A new Trump portrait for Colorado's Capitol could take time after one he disliked was removed

Filling an empty space on the wall of presidential portraits in the Colorado Capitol with a new painting of Donald Trump could take time after one he disliked was removed and put into storage.

Legislative leaders from both parties will decide how to replace the painting that Trump derided Sunday night on social media and that by Tuesday morning had been taken down.

When they will meet about a new painting is anyone's guess. The Legislature is focused on more pressing matters including the state budget.

"We have no idea when a new portrait is going to go up, how it’s going to be fundraised, who is going to pay for it, who is going to paint it, etc.,” Joshua Bly, a spokesperson for Colorado Senate Republicans, said in a telephone interview Tuesday.

Bly also said no one knows yet whether Trump will get to approve a new portrait.

Colorado Republicans raised more than $10,000 to commission the Trump painting that had been in the state Capitol since 2019, alongside other U.S. presidents.

Sometime late Monday or early Tuesday, the Trump portrait by Colorado Springs artist Sarah Boardman was removed and put in storage with History Colorado, overseer of a state museum in Denver. It is unlikely to be displayed elsewhere, Bly said.

The move came at the request of Colorado Republicans after Trump claimed the artist had “purposefully distorted” him. He praised the portrait of Barack Obama, painted by the same artist.

On Tuesday, school groups and tourists filed past the wall where Trump's portrait once hung. Picture hooks and a plate reading “Donald Trump — 45th and 47th President — 2017-2021 and 2025-2029” remained. Some visitors stopped to take photos.

It's not the first time that Trump's attention has turned to Colorado, which has shifted from leaning red to leaning blue over the past two decades.

He criticized the Colorado Supreme Court in 2023 for declaring he was ineligible for the White House and could not appear on the state ballot because of the Jan. 6, 2021, U.S. Capitol insurrection. While campaigning last year, Trump made the Denver suburb of Aurora a focus of his illegal immigration message.

Before his portrait was installed, a prankster placed a picture of Russian President Vladimir Putin near the spot intended for Trump.

Boardman did not return phone and email messages seeking comment. In 2019, she said painted him with a “nonconfrontational” and “thoughtful” expression, drawing criticism from those who said that's not who he really is. She said her portraits of Trump and Obama were not political statements.

The presidential portraits are not the purview of the Colorado Building Advisory Committee. The ones up to and including President Jimmy Carter were donated as a collection. The others were donated by political parties or paid for by outside fundraising.

Associated Press journalist Thomas Peipert in Denver contributed to this report.

A man takes a photograph of the plaque that marked the placement of a portrait of President Donald Trump after the picture, which was part of a display of all of the country's chief executives, was removed from the wall of the rotunda in the State Capitol following complaints about the likeness from Trump Tuesday, March 25, 2025, in Denver. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)

A group poses for a photograph near the empty spot where a portrait of President Donald Trump once was displayed after the picture, which was part of a display of all of the country's chief executives, was removed from the wall of the rotunda in the State Capitol following complaints about the likeness from Trump Tuesday, March 25, 2025, in Denver. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)

As viewed through a fisheye lens, the rotunda where portraits of presidents are displayed except for Donald Trump is shown after the picture was removed from the wall of the rotunda in the State Capitol following complaints about the likeness from Trump Tuesday, March 25, 2025, in Denver. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)

A woman takes a photograph of the empty spot where the portrait of President Donald Trump was placed after the picture, which was part of a display of all of the country's chief executives, was removed from the wall of the rotunda in the State Capitol following complaints about the likeness from Trump Tuesday, March 25, 2025, in Denver. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)

The plaque that marked the placement of a portrait of President Donald Trump is all that remains after the picture, which was part of a display of all of the country's chief executives, was removed from the wall of the rotunda in the State Capitol following complaints about the likeness from Trump Tuesday, March 25, 2025, in Denver. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)

The plaque that marked the placement of a portrait of President Donald Trump is all that remains after the picture, which was part of a display of all of the country's chief executives, was removed from the wall of the rotunda in the State Capitol following complaints about the likeness from Trump Tuesday, March 25, 2025, in Denver. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)

FILE - President Donald Trump's portrait hangs in the Colorado Capitol after an unveiling ceremony, Aug. 1, 2019, in Denver. (AP Photo/Thomas Peipert, File)

Portraits of President Donald Trump and former President Barack Obama hang in the Capitol Rotunda in Denver on Monday, March 24, 2025. (AP Photo/Jesse Bedayn)

A news crew works in front of a wall of presidential portraits at the Colorado Capitol on Monday, March 24, 2025, in Denver. (AP Photo/Thomas Peipert)

NUUK, Greenland (AP) — The Danish foreign minister on Saturday scolded the Trump administration for its “tone” in criticizing Denmark and Greenland, saying his country is already investing more into Arctic security and remains open to more cooperation with the U.S.

Foreign Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen made the remarks in a video posted to social media after U.S. Vice President JD Vance’s visit to the strategic island. Later Saturday, though, U.S. President Donald Trump maintained an aggressive tone, telling NBC News that “I never take military force off the table" in regards to acquiring Greenland.

“Many accusations and many allegations have been made. And of course we are open to criticism,” Rasmussen said speaking in English. “But let me be completely honest: we do not appreciate the tone in which it is being delivered. This is not how you speak to your close allies. And I still consider Denmark and the United States to be close allies.”

Greenland is a territory of Denmark, which is a NATO ally of the United States. Trump wants to annex the territory, claiming it’s needed for national security purposes.

In Saturday's interview, Trump allowed that “I think there’s a good possibility that we could do it without military force.”

“This is world peace, this is international security,” he said, but added: "I don’t take anything off the table.”

