{"id":2435602,"date":"2025-05-16T13:12:02","date_gmt":"2025-05-16T17:12:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/melania-trump-statue-in-slovenia-stolen-washington-examiner\/"},"modified":"2025-05-16T13:13:11","modified_gmt":"2025-05-16T17:13:11","slug":"melania-trump-statue-in-slovenia-stolen-washington-examiner","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/melania-trump-statue-in-slovenia-stolen-washington-examiner\/","title":{"rendered":"Melania Trump statue in Slovenia stolen &#8211; Washington Examiner"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">18<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fmelania-trump-statue-in-slovenia-stolen-washington-examiner%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2435602&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>A statue of Melania Trump, located in her home country of Slovenia, has been stolen, leading to a police investigation. This <a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/3YuVZYV\" >life-sized bronze sculpture<\/a> was taken by unknown individuals who reportedly sawed it off at the ankles.The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/california-parent-allegedly-engaged-in-serious-physical-altercation-with-teacher-over-mask-mandate\/\" title=\"California Parent Allegedly Engaged In \u2018Serious Physical Altercation\u2019 With Teacher Over Mask Mandate\">local police confirmed<\/a> the theft, recalling that this was not the statue&#8217;s first unfortunate incident; the original statue was destroyed in an act of arson in July 2020. It was later replaced with a nearly identical statue,which was secured to prevent further thefts. <\/p>\n<p>The bronze statue, which <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/the-real-minimum-wage-is-zero-mcdonalds-restaurant-uses-automation-for-pickups-and-orders\/\" title=\"\u2018The Real Minimum Wage Is Zero\u2019: McDonald\u2019s Restaurant Uses Automation For Pickups And Orders\">attracted mixed reactions<\/a> from locals, was considered by many to be an unpleasant representation of Melania Trump, with some calling it a &#8220;disgrace&#8221;.Despite the controversy, Melania Trump remains a source of pride in her hometown of sevnica, contributing to local tourism and business. Local officials express a strong sense of pride in her achievement, seeing her rise from a small Slovenian town to the position of First Lady of the united States as an inspiration to the community.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<p><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><\/p>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><span class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-button\"><i class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-icon td-icon-mobile\"><\/i><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><span class=\"tdb-header-search-button-mob dropdown-toggle\" data-toggle=\"dropdown\"><i class=\"tdb-mobile-search-icon td-icon-search\"><\/i><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><span class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-button\"><i class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-icon td-icon-mobile\"><\/i><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<div class=\"tdb-drop-down-search\" aria-labelledby=\"td-header-search-button\">\n<div class=\"tdb-drop-down-search-inner\">\n<form method=\"get\" class=\"tdb-search-form\" action=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/\"><\/form>\n<div class=\"tdb-aj-search\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/#\" role=\"button\" aria-label=\"Search\" class=\"tdb-head-search-btn dropdown-toggle\" data-toggle=\"dropdown\"><i class=\"tdb-search-icon td-icon-search\"><\/i><\/a><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<h1 class=\"tdb-title-text\">Melania Trump statue in Slovenia stolen<\/h1>\n<div><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-title-line\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<div id=\"Brid_1896816\" class=\"tpd-featured-video bridtv\"><\/div>\n<p>A statue of first lady <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/melania-trump\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"Melania Trump\">Melania Trump<\/a> in her native country, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/slovenia\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"Melania Trump\">Slovenia<\/a>, was stolen, prompting a police investigation.<\/p>\n<p>The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/after-the-mlk-debacle-here-are-the-top-10-statue-fails\/\" title=\"After The MLK Debacle, Here Are The Top 10 ... Fails\">life-sized bronze statue<\/a> was sawed off at the heels and carried away by unknown perpetrators, Novo Mesto Police Department spokeswoman Alenka Drenik Rangus <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dnevnik.si\/novice\/kronika\/po-pozaru-se-kraja-kip-melanie-trump-v-sevnici-spet-izginil-2732937\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"confirmed\">confirmed<\/a> to the Slovenian outlet <em>Dnevnik<\/em>.<\/p>\n<div class=\"recommended-stories\">\n<h2>Recommended Stories<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/world\/3413706\/pope-leo-russia-ukraine-peace-talks\/\">Pope Leo offers to moderate next Russia-Ukraine peace talks after first meeting ends<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/policy\/defense\/3413653\/rubio-calls-iran-a-threshold-nuclear-weapon-state\/\">Rubio calls Iran a &lsquo;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/rubio-calls-iran-a-threshold-nuclear-weapon-state-washington-examiner\/\" title=\"Rubio calls Iran a \u2018threshold nuclear weapon state\u2019 - Washington Examiner\">threshold nuclear weapon state&#038;rsquo<\/a>;<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/premium\/3411166\/trump-tangos-with-mark-carney-us-canada-relations\/\">Trump tangos with Carney: Why US-Canada relations could thaw post-Trudeau<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"article-paywall\">\n<p>This isn&rsquo;t the first unfortunate fate of a statue in its place &mdash; the first statue, erected in 2019, was destroyed by arsonists on July 4, 2020. The creator replaced it with a nearly identical bronze statue shortly after, but moved its location to private property nearby and attached it to concrete and metal rods.