The White House reportedly moved the official portraits of former Presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush to a place President Trump and visitors would not see them.
The portraits were pulled out of the Grand Foyer of the White House, where Trump often passes through, within the last week, according to CNN. They were moved into the Old Family Dining Room, a small, rarely used room, which visitors do not normally see.
In a break from the tradition in which the portraits of recent presidents are displayed more prominently, those honoring William McKinley and Theodore Roosevelt, Republican presidents who served more than 100 years ago, have replaced those of Clinton and Bush.
It has also been tradition for a president’s portrait to be unveiled during their successor’s tenure, but it appears unlikely that former President Barack Obama’s portrait will be released during Trump’s first term. Obama’s vice president, Joe Biden, is now running for the presidency.
“You’ve got a president who’s talking about putting the previous one in legal jeopardy, to put it nicely. We have not seen a situation like that in history. It takes antipathy of a new president for a predecessor to a new level,” presidential historian Michael Beschloss told NBC News about the situation with Obama’s portrait unveiling.
