The Department of Justice has reportedly spent nearly a million dollars hanging giant banners featuring President Donald Trump’s face on its headquarters in Washington, D.C.
The DOJ is based out of the Robert F Kennedy Department of Justice Building.
The department reportedly signed a contract for the banners in January for an “RFK Beautification Project” that included cleaning the building’s exterior walls, upgrading its exterior lighting, and hanging the Trump-visaged “Celebratory Banners,” according to records obtained by Politico.
The DOJ spent a total of $892,192.07 on the project, according to the documents. An additional $54,768 was spent on the project under a “supplemental agreement” this week, the records show.
The line items showing exactly how much money the department spent on the Trump banners were redacted, according to Politico. The DOJ cited the protection of “trade secrets” to justify the redaction.
“The banners were part of a broader beautification project for the historic RFK building, executed under an existing DOJ construction contract,” a DOJ spokesperson told the outlet. “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.”
The DOJ’s headquarters isn’t the only building in the nation’s capital that’s sported Trump’s face on its exterior. The first of the banners — which has since been removed — was hung at the Department of Agriculture earlier this year. That banner hung near another one depicting Abraham Lincoln and cost the agency $16,400.
The president has also been trying to add his name to various Washington, D.C. sites. He added — and was then forced to remove — his name to the Kennedy Center, and slapped his moniker on the outside of the U.S. Institute of Peace.
Trump’s banners were produced by Llorente Enterprises, based in nearby Alexandria, Virginia. In addition to his face, the banners outside the DOJ include the phrase “MAKE AMERICA SAFE AGAIN.”
Senator Adam Schiff, who is critical of the president and the banners, has been investigating agencies using the images.
He said in a statement last week that he found a $39,000 contract for the Department of the Interior’s banners that feature Trump alongside George Washington.
The senator said the banners were a waste of public tax dollars.
“Not only is this a terrible waste of Americans’ hard-earned money, it is clearly against the law,” he said. “Congress has long outlawed spending tax dollars on propaganda and self-aggrandizement and an eight-story-high Donald Trump head certainly qualifies as propaganda.”
