald Trump?”
The Secret Handshake.
Courtesy the Secret Handshake
The Secret Handshake arrived the week after another statue depicting Trump. That statue featured the President holding a Bitcoin and was mounted by a group of crypto investors who hoped “to ignite conversation about the future of government-issued currency.”
Though the Bitcoin statue is also 12 feet tall and also resembles a monument, the makers of The Secret Handshake denied having anything to do with that work.
