Trump Admin Restores Confederate Statue Torn Down During 2020 Riots In DC
The Trump administration reinstalled a Confederate statue in downtown Washington, D.C., which protesters toppled and burned during the 2020 George Floyd riots.
The National Park Service (NPS) restored the statue of Confederate Gen. Albert Pike to its original location at Third and D streets NW over the weekend, The Washington Post reported. The nearly 30-foot monument now stands behind a chain-link security fence, with National Park Police officers standing guard.
The restoration follows President Donald Trump’s spring executive order creating the “DC Safe and Beautiful Task Force.” The order called for restoring federal monuments “that have been damaged or defaced, or inappropriately moved or altered in recent years.”
Rioters tore down the Pike statue on June 19, 2020, using ropes and chains before setting it on fire. DC police officers watched but did not intervene, according to the Washington Post. The incident occurred weeks after the death of George Floyd, which sparked nationwide protests and riots that led to the removal of about 90 Confederate monuments across the country. (RELATED: California authorities remove iconic statue of Father Junípero Serra)
DC’s only outdoor statue of a Confederate soldier returns to Judiciary Square. https://t.co/WVRln3YyeY
– FOX 5 DC (@fox5dc) October 28, 2025
Trump lambasted Washington DC Mayor Muriel Bowser and the police at the time for failing to protect the statue. “They tore down a 110-year-old statue. A beautiful work of art. In front of a police station with our radical left mayor watching on TV,” Trump said at a rally in Oklahoma. “We’re not happy. It’s going to cost DC a lot of money.”
Democratic Rep. Eleanor Holmes Norton on Monday called the relocation “morally wrong.”
“Confederate statues should be placed in museums as historical objects, not remaining in parks or other places that imply honor,” Norton said in a message.
The statue depicts Pike in civilian clothing rather than a Confederate uniform. The Washington Freemasons erected it in 1901 to honor Pike’s role in their society.
