Trump DOJ banner sparks outrage from liberal officials

A banner recently installed at Justice Department headquarters displaying President Donald Trump’s face has drawn criticism from critics, who likened it to authoritarianism and questioned the department’s impartiality.

Prominent Democrats, including Gov. Gavin Newsom of California, and a slew of anti-Trump legal experts spoke out on social media Thursday, saying the banner symbolizes a biased DOJ. The department said the banner, which read “Make America Safe Again,” honored the White House’s efforts to celebrate America’s 250th birthday.

“We are proud at this Department of Justice to celebrate 250 years of our great country and our historic work to make America safe again under the leadership of President Trump,” a DOJ spokesperson told Fox News Digital.

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Workers on an aerial lift check the installation of a new banner depicting an image of U.S. President Donald Trump on the facade of the U.S. Department of Justice headquarters in Washington, DC, February 19, 2026. (Brendan SMIALOWSKI / AFP via Getty Images)

Meanwhile, Newsom called the banner “beyond parody,” while Democratic senators accused the DOJ of using its authority as a weapon to appease the president, who has openly called for prosecution of his political rivals.

“President Trump is weaponizing the DOJ into his own personal law firm,” said Sen. Ben Ray Luján, D-N.M.

Representative Jason Crow, Democrat of Colorado, also weighed in. Federal prosecutors recently failed to obtain an indictment against him after he ordered the military to refuse to follow illegal orders.

California Governor Gavin Newsom attends a bill signing event related to redrawing the state’s congressional maps August 21, 2025 in Sacramento, California. (Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

“The brutality, servility and militarization of our government is frightening,” Crow said. “The Department of Justice works for the American people. They should not be the political henchmen of Donald Trump, or any other president.”

Sen. Andy Kim, D-N.J., said, “The Justice Department is supposed to work for you and represent you, not for itself. »

David Frum, a writer for The Atlantic, said the DOJ was “a pure creature of presidential whim, retaliation and cover-up,” adding that the banner had “at least the virtue of candor.”

Prominent Bill Kristol, who was never Trump, said the banner was “shameful.”

“But in a useful way,” Kristol added. “No one should pretend anymore that we have a ‘Department of Justice.’ We have a Department of Trump.”

Attorney Barbara Comstock, a former U.S. congresswoman from Virginia and high-profile voice of Never Trump, questioned whether the banner was artificial intelligence.

“Nothing says justice is blind like hanging a Dear Leader banner at the DOJ…,” Comstock said.

Others called it a sign of “fascism” and compared it to North Korea, Nazi Germany and the Chinese Community Party.

Larry Pfeiffer, a former longtime intelligence community official, said that “the Pyongyangification of Washington DC continues.”

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Workers hang a large photo of U.S. President Donald Trump on the facade of the Department of Labor headquarters in Washington, DC, August 27, 2025. (Drew Angerer/AFP via Getty Images)

The banner is not the first to be displayed on a federal building in Washington, D.C., as part of the White House’s initiative to honor 250 years since the signing of the Declaration of Independence.

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The Department of Labor has been displaying a similar sign reading “American Workers First” for months.

Republicans had a largely moderate response to the decision to install Trump’s face at the DOJ. Former Trump senior adviser Jason Miller gave him thumbs-up emoticons, while U.S. pardons attorney Ed Martin simply responded: “True.”