Trump moves Obama, Bush portraits to hidden stairwell
Once a dramatic feature of the White House entryway, the official portrait of former U.S. president Barack Obama has been moved to a decidedly less prominent position, underscoring the yearslong tensions between the 44th and 47th presidents.
Portraits of other recent predecessors with whom U.S. President Donald Trump has a contentious relationship, former president George W. Bush and his father, George H. W. Bush, have also been moved.
Trump directed staff to move the Obama portrait to the top of the Grand Staircase, two sources familiar with the matter told CNN, where it will now be out of view from thousands of visitors who tour the White House each day. One of the sources added that the portraits of both Bushes are also now in the staircase area.
George W Bush portrait
Former U.S. president George W. Bush's White House portrait is seen at left, as members of the U.S. Marine Band play holiday music during a press tour of White House Christmas decorations in November 2021. (Jonathan Ernst/Reuters/File via CNN Newsource)
Multiple sources have said that the president is directly involved with nearly everything that is done to the aesthetic of the White House, big or small.
CNN obtained a photo of the Obama portrait hanging at the top of the stairwell in a corner, at the landing of the entrance to the private residence. That area is heavily restricted to members of the first family, US Secret Service agents, and a limited number of White House and executive residence staff. It is firmly out of view for any visitor hoping to see the photorealistic Robert McCurdy painting of the former president, a source familiar with the matter confirmed.
It's not the first time the Obama painting has been repositioned. In April, the Obama portrait was moved across the Grand Foyer of the White House and replaced with a painting of an iconic scene of Trump surviving an assassination attempt in Butler, Pa.
White House protocol and precedent calls for portraits of the most recent American presidents to be given the most prominent placement, in the entrance of the executive mansion, visible to guests during official events and visitors on tours.
A portrait of former U.S. president Joe Biden has not yet been completed.
The portrait maneuvers marks Trump's latest slight against a perceived political rival.
It comes as tensions between the Trump and Obama have escalated in recent months. Trump recently accused Obama and members of his administration of committing treason during the 2016 election, prompting a rare statement from his predecessor, whose office called the claims 'outrageous,' 'bizarre,' and 'a weak attempt at distraction.'
The president's attorney general, Pamela Bondi, subsequently ordered prosecutors to begin a grand jury probe into allegations that top Obama administration officials manufactured intelligence about Russia's interference in the 2016 election.
There have also been long-simmering tensions between Trump and the Bush family. The elder Bush, who died in 2018, called Trump a 'blowhard' in a biography and voted for Hillary Clinton in the 2016 election. George W. Bush, who Trump has attacked as a 'failed and uninspiring' president, and former first lady Laura Bush, attended the president's 2025 inauguration but did not attend the post-ceremony luncheon.
CNN has reached out to the White House and the White House Historical Association for comment. A spokesperson for Obama's office declined to comment.
During Trump's first term, he replaced portraits of Bill Clinton and George W. Bush in the Grand Foyer, choosing instead to highlight William McKinley and Theodore Roosevelt.
Privately funded by the nonprofit White House Historical Association, the formal tradition of the presidential portrait came to be in the early 1960s under first lady Jacqueline Kennedy, according to former White House curator Betty Monkman. Prior to that, there had been a relatively 'haphazard' policy, Monkman said in a 2017 podcast for the association, with the portraits being funded by Congress or commissioned by friends – or by the president himself.
In the modern era of White House portraits, presidents and first ladies have invited their predecessors, former staff and friends and family for unveiling ceremonies.
'It's a statement of generosity on the current president and first lady to invite all these people from an outgoing administration,' Monkman said, recalling a ceremony during the Johnson administration for Eleanor Roosevelt's portrait unveiling.
Betsy Klein, Kristen Holmes, CNN
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