Joe Biden cancels Donald Trump's planned 'Garden of Heroes' featuring statutes of Whitney Houston, RBG, Kobe Bryant and Billy Graham
Joe Biden has ditched Donald Trump's plan to build a 'Garden of American Heroes' featuring statues of Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Whitney Houston and Kobe Bryant.
The President of the United States revoked his predecessor's July 2020 executive order via an email sent Friday while also axing a Trump order on punishing statue vandals.
No explanation for the cancellation was given.
Trump unveiled his proposed heroes on January 18, just two days before he left office. They included the late Supreme Court Justice Ginsburg, who died of cancer in September 2020 aged 87.
Also on the list was Houston, hailed as one of the United States' greatest ever pop stars, who tragically drowned while high on drugs in February 2012. LA Lakers basketball icon Bryant was killed in a helicopter crash in Los Angeles in January 2020 aged 41.
Other statues planned by Trump included late Jeopardy host Alex Trebek, underground railroad heroine Harriet Tubman, cookery book writer Julia Child and evangelist Billy Graham.
President Joe Biden, pictured on Thursday, has announced the cancellation of Donald Trump's proposed 'Garden of American Heroes'
Trump, pictured in February, wanted a garden filled with statues of famous figures as a symbol of American history
The proposed garden would have included statues of Ruth Bader Ginsburg, left, and Whitney Houston, right
He had envisioned that the garden would be 'a site of natural beauty that enables visitors to enjoy nature, walk among the statues, and be inspired to learn about great figures of America’s history.'
No site was ever selected, and the planned garden did not receive any congressional funding. Biden's decision to cancel the plan marks a highly symbolic distancing of his administration from the Trump-era White House.
Meanwhile, Biden revoked Trump’s decree in June 2020 calling for the federal government to 'prosecute to the fullest extent permitted under Federal law' acts of vandalism and destruction to statues on federal property.
That order came in response to the defacement of statues — particularly those honoring the Confederacy — during nationwide protests over racial injustice following the killing of George Floyd while in police custody. These demonstrations later spread around the world.
Basketball star Kobe Bryant and evangelical preacher Billy Graham were among the proposed statues
Cookery writer Julia Child would also have featured in the garden, which has now been axed
Jeopardy host Alex Trebek was named as a potential hero by Trump shortly after his death from cancer in November 2020
Underground railroad heroine Harriet Tubman - who led the fight against slavery in the US - was also proposed for inclusion in Trump's doomed garden proposal
Mr Biden’s decree also revoked Trump’s May 2020 order calling for the Department of Justice and the Federal Trade Commission to investigate social media companies for labeling or removing posts or entire accounts in what the then president claimed was a restriction on free speech.
That order came before Trump himself was removed from platforms like Twitter and Facebook after the January 6 insurrection at the Capitol.
A proclamation from Trump that required immigrants to prove they would be covered by certain health insurance plans within 30 days of entering the US or prove they could cover medical costs was also vetoed by Biden.
'My administration is committed to expanding access to quality, affordable healthcare,' Biden said in revoking that proclamation.
'We can achieve that objective, however, without barring the entry of non-citizens who seek to immigrate lawfully to this country but who lack significant financial means or have not purchased health insurance coverage from a restrictive list of qualifying plans.'
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