A portrait of President Donald Trump is still missing from thousands of federal offices, according to a Washington Post report.
It’s been almost nine months since Trump took office and pictures of him and Vice President Mike Pence are still not present in federal courthouses, laboratories, military installations, ports of entry and other federal places, The Washington Post reported Monday. Tradition dictates that a picture of the president hangs in the lobbies of federal buildings.
It appears that the reason for the lack of Trump portraits in federal offices stems from the fact that Pence and Trump haven’t set an official time for when they will sit for their official portraits. The Government Publishing Office said they are still waiting for the photos to get sent to them for mass copies, despite federal agencies having ordered new portrait pictures months ago.
“GPO is standing by to reproduce copies of the president and the vice president’s photos for official use in federal facilities and will do so as soon as the official photo files are provided to us,” agency spokesman Gary Somerset told WaPo in an email. “I do not have a timeline on when GPO will receive those files from the White House.”
A White House spokesperson said that once the portraits are finished, they will send them off for the GPO to make mass copies of them.
“All agencies who have requested the President’s portrait have received a photo to display. We’re still in the process of creating the official portrait. Once it’s been produced, the White House photo office will distribute it to all of the agencies and other requests,” Lindsay E Water, a White House spokeswoman sad.
Former President Barack Obama released his portrait a week into his presidency, while former President Bill Clinton waited almost a year to send his out.
Other cabinet heads have declined to hang up their portraits out of deference to the president, choosing to wait until his picture is hung before handing out theirs.
“As soon as the White House official portraits of the President and Vice President are available, the State Department . . . will distribute the White House portraits and the official portrait of the Secretary of State to all offices as well as all posts abroad,” the State Department said.
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