A giant banner of President Donald Trump was hung on Thursday outside of the Department of Justice’s headquarters in Washington, D.C., showing the White House’s growing control over the nation’s top law enforcement agency.
The banner is an image of Trump’s White House portrait, tinted blue, with a presidential seal at the bottom. It says, “Make America Safe Again,” marking a symbolic change in the department’s traditional independence from the White House.
“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,” a Justice Department spokesperson told the Washington Examiner.
Similar banners have appeared at other federal department buildings across the city, including the Department of Labor building banner that said “American Workers first” and the Department of Agriculture banner text that read “growing America.”
The Trump banner outside of the Justice Department comes as critics have accused the Trump administration of weaponizing the department, an issue the president campaigned to end in 2024.
Trump accused the Biden administration throughout his 2024 campaign of weaponizing its Justice Department against him. Following his 2020 loss, Trump was indicted four separate times and found guilty on 34 felony counts by a New York jury.
Since coming into office again, the Justice Department has faced numerous accusations of targeting Trump’s perceived enemies.
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The prosecutions include former FBI Director James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James (D), in addition to investigations into Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell and six Democratic lawmakers who recorded a video encouraging service members to disobey illegal military orders.
The Trump Justice Department has repeatedly stated that these prosecutions and investigations are not political, but that the department is course-correcting alleged weaponization under the Biden Justice Department.
