Trump Reportedly Relocates Obama Portrait
President Donald Trump has reportedly moved the official White House portrait of Barack Obama to an area that is generally off-limits to visitors, according to a Sunday CNN report. The painting now hangs at the top of the Grand Staircase, alongside portraits of George H.W. Bush and George W. Bush, making it far less visible to the public during White House tours.
This is the second relocation of Obama’s portrait under Trump’s direction. In April, it was moved to make room for a photograph depicting the immediate aftermath of the July 2024 assassination attempt on Trump in Butler, Pennsylvania.
The portrait’s latest move comes amid renewed scrutiny of the Obama administration’s handling of intelligence during the 2016 election. On July 18, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard released documents and a memo accusing Obama’s national security team of “manufacturing and politicizing” intelligence in what she described as a “years-long coup” against Trump after his victory over Hillary Clinton.
Gabbard followed up days later by announcing she had referred Obama to the Justice Department for potential criminal charges related to the so-called “Russiagate” probe. She alleged that the former president played a central role in shaping the assessment that Russia interfered in the 2016 election to benefit Trump—a claim heavily questioned in the years since.
Special Counsel John Durham’s May 2023 report concluded that the FBI failed to corroborate allegations from the discredited Steele Dossier, which was nonetheless used to obtain surveillance warrants against members of Trump’s campaign, including Carter Page. Former FBI analyst Brian Auten testified in 2022 that the bureau offered dossier author Christopher Steele $1 million to verify its contents, but Steele was unable to do so.
Photo credit: Gage Skidmore via Flickr
