New Rumor Suggests Donald Trump Removed MLK Jr's Bust From the Oval Office — Is It True?

President Donald Trump is known for courting controversy. Whether he's riling his base up with "Build the Wall!" chants or selling a $5 million gold card citizenship, Trump is and ever has been the type of person to walk his own path and use the "any publicity is good publicity" approach to fame.

But rumors online suggest that Trump has removed an important piece of history from the Oval Office: a bust of MLK Jr., one of the most important voices of the Civil Rights movement. So what's really going on? Surprisingly, this isn't the first time Trump has dealt with this accusation.

On Aug. 28, 1963, Civil Rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. (MLK Jr.) stood up before a crowd in Washington D.C. to proudly proclaim, "I have a dream." The speech he delivered that day before the Lincoln Memorial would ripple through history and set the groundwork for an image of what equality and human progress should look like.

Just five years later, on April 4, 1968, MLK was assassinated.

However, his legacy lives on.

Prominently displayed in a position of respect in the Oval Office, a bust of MLK has gazed out over American leaders for decades.

But in June 2025, BlackPressUSA reported that Trump removed the bust from the Oval Office, instead placing it in Trump's private dining room, located just off the Oval Office. Is there any truth to that?

For now, only BlackPressUSA and The Mirror U.S. are reporting that the bust was moved. It's hard to say whether or not it's true, but shuffling historic items around the White House is a somewhat time-honored tradition so it wouldn't necessarily be outside of the realm of possibility. Especially for Trump, who seems prone to placing controversial historical figures in a place of prominence, like a painting of infamous former President Andrew Jackson (via DailyMail). For now, we believe this is "plausible, but unproven."

This isn't the first time Trump has had to field rumors about shuffling MLK's bust out of a place of respect and into a less visible location. When Trump first took office in 2017 to serve out his first term, rumors spread that the bust had been moved.

Snopes, however, quickly stepped in to disprove the rumor, labeling it "false." According to the fact-finding website, it was later discovered that the reporter who had started the rumor simply missed the bust, later explaining that it was "obscured" from his line of vision.

Given Trump's penchant for controversy and near-worship of questionable historical figures, it's easy to believe rumors such as this at first blush. In 2018, Trump once again reaffirmed observance of MLK Jr.'s birthday as a federal holiday via an Executive Order. But then in January 2025, federal observances of the holiday and others were suspended amid Trump's war on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) policies.

So while Trump may or may not have shuffled the bust this time around, his own reputation is what gives such rumors wings.