Donald Trump Installs New Gold Letters Outside the Oval Office

Golden letters have now been affixed to the exterior of the White House, marking the entrance to the Oval Office.

President Donald Trump first hinted at the change in early November, when staff taped temporary paper letters reading “The Oval Office” to the wall outside the West Wing. At the time, it wasn’t clear whether he planned to make the display permanent.

Roughly a month later, new photographs showed that the paper mock-up had been replaced by permanent gold lettering in the same font, mounted on the West Wing facade. The sign is positioned just outside the exterior door that links the Oval Office to the Rose Garden.

The gleaming Oval Office sign mirrors the style of the gold letters used for Trump’s “Presidential Walk of Fame” in the nearby West Colonnade.

Unveiled in September, the Presidential Walk of Fame lines another edge of the Rose Garden with gold-framed portraits of past U.S. presidents, arranged in chronological order — with one notable exception: former President Joe Biden’s portrait is absent.

After a contentious rivalry between Trump and Biden as opponents in the presidential race, Trump leaned on the Walk of Fame installation to cast doubt on the legitimacy of Biden’s actions in office. In the spot where Biden’s portrait would normally appear, Trump, 79, instead placed an image of an autopen — a device long used by presidents to mechanically reproduce their signatures on documents.

Trump has repeatedly accused Biden’s staff of abusing an autopen to sign executive orders without Biden’s direct approval, accusations that Biden has denied.

On Dec. 2, Trump escalated his criticism by declaring that every document signed with an autopen during Biden’s presidency is “null” and “void,” including presidential pardons, executive orders, contracts and other legal records.