President Donald Trump hosted a Columbus Day celebration at the White House on Friday, renewing his push to honor the Italian explorer amid years of debate over his legacy. The 11 a.m. event took place in the East Room, according to the White House's published Friday schedule.
The event comes months after Trump installed a 13-foot statue of Christopher Columbus on White House grounds — a replica of a monument that protesters toppled and threw into Baltimore's harbor in 2020. Trump signed a proclamation this week declaring October 13 to be observed nationally as Columbus Day, pushing back against recent efforts to redesignate the observance as Indigenous Peoples' Day.
The White House celebration is part of a busy Friday for the president: his schedule also includes a swearing-in ceremony for the Secretary of Labor and policy meetings before he departs for Syracuse, New York, where he delivers evening remarks at The Oncenter. On Saturday he travels to Tuscaloosa for the Georgia-vs.-Alabama football game.
The Columbus Day push lands alongside other brewing Washington fights: a federal judge held arguments Thursday over the administration's revocation of White House press passes for CNN, MS NOW and Politico, with a ruling expected by Tuesday, and the judge extended temporary court-ordered access for the outlets in the meantime.
