[Breitbart] President-elect Donald Trump is being honored with a larger-than-life two-story tall bronze statue, which is being shaped to capture his iconic defiance in the wake of the assassination attempt on his life in Butler, Pennsylvania, last July.
Breitbart News has obtained exclusive photos of the statue, which is still under construction. Backers behind the project hope to unveil the finished product at Trump’s inauguration.
Crypto investors with the project $PATRIOT commissioned Ohio artist Alan Cottrill to create the bronze statue after Trump was nearly assassinated in Butler, Pennsylvania, on July 13, 2024. Trump’s pro-crypto policies also helped motivate backers to support the project, Breitbart News has learned.
Cottrill is working to capture Trump’s courage and defiance immediately after being shot. In iconic fashion, Trump rose with a bloodied face and pumped his fist as he repeatedly shouted, “Fight!” to his supporters before U.S. Secret Service agents rushed him off stage.
Cottrill, who also created the Thomas Edison statue in Statuary Hall in the U.S. Capitol, said in a statement shared with Breitbart News that this is the largest figure he has ever set out to create.
“I’ve sculpted and cast 400 life size or larger bronze statues across America and the Patriot Statue is our largest single figure to date,” he said.
Along with forging the Edison statue in 2016, Cottrill has also fashioned statues of several other presidents for universities and museums.
“The Patriot Statue of Donald J. Trump was our largest and most controversial undertaking, especially considering the scale and relevance of the event in Butler that took place,” Cottrill said.
Dustin Stockton, who helped lead the project, detailed the process that Cottrill is undertaking to forge the statue.
First, Cottrill sculpts a clay mold, and then individual bronze pieces are shaped based on the mold. The bronze pieces are then welded together and buffed out, creating the final product. Stockton estimated the statue would be completed by the New Year.
“The statue had to be Trumpian. It had to be larger than life and over the top,” Stockton told Breitbart News.
He noted that he has spoken with several members of the Inaugural Committee about the logistics of unveiling it at the inauguration.
After the unveiling, the statue will embark on a year-long cross-country tour on the back of an 18-wheeler with a crane, Stockton said.
Once the tour is completed, those involved with the project hope the statue can be displayed in Butler before ultimately being placed forever at the eventual Trump Presidential Library.
“It’s been one hell of a ride the last decade; the PATRIOT project, statue, and tour is our way of claiming how these incredible times are remembered by history,” Stockton said. 
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