Trump has banished the official portraits of former Presidents Barack Obama George H.W. Bush and George Bush to a secluded stairwell far from visitors’ eyes, according to a new report.
It is tradition for the portraits of the two most recent presidents to greet White House visitors at the Grand Foyer. But Obama is now tucked into a corner atop the Grand Staircase, the landing that marks the entry to the private residence, CNN reported.
The portraits of former Presidents George H.W. Bush and his son, George W. Bush, have been moved to the same area, sources familiar with the matter told CNN.
Now, only those permitted into the heavily restricted area — presidential family members, U.S. Secret Service Agents and a smattering of staffers — will see Obama’s portrait. It has been White House protocol since the 1960s to prominently display the portraits of recent presidential predecessors, according to the White House Historical Association.
Trump had already moved Obama’s portrait once, in April, to the wall opposite its initial spot in the foyer near the staircase. He replaced it with a painting of himself raising his fist skyward after the 2023 assassination attempt against him in Butler, Pennsylvania.
The move displaced the portrait of former President George W. Bush, which was then hung closer to his father’s likeness, on the Grand Staircase.
All three former presidents have spoken out against Trump’s policies, sparking his ire. In June, in a rare move, Obama and George W. Bush openly criticized the Trump administration for dismantling the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). The elder Bush, who died in 2018, referred to Trump as a “blowhard” in Mark K. Updegrove’s biography, “The Last Republicans.”
With News Wire Services
Originally Published:
