We Went to Florida & Found Trump's Gold Statue. Then the Sculptor Revealed His Secret

Hinzugefügt: 2026-05-16

[00:00:00]All right, here we are at the Dorado Golf Club, the Trump Dorado Golf Club, and we found it. Here it is right here, the 22 FFT golden statue of Donald Trump. And I spoke to the sculptor about this and he told us quite the story about how this came into existence.

[00:00:15]Allan is the sculptor behind the Trump statue project. You built that that statue that they put at the Deral Golf Club. Is that correct?

[00:00:24]>> I did sculpt it. I was commissioned by a group of crypto bros.

[00:00:30]And and ho how did that whole thing play out? I mean, I I was reading in the Miami New Times about this. These crypto guys came to you and said, "We'd like to build this statue." Did they even know at that point where it was going to go, or they just wanted to to build this thing?

[00:00:43]>> Well, nobody ever came to me. I only knew one of their names for months. Ash.

[00:00:50]That's all I knew. Didn't know a last name. I didn't have a clue. uh didn't trust them too far, which turned out to be be a good instincts.

[00:01:01]>> Yeah.

[00:01:01]>> Uh they called me about a month after the assassination attempt. And just as an aside, I did do a life-size of Corey Compator, the guy that got shot and killed.

[00:01:15]And Trump was asked, of course, to be at that uh dedication and memorial for the slain fireman when he was attempted to be assassinated, but he said he couldn't make it. And I I looked up his schedule that day and I think he was at a sporting event in Philadelphia, same state. And I'm thinking, T whiz, somebody tried to shoot me and got killed, I think I'd be at the memorial service.

[00:01:41]>> Yeah, I think I would too. And what was this project like? Uh Allan, um I guess uh I know you I think you mentioned that you you would concede it as not a life um a lifelike statue of Trump. It's it's got some some alterations, I guess you might say.

[00:02:01]>> I think he said he's 510, 185. So, uh, no, I tried to slim I did slim him down some from the photographs, >> life photographs, >> and the crypto guys saw it and said, "Oh, no, he's way too heavy." Oh, shoot.

[00:02:18]Okay. So, I slimmed him down some more.

[00:02:21]>> Slimmed him down some more.

[00:02:22]>> Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. Much? A lot. Then his uh turkey neck. I mean, he's a prominent turkey neck. Yeah, >> I took about half off before I showed it to him. Oh, no. They said, "You have to take that turkey neck off." Okay. So, it's uh obviously an idealized representation of Trump.

[00:02:44]>> Yeah. And but that's not the first time, I guess, a statue has had these kinds of enhancements done, but uh uh it's it's interesting that they were involved in the process all along or or at points along the way. Um did you know that this was going to be painted gold? Did they say they wanted it gold? Where did that come from?

[00:03:04]>> In-house. And I have about eight employees. You know, I have a sculpture business. My business is to get commissions, do sculptures, pay my staff, pay my bills. This is about the 18th president that I've done. Uh behind me there is a a model or mckette of a 7 foot President Garfield statue going to the national uh place where his hometown is in Mentor, Ohio. July 4th we'll unveil that. So I've done lots of president statues.

[00:03:37]We called it in-house the golden calf from day one.

[00:03:42]and everybody held their nose and said, "Okay, we have to pay the bills."

[00:03:49]About three months into the project, the crypto guys called and said, "Hey, is there any way you can make it look gold?"

[00:03:57]And I said, "Absolutely." So, I polished up the bronze, which made it look more gold.

[00:04:06]Uh they we had it at the inauguration, but the Secret Service wouldn't let us bring it into uh the event because they had to bring it indoors because the cold weather and it would have been 22 feet tall, many tons temporarily installed.

[00:04:24]They said, "No, no, no. You can't do that." So, it stayed in a warehouse for about a year while the crypto guys were still supposed to be paying me monies that they owed. And I thought, "Oh man, how can I get this thing back and get all my money?" So >> So wait a minute. The crypto the crypto guys were were not exactly on time with payments. Is that >> from day one?

[00:04:51]>> Yeah.

[00:04:52]>> Wouldn't you know it.

[00:04:53]>> Yeah. Right. So I thought I need to get my hands on this statue. And at the time, Trump was talking about unveiling it in December or January, January of this year. And I then it hit me and and we were on a a group chat with Pastor Burns, two White House representatives, two people from Dural, and two of the crypto bros. So, one day I'm on the chat with them, and I said, "Hey guys, let's gold leaf this thing." Well, I knew how that would go. Yes. Yes. Yes. So, that was twofold. One, how can we make it even more garish and hideous?

[00:05:41]And >> I think you knocked it out of the park.

[00:05:45]>> And how can how can we get it in my hands at my foundry here in Zanesville >> so that I get all my money?

[00:05:54]>> So, Oh, yeah. we'll bring it right to you. So they did. Then they still weren't paying me. They said, "Oh, we'll pay you after it's installed." Yeah.

[00:06:04]Right. So >> I put it I hid it. I put it in an undisclosed location here in the hills of Mskingham County, Ohio.

[00:06:13]>> Wow.

[00:06:14]>> And uh I said, "Hey, you pay me and uh I'll bring it down." And the White House contacted me and said, "We need to put eyes on it." And I said, 'What do you mean put eyes on it? Look at the two and a half minute Reuters did the video they did. You can see every bit of it. Here's photos of it. You don't need to see it.

[00:06:33]Oh yeah, we need to put eyes on it. So they sent a representative and I thought about blindfolding him before I took him to the site, but I didn't. And he got to the site and he said, "Well, yeah, it's just like you said, like in all the videos and and photographs."

[00:06:49]So anyway, they uh they finally called me one morning and said, "We can wire you the money this afternoon. We want you to load it up, get it down to Dorado tomorrow."

[00:07:07]>> Okay. So 4 p.m. they finally wired the money. Myself and my foundry manager got in the truck with the trailer with the statue on back, drove straight through 18, 19 hours to Dorado. We got there just knackered. And the the people there at Dural said, "Now we need you to install it and have all the gold leaf repaired because when it travels, you have to strap it down and there's some repairing needs done." And I told them it take us about three days to do that.

[00:07:41]>> Well, this is early afternoon. They said we need it installed and all the repairs done by dawn tomorrow.

[00:07:50]So, so we started, we got it installed.

[00:07:54]We worked through the night. 4:00 a.m.

[00:07:56]we finally got done. We got all the repairs done. Got it installed. Got a few hours sleep and drove straight back to Zanesville, Ohio.

[00:08:06]>> Yeah. And I mean, so Allan, I mean, it sounds like this was one heck of an experience. You were talking to the White House about this. Uh, you were talking to Pastor Mark Burns, who was a close uh, I guess, adviser to Trump or spiritual person to Trump. Uh, and every Sunday he would say, >> "Okay, guys, >> President Trump just saw the photos of the statue and he loves it. Loves it.

[00:08:35]Allen, send me some more statues. He wants to see them right now. Or or more pictures. So yeah, he he saw >> So Trump was involved in this.

[00:08:46]>> He was in he saw it as it was being finished. Yes. I don't want to say he was involved with the making of it, per se, but >> he wasn't uninvolved either.

[00:09:00]>> Yeah. Did you ever talk to him or did he ever call the shop or >> did you put him on FaceTime or anything or >> I didn't have any desire to talk to him.

[00:09:09]So, no. Better if I didn't.

[00:09:12]>> Better if you didn't.

[00:09:16]And and so I guess you know when you get commissioned to do one of these, you know, you do it whether you you know no matter how maybe you feel about the person, but when you're when you're making a sculpture like this of Donald Trump, what's going through your mind?

[00:09:33]>> Well, I do take my craft very seriously.

[00:09:38]You know, I studied many years in New York City at the Art Students League.

[00:09:41]Spent a lot of time in Europe.

[00:09:44]I did want to get the energy uh and and the expression that they wanted even though I wasn't Yeah. Anyway, >> you weren't a big fan of it.

[00:10:02]>> No, no, no. But I was commissioned to do it and that is my job. That is how I pay my bills. And I'd done I think I'd done a few 12- foot statues, couple of 10- foot presidents, and like I said, about 18 other life-siz or larger presidents.

[00:10:22]And I knew it would get some attention, which it it has.

[00:10:27]>> Oh, yeah. You're famous now. No, I don't know about that. But every time I see pictures of it, I just start laughing because and I've gotten so much hate mail and hate emails and letters and boy in and you know >> it does look like something out of North Korea or something, doesn't it?

[00:10:47]>> Of course it does. I knew that from the start. I knew. But you you give somebody enough rope and they're going to show you just just what they're made of. And >> Yeah. Think that's what's happened here.

[00:11:00]>> Yeah. And so I I guess um how's that thing going to hold up, do you think?

[00:11:05]Because I was kind of wondering about the gold paint. Is that >> It's not paint. It's 3,000 >> little pieces of 3in square gold leaf, 23.75 pure gold. And what one does, what we did, you put glue or sizing all over the piece, let it dry, and then then you put these little gold leaf squares all over the piece and then blend them. Takes hundreds of hours.

[00:11:36]>> Wow.

[00:11:36]>> How's it going to hold up? Well, usually 15 to 20, 25 years, it holds up pretty well unless somebody goes up and starts rubbing on it real hard.

[00:11:48]Let's hope that doesn't happen. Um >> Oh, that'd be a shame.

[00:11:53]>> Yeah, wouldn't that be a shame, I tell you. And Allan, um yeah, for lots of different reasons, but uh and and you had to drive it through the night to get there. It sounds like they were desperate to get it there.

