Banner of Donald Trump unfurled at Justice Department headquarters

WASHINGTON, Feb 19 - A banner of U.S. President Donald Trump has been unfurled outside the headquarters of the Justice Department in the latest effort to stamp his identity on a Washington institution.

The blue banner unfurled on Thursday between two columns in a corner of the agency's headquarters includes the slogan: "Make America Safe Again."

Since returning to the White House last year, Trump has moved aggressively to imprint his image and influence on federal institutions.

He has reshaped cultural and policy bodies by installing loyalists, renamed prominent institutions, and sidelined officials linked to past probes, steps critics say blur the lines between political power and traditionally independent government functions.

Banners bearing Trump's image were affixed last year to the Department of Labor, the Department of Agriculture and the U.S. Institute for Peace buildings.

A board of directors appointed by the president voted in December to add Trump's name to the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. Trump's name was also affixed last year to the U.S. Institute of Peace building in Washington.

The White House referred questions about the latest banner to the Justice Department, which did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

In a statement cited by NBC News, a DOJ spokesperson said the department was "proud" to celebrate its "historic work to make America safe again at President Trump's direction."

In 2023, former Justice Department special counsel Jack Smith secured indictments accusing Trump of illegally retaining classified documents following his first term in office and of plotting to overturn his defeat in the 2020 election.

Trump falsely claimed that he won the 2020 election. His supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021, in an unsuccessful attempt to prevent the Congress from certifying the results of that election. After taking office for a second time in January 2025, Trump pardoned the rioters.

Trump denied wrongdoing in the cases against him, calling them politically motivated. Smith dropped both cases against the Republican after Trump won the 2024 election, citing a Justice Department policy against prosecuting a sitting president.

Smith resigned from the Justice Department days before Trump returned to the White House early last year.

The Trump administration's Justice Department has since targeted and fired many officials involved in probes against the Republican leader. REUTERS