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">The ankles of the bronze statue that represented Melania Trump, which was sawed off and taken away, remain on the tree stump where it was placed in 2020, in the village of Rozno, Slovenia, on Friday, May 16, 2025, near Melania Trump&rsquo;s hometown of Sevnica. (AP Photo\/Relja Dusek)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>The act of vandalism is likely an effort in defense of the Slovenian-born first lady.<\/p>\n<p>The first statue was commissioned by Berlin-based American artist Brad Downey and made by Slovenian artist Ales Zupevc, who carved it with a chainsaw. It was erected on a stump near Melania Trump&rsquo;s hometown of Sevnica.<\/p>\n<p>The statue was widely reviled by locals, who saw its abstract look as ugly and an insult to the first lady.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">A bronze sculpture representing Melania Trump stands on a bank of the Sava River in the village of Rozno, near her hometown of Sevnica, Slovenia, Nov. 6, 2024. (AP Photo\/Darko Bandic, File)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>&ldquo;It doesn&rsquo;t look anything like Melania. It&rsquo;s a Smurfette. It&rsquo;s a disgrace,&rdquo; one resident told ITV.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;It&rsquo;s not OK. It&rsquo;s a disgrace. That&rsquo;s what I have to say,&rdquo; another said.<\/p>\n<p>Downey countered that the statue is &ldquo;absolutely beautiful,&rdquo; speaking with <em>AFP<\/em>, but &ldquo;can understand why people might think that this falls short as a description of her physical appearance.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>The first lady is widely beloved in her hometown of 4,500 inhabitants, 60 miles east of the nation&rsquo;s capital, Ljubljana. Her origin in the quiet town has turned it into a tourist attraction, with locals selling slippers, wine, chocolate, cakes, and other items named after her.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;The Melanija cake is as popular as it was when she first became first lady,&rdquo; 19-year-old bakery employee Tjasa Ana Strucelj <a href=\"https:\/\/fortune.com\/europe\/2024\/11\/07\/melania-trump-slovenian-hometown-first-lady\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"told\">told<\/a> <em>AFP<\/em> shortly after President Donald Trump&rsquo;s reelection.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;Melania is a role model for Sevnica, the same goes for the cake that has the best and richest ingredients,&rdquo; she continued, claiming that the first lady had personally tasted it.<\/p>\n<p>Sevnica mayor Sre&#269;ko Ocvirk lauded great praise on Melania Trump, saying she made her hometown proud.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;I am proud and satisfied&hellip; I believe she will once again fulfil her duties responsibly and with excellence, as she did during the first mandate,&rdquo; he told <em>AFP<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;From an average Slovenian town, she reached the top of the U.S.; that should show the young that if they try, they can become whatever they want,&rdquo; Ocvirk added.<\/p>\n<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/house\/3393940\/melania-trump-backed-anti-pornography-bill-house-floor\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"MELANIA TRUMP-BACKED ANTI-PORNOGRAPHY BILL HEADS TO PRESIDENT&rsquo;S DESK\">MELANIA TRUMP-BACKED ANTI-PORNOGRAPHY BILL HEADS TO PRESIDENT&rsquo;S DESK<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The first lady is mostly quiet about her origins in the Alpine, Yugoslav country of two million. Despite the hopes of locals, she hasn&rsquo;t visited during her time as first lady, though Ocvirk voiced hope that she could visit during her husband&rsquo;s second administration. He noted with pride that Barron Trump speaks Slovene.<\/p>\n<p>Researchers have noted that Melania Trump&rsquo;s status is a point of national pride in Slovenia. The country has struggled to make waves on the international stage due to its small size and status as a post-communist country.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p> <script data-cfasync=\"false\" src=\"http:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/cdn-cgi\/scripts\/5c5dd728\/cloudflare-static\/email-decode.min.js\"><\/script><script>!function(){var g=window;g.googletag=g.googletag||{},g.googletag.cmd=g.googletag.cmd||[],g.googletag.cmd.push(function(){g.googletag.pubads().setTargeting(\"has-featured-video\",\"true\")})}();<\/script><script>var _bp=_bp||[];_bp.push({\"div\":\"Brid_1896816\",\"obj\":{\"id\":\"27789\",\"width\":\"1280\",\"height\":\"720\",\"stickyDirection\":\"below\",\"video\":\"1896816\"}});<\/script><script defer src=\"https:\/\/services.brid.tv\/player\/build\/brid.min.js\"><\/script><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Melania Trump statue stolen in Slovenia, police investigating<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2653,"featured_media":2435605,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/Melania-Trump-statue-stolen.webp","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[33651,538],"tags":[32423,4133,55398,7457,5501],"class_list":["post-2435602","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-western-journal","category-washington-examiner","tag-melania-trump","tag-news","tag-slovenia","tag-statue","tag-stolen"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/Melania-Trump-statue-stolen.webp","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2435602","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2653"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2435602"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2435602\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2435607,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2435602\/revisions\/2435607"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2435605"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2435602"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2435602"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2435602"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}