Former White House photographer on Obama portrait move: ‘Pretty petty’

Desmond Milligan · August 13

Former chief White House photographer Pete Souza jabbed at President Trump on Tuesday for moving the official portrait of former President Obama from the entryway of the White House to the top of the Grand Staircase.

“According to CNN, the current occupant of the Oval Office has moved the portrait of President Obama from the Grand Foyer (where it should be) to that hidden area at the top of the Grand Staircase. Thus it cannot be seen publicly on White House tours and cannot be seen by the White House staff,” Souza, who was the White House photographer for former Presidents Reagan and Obama, wrote in a post on Instagram.

“Why was this done? Was it because President Obama lives rent free in the current occupant’s head? I’d say that’s pretty petty,” the longtime photographer and frequent critic of Trump continued. “Or could there be another reason?⁣”

Obama’s portrait was moved to the top of the stairs, sitting above the portrait of former President Eisenhower, a White House official told The Hill on Monday. Apart from Obama’s, the portraits of former Presidents George W. Bush and George H. W. Bush have also been moved recently. The area where the portraits are now located is not accessible to the visitors.

Obama’s portrait, by artist Robert McCurdy, was previously moved in April to a different area of the White House and replaced by a painting of Trump raising his fist after being shot in the assassination attempt at a rally in Butler, Pa., in July 2024.

It is not uncommon for presidential portraits to be moved around within the White House as the new administration gets settled, but usually, more recent presidents’ portraits are given placement more visible to the public.

“Some new artwork at the White House,” the White House wrote Monday in a social media post.

Souza, in the Instagram post where he shared a photo of Obama and his wife, former first lady Michelle Obama, coming down the Grand Staircase, said that during “President Obama’s administration, for instance, the portraits of Presidents Bush 43 and Clinton hung in the Grand Foyer.”

“The portraits of President Bush 41, Reagan, Carter, Ford and Kennedy were hung along the Cross Hall,” he wrote. “(I never did figure out where Nixon went.) On the Grand Staircase, shown in this photo, were portraits of Eisenhower and Truman.⁣”

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