Trump Reinstalls Confederate Statue Toppled During 2020 Riots

The Trump administration has reinstated the bronze statue of Confederate Gen. Albert Pike in Washington, D.C.—five years after it was torn down, spray-painted, and set on fire during the chaos of the 2020 riots.

The 11-foot-tall statue, which sits atop a 16-foot granite pedestal in Judiciary Square, was returned to its original location this past weekend under orders from the National Park Service (NPS). The move follows a federal directive from President Trump to restore all historic monuments that were vandalized or removed amid the unrest that swept across the nation following the death of George Floyd.

The Pike statue was toppled on June 19, 2020—Juneteenth—by a mob of demonstrators who used ropes to pull it down before setting it ablaze. The scene became one of the most viral moments of that summer’s riots, with flames lighting up the night sky near downtown Washington as police stood by.

At the time, the statue was targeted because of Pike’s ties to the Confederacy, despite the monument itself being commissioned not to celebrate his military service but his role as a Freemason leader. Still, protesters claimed it was a “symbol of systemic racism,” leaving the burned-out base covered in graffiti for months until the remains were finally hauled away.

Albert Pike (1809-1891) statue at Judiciary Square, Washington. 16 June 2007

In August, the NPS confirmed that it would comply with an executive order signed by President Trump directing federal agencies to restore all historic monuments destroyed during the 2020 riots. The agency cited obligations under the National Historic Preservation Act and the federal “Beautify America” initiative, which Trump reinstated earlier this year to revitalize public spaces and restore pride in the nation’s capital.

“The restoration aligns with federal responsibilities under historic-preservation law and recent executive orders to beautify the nation’s capital and restore pre-existing statues,” NPS said in a statement.

The move, however, has reignited sharp criticism from Democratic officials in Washington. D.C. Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton blasted the decision.

“The decision to honor Albert Pike by reinstalling the Pike statue is as odd and indefensible as it is morally objectionable,” Norton said. “Pike served dishonorably. He took up arms against the United States, misappropriated funds, and was ultimately captured and imprisoned by his own troops. He resigned in disgrace after committing a war crime and dishonoring even his own Confederate military service. Even those who want Confederate statues to remain standing would have to justify awarding Pike any honor, considering his history.”

“Given the NPS announcement that it will reinstall the statue, I plan to reintroduce my bill to remove the Pike statue and authorize the Secretary of the Interior to donate the statue to a museum or a similar entity. A statue honoring a racist and a traitor has no place on the streets of D.C.”

Albert Pike was a lawyer, writer, and Freemason philosopher who briefly served as a brigadier general for the Confederacy during the Civil War. After the war, he became one of the most influential Masonic leaders in U.S. history and authored Morals and Dogma of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite of Freemasonry, a foundational text in Masonic tradition.

The original monument—designed by Italian sculptor Gaetano Trentanove—depicts Pike in civilian dress, holding a scroll to symbolize knowledge and learning rather than warfare.