President Donald Trump’s plan to build a statue garden celebrating the nation’s heroes for America’s 250th anniversary likely will not be completed before July 4.
The “National Garden of American Heroes” was proposed by Trump in 2020 and again throughout the year, even as Confederate statues were being torn down across the country. The garden was planned to be filled with life-size, classical-style sculptures of former presidents and historical figures, including Rosa Parks, Kobe Bryant and Elvis Presley.
During his second term, Trump canceled millions of dollars’ worth of art grants to fund the garden. His “big, beautiful bill” appropriated $40 million to the Department of the Interior to establish and maintain it.
Despite the funding, efforts to erect the statue garden still haven’t taken off, with sources telling CNN that it’s unlikely that even one statue will be ready before the Fourth of July.
Artists who applied to work on the massive sculptures have warned that the project likely won’t reach the finish line by America’s 250th birthday celebration, as administration officials have gone quiet.
Trump has imagined 250 life-size sculptures in the garden, but the artists say each monument would take months to construct.
Plans for the garden have not been shared with the Commission of Fine Arts or the National Capital Planning Commission, both of which must approve the concept before it can be built.
“It has not been formally reviewed,” a person familiar with the planning efforts told CNN. “Based on my experience in prior approvals in the District, I don’t see how this could be in place in time by July.”
White House officials have been eyeing West Potomac Park as a site for the garden. The park is already home to several landmarks, including the Marin Luther King Jr. Memorial, the Jefferson Memorial and the Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial. It is also a popular spot to view the Cherry Blossom trees each spring.
The administration has hired Michael Franck, a D.C. architect, to advise the project. However, the White House has not yet officially announced the location of the statue garden, and sources warned CNN that its home could change.
One source familiar with the construction plans said they feared the project “will be rammed through without approval” by Congress or the commissions, “as is the case of the White House ballroom.”
The Independent has contacted the White House for comment.
The National Garden of American Heroes was laid out in an 2021 Trump executive order that included nearly 250 names to be turned into ginormous statues, including TV fixtures Julia Child and Alex Trebek, literary icons Emily Dickinson and Edgar Allen Poe, pioneers Amelia Earhart and Sally Ride, sports stars Kobe Bryant and Jackie Robinson, scientists Albert Einstein and Jonas Salk, performers Whitney Houston and Humphrey Bogart, and former presidents Abraham Lincoln and Ronald Reagan.
The garden is not the first major construction project Trump has taken on. Last year, demolition crews started tearing down parts of the East Wing to make way for the planned ballroom.
The $400 million ballroom is being paid for by private donors, including Amazon, Apple and Google, according to a list given to media outlets by the White House.
However, a Republican-appointed judge ordered Trump’s ballroom construction to be halted last week for a second time, drawing ire from the president.
“This highly political Judge, and his illegal overreach, is out of control, and costing our Nation greatly,” Trump wrote in one fiery Truth Social post. “This is a mockery to our Court System! The Ballroom is deeply important to our National Security, and no Judge can be allowed to stop this Historic and Militarily Imperative Project.”
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