Trump unveils new Christopher Columbus statue at White House event

More than a year after ending the Biden-era federal policy of observing Indigenous Peoples Day alongside Columbus Day, President Donald Trump embraced the Italian explorer’s legacy at a White House event on Friday, stating plainly that he had resurrected Christopher Columbus.

Statue Installations and White House Renovations

During the Friday gathering ahead of the Monday Columbus Day holiday, Trump unveiled a second statue of the explorer crafted by the designer of the White House heliport, which is scheduled for placement in the Rose Garden. Attendees were also invited into a White House ballroom currently undergoing construction to walk on a new floor made from imported Italian marble. Trump pointed to a statue installed in March in front of the Eisenhower Executive Office Building in Washington, noting it is a replica of a monument toppled by protesters and thrown into Baltimore’s harbor during 2020 racial justice protests.

“I resurrected Christopher Columbus,” Trump told guests at the event. “They were taking a statue down, everything all over the place, and I put up a beautiful statue of Christopher Columbus right in front of the main office building … right across the street.”

Contested Legacy and Changing Federal Policies

Columbus made landfall in what is now the Bahamas on Oct. 12, 1492, becoming the first of a wave of European explorers to reach the Americas. That arrival ushered in an era of colonization and violence against Native Americans driven by the pursuit of gold, wealth, and people to enslave.

That legacy has fueled decades of controversy. Berkeley, California, became the first city to rename the annual holiday Indigenous Peoples Day in 1991, a step subsequently taken by hundreds of cities nationwide. In 2021, President Joe Biden issued a formal presidential proclamation recognizing Indigenous Peoples Day alongside the federal Columbus Day holiday to celebrate the resilience and sovereignty of Indigenous populations.

Last year, Trump reversed that approach by issuing a proclamation designating the holiday solely as Columbus Day. On Friday, he credited Italian American attendees with rehabilitating the explorer’s name, calling him “perhaps the first ever Italian American” and noting that the naming of the District of Columbia was inspired by him.

Local Battles Over Columbus Monuments

Trump also directed attention toward local disputes involving monuments to the explorer, specifically calling for the restoration of a statue outside City Hall in Columbus, Ohio. Mayor Andrew Ginther ordered that statue removed in 2020 following racial justice protests, maintaining at the time that it represented oppression and division rather than the city’s values.

“We demand that Christopher Columbus be put back into the heart of Columbus, Ohio. We want it back,” Trump said during the event.

That’s why I’m here.”