Trump also said “I don’t care” when asked in the NBC interview what message it would send to Russian President Vladimir Putin, who is trying to solidify his hold on Ukrainian territory three years after his invasion.

Vance on Friday said Denmark has “underinvested” in Greenland’s security and demanded that Denmark change its approach as Trump pushes to take over the Danish territory.

Vance visited U.S. troops on Pituffik Space Base on mineral-rich Greenland alongside his wife and other senior U.S. officials for a trip that was ultimately scaled back after an uproar among Greenlanders and Danes who were not consulted about the original itinerary.

“Our message to Denmark is very simple: You have not done a good job by the people of Greenland,” Vance said Friday. “You have underinvested in the people of Greenland, and you have underinvested in the security architecture of this incredible, beautiful landmass filled with incredible people. That has to change.”

Trump on Friday released a video on his social networking site Truth Social entitled “America Stands With Greenland,” showing footage of U.S. troops there during World War II.

In Greenland, Vance said the U.S. has “no option” but to take a significant position to ensure the security of the island as he encouraged a push in Greenland for independence from Denmark.

“I think that they ultimately will partner with the United States,” Vance said. “We could make them much more secure. We could do a lot more protection. And I think they’d fare a lot better economically as well.”

The reaction by members of Greenland’s parliament and residents has rendered that unlikely, with anger erupting over the Trump administration’s attempts to annex the vast Arctic island. Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen pushed back on Vance’s claim that Denmark isn’t doing enough for defense in the Arctic, calling her country “a good and strong ally.”

And Greenlandic lawmakers on Thursday agreed to form a new government, banding together to resist Trump's overtures. Four of the five parties elected to Greenland’s parliament earlier this month have agreed to form a coalition that will have 23 of 31 seats in the legislature.

The following day, Danish King Frederik X posted on Facebook: “We live in an altered reality. There should be no doubt that my love for Greenland and my connectedness to the people of Greenland are intact.”

Hundreds of protesters demonstrated Saturday outside the U.S. Embassy in the Danish capital Copenhagen with some lifting signs saying, “back off, USA” Danish broadcaster TV2 reported.

Even Greenland's national dogsled race - Avannaata Qimussersu - which kicked off Saturday with some 37 mushers and 444 dogs was not left unaffected. Usha Vance, the vice president's wife, who was originally scheduled to attend the race opted out when her husband decided to join the trip and visit the military base instead, reducing the likelihood that they would cross paths with Greenlanders.

Løkke Rasmussen, in his video, reminded viewers of the 1951 defense agreement between Denmark and the United States. Since 1945, the American military presence in Greenland has decreased from thousands of soldiers over 17 bases and installations on the island, he said, to the remote Pituffik Space Base in the northwest with some 200 soldiers today.

The 1951 agreement "offers ample opportunity for the United States to have a much stronger military presence in Greenland,” the foreign minister said. “If that is what you wish, then let us discuss it.”

Løkke Rasmussen added that Denmark has increased its own investment into Arctic defense. In January, Denmark announced 14.6 billion Danish kroner (US$2.1 billion) in financial commitments for Arctic security covering three new naval vessels, long-range drones and satellites.

__

Grieshaber reported from Berlin and Madhani from Washington. Associated Press writers Chris Megerian in West Palm Beach, Florida, and Stefanie Dazio in Berlin contributed to this report.

Vice President JD Vance, center, poses with second lady Usha Vance, White House national security adviser Mike Waltz,his wife , former homeland security adviser, Julia Nesheiwat, left, and Secretary of Energy Chris Wright, right, as they tour the U.S. military's Pituffik Space Base in Greenland, Friday, March 28, 2025. (Jim Watson/Pool via AP)

Vice President JD Vance, center, poses with second lady Usha Vance, White House national security adviser Mike Waltz,his wife , former homeland security adviser, Julia Nesheiwat, left, and Secretary of Energy Chris Wright, right, as they tour the U.S. military's Pituffik Space Base in Greenland, Friday, March 28, 2025. (Jim Watson/Pool via AP)

Vice President JD Vance tours the U.S. military's Pituffik Space Base in Greenland, Friday, March 28, 2025. (Jim Watson/Pool via AP)

Vice President JD Vance and second lady Usha Vance, center, tour the U.S. military's Pituffik Space Base in Greenland, Friday, March 28, 2025. (Jim Watson/Pool via AP)

Cross-political support demonstration for Greenland and Greenlanders in front of Greenland's representation in Christianshavn, Copenhagen, Friday, March 28, 2025. (Thomas Traasdahl//Ritzau Scanpix via AP)

Vice President JD Vance tours the U.S. military's Pituffik Space Base in Greenland, Friday, March 28, 2025. (Jim Watson/Pool via AP)

Cross-political support demonstration for Greenland and Greenlanders in front of Greenland's representation in Christianshavn, Copenhagen, Friday, March 28, 2025. (Thomas Traasdahl//Ritzau Scanpix via AP)

Vice President JD Vance and second lady Usha Vance tour the U.S. military's Pituffik Space Base in Greenland, Friday, March 28, 2025. (Jim Watson/Pool via AP)

Two Greenland flags and a sign that reads "Our land, Our future" are seen in front of the Inussuk statue, a sculpture marking the start of Self Governance, during a visit by US Vice President JD Vance in Nuuk Greenland, Friday, March 28, 2025. (AP Photo/ Philip Crowther)

Cross-political support demonstration for Greenland and Greenlanders in front of Greenland's representation in Christianshavn, Copenhagen, Friday, March 28, 2025. (Thomas Traasdahl//Ritzau Scanpix via AP)

Vice President JD Vance arrives at Pituffik Space Base in Greenland, Friday, March 28, 2025. (Jim Watson/Pool via AP)