By Brad Ulery and Daphne Psaledakis
WASHINGTON, March 30 (Reuters) - A large throne with a golden toilet has been placed on the National Mall in Washington in a critique of U.S. President Donald Trump's renovations to the White House.
Styled to look like marble and gold, the throne features a toilet instead of a seat and a plaque that reads, "A Throne Fit for a King."
"In a time of unprecedented division, escalating conflict, and economic turmoil, President Trump focused on what truly mattered: remodeling
the Lincoln bathroom in the White House," reads a plaque on the throne. "It stands as a tribute to an unwavering visionary who looked down, saw a problem and painted it gold."
Trump has pursued extensive renovations of the White House and Washington more broadly since returning to office last year. In addition to renovating the bathroom off the Lincoln Bedroom, he has added a wide array of gilding to the Oval Office, knocked down the East Wing of the White House to build a ballroom and is planning to redevelop the Kennedy Center performing arts venue.
White House spokesperson Davis Ingle said in an emailed statement that Trump was "making the White House and our entire Nation’s Capital more beautiful than ever before."
"The president will never stop working on behalf of the American people and fulfill the promises that he was overwhelmingly elected to do," Ingle said in response to a request for comment on the throne.
The statue includes a roll of toilet paper that reads "The Secret Handshake." A group by that name claimed responsibility for a previous statue depicting Trump and late financier and sex offender Jeffrey Epstein holding hands, according to U.S. media. Reuters could not immediately reach the group.
The National Park Service, which manages the National Mall, had no immediate comment.
(Reporting by Brad Ulery; Writing by Daphne Psaledakis; editing by Scott Malone and Rod Nickel)
