United States President, Donald Trump, has unveiled a new feature outside the West Wing of the White House, a “Presidential Walk of Fame” lining the colonnade with portraits of past commanders-in-chief.
Margo Martin, special assistant to the president and communications adviser, announced the addition on Wednesday in a post on X, sharing a video that displayed black-and-white presidential portraits in gold frames along the walkway.
But one particular display quickly drew attention: instead of President Joe Biden’s portrait, a framed photograph of an autopen was used.
Trump has frequently mocked Biden’s reliance on the autopen, CNN reported, and in June directed an inquiry into its use in a memorandum citing Biden’s “cognitive decline.”
Responding at the time, Biden rejected the claims in Trump’s memo. “Let me be clear: I made the decisions during my presidency. I made the decisions about the pardons, executive orders, legislation, and proclamations. Any suggestion that I didn’t is ridiculous and false,” he said in a statement.
A spokesperson for Biden declined to address the newly installed colonnade display.
Trump had earlier hinted that his predecessor would not receive the same treatment as other presidents. In a Daily Caller interview, when asked if Biden would have a portrait, Trump replied, “We’ll put up a picture of the autopen.”
Reporters noticed preparations for the project earlier this week, including a gold banner inscribed with “Presidential Walk of Fame” and brown paper squares covering parts of the wall.
The move has prompted reactions online. “Continually impressed at how laser-focused the White House continues to be on Trump’s Day One promise to lower prices and all the steps they’re taking to make life easier for families struggling to get by,” Chris Meagher, a former deputy press secretary under Biden, wrote on X in response to the redecoration.
In his June directive, Trump tasked the White House counsel, working with Attorney General Pam Bondi and other agency heads, to determine whether “certain individuals conspired to deceive the public about Biden’s mental state and unconstitutionally exercise the authorities and responsibilities of the President.”
The order also instructed that the review cover “any activity, coordinated or otherwise, to purposefully shield the public from information regarding Biden’s mental and physical health” as well as “any agreements between Biden’s aides to cooperatively and falsely deem recorded videos of the President’s cognitive inability as fake.”
The memorandum further demanded a review of “the policy documents for which the autopen was used, including clemency grants, Executive Orders, Presidential memoranda, or other Presidential policy decisions.”
Biden’s aides have denied orchestrating any concealment of his condition during the later years of his administration.
During a March press gaggle aboard Air Force One, Trump also criticized his predecessor’s reliance on the device. “I never use it,” he said. “I mean, we may use it, as an example, to send some young person a letter, because it’s nice. … But to sign pardons and all of the things that (Biden) signed with an autopen is disgraceful.”
Trump is no stranger to reshaping presidential imagery at the White House. He has previously shifted portraits of Barack Obama and George W. Bush and even swapped Hillary Clinton’s portrait for one of himself.
Beyond the colonnade, Trump has also turned his attention to the Rose Garden. Over the summer, he redesigned the historic space by paving the grass with marble and stone, installing new lighting and sound systems, and transforming it into a “Rose Garden Club” reminiscent of his Mar-a-Lago estate.
According to a White House official, the president will host a Rose Garden Club dinner on Wednesday evening, bringing together Cabinet members and senior staff. The gathering will also serve as the first chance for attendees to view Trump’s latest addition to the West Wing walkway.
