At a time when the U.S. Department of Agriculture was slashing aid to schools and food banks in the name of fiscal responsibility, newly confirmed Secretary Brooke Rollins elected to spend thousands of dollars to purchase massive banners of President Donald Trump, one of which now hangs outside her department’s headquarters in Washington, DC, according to documents obtained by Salon.
In May, visitors to the nation’s capital noticed two, 31-foot additions to the USDA’s building on Independence Avenue, ostensibly intended to mark its 163rd anniversary: a banner featuring President Abraham Lincoln, who signed the bill creating the department, and another featuring Trump, both featuring the tagline: “Growing America Since 1862.”
Rollins, who cofounded the America First Policy Institute with Education Secretary Linda McMahon, was confirmed as Agriculture secretary in a 72-28 vote this past February. In a post on X, she noted the installation of the banners, which was captured by a USDA staff photographer: “163 years after Lincoln founded @USDA, President Trump’s bold vision is ushering in a Golden Age for our farmers.”
The banners were printed and installed by a Maryland-based contractor, Timsco Graphics, at a cost of $16,400, per a work order that Salon received in response to a Freedom of Information Act request. While only two banners are presently hanging outside the USDA building, the order, signed by USDA procurement officer Holly Votruba, describes the contracted work as being for the hanging of “3 large banners on the Whitten Building in conjunction with the Secretary’s priority.”
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In a previously issued statement, a department spokesperson said the banners were intended to mark historical occasions.
“USDA has much to remember in the coming months,” the spokesperson told the fact-checking website Snopes, citing the 163rd anniversary of the department’s founding, Flag Day — which coincided with Trump’s birthday and military parade — and July 4th. “USDA is the only federal agency located on the National Mall. The banners on the building’s facade observe these moments in American history and acknowledge the vision and leadership of USDA’s founder, Abraham Lincoln, and the best advocate of America’s farmers and ranchers, President Trump.”
(Keith Prichard/LinkedIn) A LinkedIn post from Timsco Graphics CEO Keith Prichard shows a banner featuring President Donald Trump and USDA Secretary Brooke Rollins.
Only two of the three banners purchased by USDA are publicly displayed, however. A third banner also featured Trump — and just behind his left shoulder, Rollins herself. That banner appears to have been the one originally slated to go up alongside Lincoln, per a May 13 LinkedIn post from Timsco Graphics CEO Keith Prichard.
“Timsco Graphics crew working late tonight getting it done! Second banner going up soon!” Prichard wrote. His post was accompanied by three photos: one of the Lincoln banner, already hanging; a broader shot of the Whitten Building, with the annotation “one more” and an outline of where the second banner would be placed; and a third showing the Lincoln banner and the Trump-Rollins banner beside each other on the floor of a warehouse.
It is not clear why that banner was not installed, nor where it is today. USDA did not respond to requests for comment.
