President Donald Trump intends to erect a statue of Christopher Columbus on White House grounds.
Three sources with knowledge of his plans told the Washington Post that the 79-year-old president plans to install a reconstructed statue of the controversial explorer that was pulled down in summer 2020 and dumped into Baltimore's harbor after a group of Italian American businessmen and politicians obtained the remnants and had it rebuilt.
“In this White House, Christopher Columbus is a hero,” White House spokesman Davis Ingle told the Post in a statement but declined to comment on the plans. “And he will continue to be honored as such by President Trump.”
Businessman Bill Martin helped recover the remnants of the sculpture, which was unveiled by then-President Ronald Reagan in 1984 and taken down by Black Lives Matter protesters, and organized a campaign to rebuild it.
“It’s not about Columbus ‘discovering America,'" said Martin, who said he and his allies spent more than $100,000 on the recovery and restoration. "It’s about the Italian immigrants who came here and looked to Columbus as a hero,” Martin said.
Trump complained frequently during his first term about the destruction of Columbus statues over his involvement in genocide and enslavement of indigenous people he encountered in the Americas, and administration officials asked to obtain the statue after they learned of efforts to restore it.
“It is such an honor for the Italian American community,” said Nino Mangione, a Republican member of the Maryland House of Delegates who was involved in the recovery effort. “This proves that gangs, thugs, and people of that ilk don’t control things by mob rule. … in America the people rule and our voices are heard.”