[00:12:06]>> Well, what did that's kind of strange.

[00:12:09]What I didn't know that PGA Championship uh golf event was happening starting I think Sunday and we got there Friday and there was just a flurry of activity, people putting up these buildings and tents and just dozens and dozens of people on the grounds. And that's why they wanted us to work through at night to get it done so that the cranes and all the heavy equipment we had wouldn't interfere with all the PGA setup.

[00:12:42]>> Then of course I'm sure they want it for the G is it G20 summit >> coming up in December.

[00:12:50]>> Okay. So they wanted it for that. I see.

[00:12:52]I see.

[00:12:52]>> They didn't say that, but I know enough about you know scheduling and what might make Trump happy. Yeah. Well, and and I guess um I I guess I'm I I just wanted to peel back the onion a little bit more on the White House officials getting involved. Uh was it were they heavily involved? Was it just a couple of phone calls? Uh and who are these crypto guys?

[00:13:17]I guess I was kind of >> they sound like characters.

[00:13:21]>> Well, Ashley Selone, I finally got his last name after work working with him.

[00:13:28]He was my main leaison. He's a Canadian crypto guy. And I said, "Hey, hey, Ashley, come on over to my studio. I want I want to take you around. You know, in my first life, I had done business in Japan. You get to know the people you work with."

[00:13:42]>> Yeah.

[00:13:43]>> He said, "Well, I have a little problem with my visa. I can't get in the United States." What the hell? You're Canadian for Christ sake. But then the other main guy was Dustin Stockton. And the Times of London came over a year ago and did a nice article and they quoted Dustin Stockton as saying, "Yeah, I was involved with Trump's the border wall where we privately funded a a section of it uh with Steve Bannon, but I didn't get indicted like he did, but I did lose but I did lose all my US banking privileges. That's why I went to the crypto."

[00:14:20]>> Wow.

[00:14:21]>> And he's quoted in the Times of London saying that. the hell brother and that's, you know, red flag. Red flag.

[00:14:29]>> Yeah. Yes. So, Allan, sounds like you were dealing with some some real uh, you know, solid individuals here. Very, you know, >> I just >> You got you got a crash course in Trump world, it seems to me.

[00:14:42]>> Oh, brother. Yeah. Well, they I told him from the beginning, I never meeting him. I said, "Hey, Ash, I don't [ __ ] around. Don't [ __ ] around with me.

[00:14:55]>> Yeah.

[00:14:56]>> Well, like one of my family said, "Dad, they [ __ ] around with you and found out you had that thing in hiding for months." They didn't.

[00:15:04]>> Yeah. Wait a minute. Yeah. You got to tell us that story on real quick before you go. You were hiding the sculpture.

[00:15:09]You were hiding the statue because you thought they might come up with a truck and and grab it or something or >> Yeah. They hadn't made their final payments.

[00:15:19]Yeah. Yeah.

[00:15:21]>> And so there it was. He said it was in an undisclosed location, which I guess does fit with the president, I suppose, that's in a lot of trouble.

[00:15:29]>> He doesn't know what it's like here in Appalachian, Ohio.

[00:15:35]>> Yes, I I understand that. But, uh, well, Allan, what a what a tale you have there. What a story that you have there.

[00:15:41]I'm sure your family, kids, grandkids, everybody gets a good chuckle out of this. But, uh, really appreciate you talking with me and indulging us with all of our our crazy questions. If you had to do it all over again, would you do it all over again?

[00:15:56]>> I would do it the same way I did it the first time. Hold my nose.

[00:16:00]Wait, wait for the payments >> because sometimes when it comes to Trump, you don't always get paid. You know, that's >> it wasn't Trump, but it was close enough with the crypto bros.

[00:16:14]>> So, you knew it was probably a good idea payment upfront if uh if you want your statue.

[00:16:18]>> Yeah. And if I may, that's two freed slaves >> holding their open shackles facing inward toward a Trump statue out front of my gallery. It's interesting because some people understood the symbolism and others and I started to make a genulect here rug and put in front of the Trump statue, but I I never did.

[00:16:40]Hundreds of people pulled off the side of the road, got out of their car, got in front of this Trump statue, and had their picture taken. So it was a real fan favorite here in Ohio.

[00:16:51]>> Yeah. Explain the significance as far I mean for the folks out there who are >> maybe not getting it.

[00:16:56]>> Well, if you read enough books on Trump and his father Fred, you would understand their attitudes about race and >> yeah, the more you read, the more you hold your nose.

[00:17:09]>> Apparently, they had to slim it down.

[00:17:12]That was part of the process. They got rid of the turkey neck. That was also part of the process. But it's leaving me with some questions here. Like, why are we building a new ballroom at the White House? Why are we painting the reflecting pool blue? Why are we building a giant arch when he's got one of these right here?

[00:17:36]He's on the road. He's on the record.

[00:17:39]Jim Aosta