Satirical statue of Trump and Epstein holding hands appears in Washington

A statue of US President Donald Trump and the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein holding hands has appeared on the National Mall in Washington.

The pop-up statue titled Best Friends Forever will remain on the National Mall grounds until Sunday evening under a permit granted by the National Park Service.

"We celebrate the long-lasting bond between President Donald J Trump and his 'closest friend' Jeffrey Epstein," a plaque at the bottom of the installation read.

The creator of the statue is unknown, but the artwork is the latest in a series of anonymous installations that have been critical of the US president in Washington, including a statue titled Dictator Approved, featuring a golden thumbs up crushing the Statue of Liberty's crown.

In response to the statue, White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson said that "Liberals are free to waste their money however they see fit."

"But it’s not news that Epstein knew Donald Trump, because Donald Trump kicked Epstein out of his club for being a creep," Jackson said.

The US president said recently that he cut ties with the disgraced financier because he "stole" young women — including Virginia Giuffre, who was among Epstein's most well-known sex trafficking accusers — who worked for the spa at his Mar-a-Lago resort.

Earlier this month, Democrats on the House Oversight Committee released a sexually suggestive letter to Epstein that was purportedly signed by Trump.

The letter was included as part of a 50th birthday album compiled in 2003 for Epstein. Trump has said he did not write the letter or create the drawing of a woman's body that surrounds the text.

The Trump administration continues to face growing calls to release more information about the government's sex-trafficking investigation into Epstein, but has so far refused to do so.

Earlier this month, ahead of Trump's second state visit to the UK, protesters planted fake merchandise featuring the US president and Epstein inside the Windsor Castle gift shop.

They also unfurled a supersized, 400-square-metre photo of the two together on the tree-lined property outside the royal residence, and projected images of them onto the castle.