A White House assistant approached the office of the governor of South Dakota to inquire about the process of adding additional presidents to Mount Rushmore, it was alleged.
The request was made last year, a Republican official told The New York Times.
The White House, when asked about the request, did not deny that it took place, and instead replied that it was a federal, not state monument.
Donald Trump first raised the prospect of having his face cut on the historic side, shortly after he took office in January 2017.
Kristi Noem, who was a Congresswoman representing South Dakota at the time, said he pushed the idea during that first meeting.
‘He said,’ Christ, come here. Shake my hand, ” Call back.
‘I shook his hand, and I said,’ Mr President, you should come to South Dakota sometimes. We have Mount Rushmore. ‘
‘And he goes, “Do you know that it is my dream to have my face on Mount Rushmore?” ‘
Donald Trump, pictured at Mount Rushmore on July 4, has long debated adding himself
The July 4 rally was a triumph for Governor Kristi Noem, who took a long time to try
Noem said she thought he was joking.
“I started laughing,” she said. “He didn’t laugh, so he was completely serious.”
Later that year, Trump took it up again – this time in public, at a rally in Youngstown, Ohio, in July.
‘I would ask if you think I’ll be on Mount Rushmore someday, but here’s the problem: if I’m kidding, joking, having fun, the fake news media will say’ he thinks he should be on Mount Rushmore ,’ he said.
‘I will not say that, OK? I will not say it. ‘
Maureen McGee-Ballinger, public information officer at Mount Rushmore, told The Argus Leader that workers are being asked every day if one president can be added.
For years, people have suggested Franklin Roosevelt, John F. Kennedy and Ronald Reagan, among others. A website has been set up advocating for Obama.
McGee-Ballinger said it was impossible.
‘There is no more carvable space on the sculpture,’ she said.
Trump sees jets fly over to celebrate July 4 in South Dakota
Mount Rushmore spokeswoman Maureen McGee-Ballinger said there was no more carvable space
‘If you look at the sculpture, it appears that there may be some space next to Washington or right next to Lincoln.
‘You’re either looking at the rock that lies outside the sculpture (on the right), which is an optical illusion, or on the left, that is not carvable. ‘
Mount Rushmore was started in 1927, and never completed. The work ended with the death of sculptor Gutzon Borglum in 1941.
Noem, who was elected the first female governor of South Dakota in 2018, had long hoped that Trump would visit her state for the July 4 fireworks display on the spot.
When he did, she presented him this year with a four-foot replica of the site, which included his image cut out alongside George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt and Abraham Lincoln.
Noem was rewarded for her efforts with a trip on Air Force One after the July 4 event.
However, the attention led to rumors that the 48-year-old had her eye on Mike Pence’s job as vice president.
Noem directed the crowd to the July 4 Rally, praising the president for the job he did
Noem, 48, is a rising star in the Republican Party and is rumored to be in a cabinet role
Three weeks later, Noem flew to Washington DC to meet with Pence and, the paper told him, trusted him that she was not interested in his job.
There is no suggestion that Trump is looking to replace him.
Yet Noem is seen as a rising star in the Republican Party.
The governor has set up a TV studio in her state capital, become a regular Fox News and began taking advice from Trump’s former campaign manager, Corey Lewandowski, who still has the president’s ear.
Next month, she will address a provincial dinner in Iowa.
“It looks like there may be some interest on their part – it’s definitely being noticed,” said Jon Hansen, a Republican state representative in South Dakota, about Noem’s positioning for national bureau.
Lewandowski said Noem was a star who has an enormous future in Republican politics. ‘
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