A massive banner featuring Donald Trump’s face now hangs from the exterior of the Justice Department building in Washington, D.C.—the kind of thing you’d expect to see in a country where the leader’s portrait is mandatory in every government office.
The banner, draped between two columns on the building’s corner, reads “Make America Safe Again” and represents the most literal possible display of Trump’s ongoing campaign to exert power over the department that once investigated him.
The Justice Department, apparently without irony, released a statement saying it’s proud to “celebrate 250 years of our great country and our historic work to make America safe again at President Trump’s direction.”
That last part—”at President Trump’s direction”—is doing a lot of work. The Justice Department has traditionally maintained independence from the White House specifically to ensure prosecutions aren’t politically motivated. Attorney General Pam Bondi has abandoned that pretense entirely, positioning herself as the president’s “chief supporter and protector.”
Former FBI Director James Comey, whom the Trump administration charged in a case that was later dismissed, called the banner “sickening to see.” He noted that the administration “forgot to cover the inscription” on the building that reads: “Where law ends tyranny begins.”
The banner comes as the DOJ has launched investigations into a parade of Trump’s perceived enemies: New York Attorney General Letitia James, Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, Democratic lawmakers who urged military members to resist illegal orders, and Minnesota officials who criticized immigration enforcement.
The administration has rejected accusations of weaponizing the Justice Department, claiming the Biden administration politicized law enforcement with the federal criminal cases against Trump—cases that were dropped after he won the 2024 election.
Similar Trump banners have appeared on other federal buildings across Washington, but hanging one on the Justice Department carries particular symbolism: the agency tasked with equal application of the law now features a portrait of the president on its facade, like a courthouse in an authoritarian state.
National Guard members were photographed walking past the banner Thursday, the image looking less like contemporary Washington and more like something from a history book chapter about how democracies fall.