President Donald Trump has reportedly moved a portrait of former President Barack Obama to a location out of view of visitors. The portrait is now located at the top of the Grand Staircase alongside portraits of former Presidents George H.W. Bush and George W. Bush.
According to a report from CNN, the area is “heavily restricted to members of the first family, US Secret Service agents, and a limited number of White House and executive residence staff” and is “firmly out of view for any visitor hoping to see the photorealistic Robert McCurdy painting of the former president.”
President Trump also removed the portrait of Obama in April, replacing it with a painting of the president surviving an assassination attempt in Butler, Pennsylvania. Obama’s portrait had previously been placed in the foyer of the State Floor after its unveiling in 2022. The White House confirmed at the time that this shift in placement was made to make room for the new portrait of Trump.
Director of National Intelligence (DNI) Tulsi Gabbard released “overwhelming evidence” last month that the Obama administration “manufactured and politicized intelligence to lay the groundwork for what was essentially a years-long coup against President Trump.”
The declassified documents explain that former homeland security and intelligence officials stated in August 2016 that there was “no indication of a Russian threat to directly manipulate the actual vote count.” The FBI later said in September 2016 that it was “uncomfortable” with the suggestion that there was “definitive information that Russia does intend to disrupt our elections.”
In December 2016, the documents explain, “Deep State officials in the IC” began leaking “blatantly false intelligence to the Washington Post, as proven by the unpublished [President’s Daily Brief] and previous IC products, claiming that Russia used ‘cyber means’ to influence ‘the outcome of the election.’”
