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A newly installed banner at the Department of Justice headquarters displaying President Donald Trump‘s face sparked criticism from detractors, 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 weighed in on social media Thursday, saying the banner symbolized 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 anniversary.
“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 at President Trump’s direction,” a DOJ spokesperson told Fox News Digital.
Workers on an aerial lift check their installation of a new banner featuring an image of U.S. President Donald Trump on the facade of the US Department of Justice headquarters building in Washington, DC, on February 19, 2026. (Brendan SMIALOWSKI / AFP via Getty Images)
Meanwhile, Newsom called the banner “beyond parody,” while Democratic senators accused the DOJ of weaponizing its authority to appease the president, who has openly called for the prosecution of his political rivals.
“President Trump is weaponizing the DOJ as his own personal law firm,” Sen. Ben Ray Luján, D-N.M., said.
Rep. Jason Crow, D-Colo., also chimed in. Federal prosecutors recently failed to secure an indictment against him after he instructed military members to refuse to follow illegal orders.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom looks on during a bill signing event related to redrawing the state’s congressional maps on August 21, 2025 in Sacramento, California. (Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)
“The grift, groveling, and weaponization of our government is chilling,” Crow said. “The Justice Department works for the American people. They shouldn’t be political henchmen for Donald Trump–or any other President.”
Sen. Andy Kim, D-N.J., said: “The Department of Justice is supposed to work for and represent you, not him.”
David Frum, a writer for The Atlantic, said the DOJ was a “a pure creature of presidential whim, retribution, and cover-up,” adding the banner had “the virtue of candor at least.”
Prominent never-Trumper Bill Kristol said the banner was “shameful.”
“But in a way useful,” Kristol added. “No one should any longer pretend we have a “Department of Justice.” We have a Department of Trump.”
Attorney Barbara Comstock, a former Virginia U.S. congresswoman and high-profile Never Trump voice, asked if the banner was artificial intelligence.
“Nothing says Justice is Blind like hanging a Dear Leader Banner at 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 the “Pyongyangification of Washington DC continues.”
EX-JUDGES BLAST TOP TRUMP DOJ OFFICIAL FOR DECLARING ‘WAR’ ON COURTS
Workers hang a large photo of US President Donald Trump on the facade of the Department of Labor headquarters building in Washington, D.C., on Aug. 27, 2025. (Drew Angerer/AFP via Getty Images)
The banner is not the first to unfurl on a federal building in Washington, D.C., as part of the White House initiative to honor 250 years since the signing of the Declaration of Indendence.
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The Department of Labor has for months prominently featured a similar sign reading “American Workers First.”
Republicans had a largely muted response to the move to install Trump’s face on the DOJ. Jason Miller, Trump’s former senior adviser, gave it thumbs-up emojis, while U.S. Pardon Attorney Ed Martin simply said, “True.”
