Porta-Potties for Presidential Inauguration Cause a Stink

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The latest controversy to erupt from Donald J. Trump’s presidential transition apparently centers on portable restrooms.

Yes, we’re talking porta-potties.

Opaque tape has been placed over a company name that appears on dozens of porta-potties set up near the Capitol for Friday’s presidential inauguration, the Associated Press reports.

The company? Don’s Johns.

Some people noticing the taped-over logos suggested the company name might have struck too close to home for organizers of the inauguration of Donald John Trump, the AP says. However, the Joint Congressional Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies and the Presidential Inaugural Committee declined to comment to the AP.

A spokesperson for the Architect of the Capitol, the federal agency that takes care of the buildings and grounds of the Capitol Hill Complex, told the AP by email that porta-potty logos were covered or removed to comply with restrictions for advertising on Capitol grounds. As the news organization reports:

Staff determined that signs for Gene’s Johns — a competitor that also is providing portable toilets for the inauguration — “can be easily peeled off,” the spokesman said in an email. The Don’s Johns logos cannot be removed easily “and are being covered with tape,” the email said.

However, Robert Weghorst, chief operating officer of Don’s Johns, told the AP that he was unaware of the logo cover-up until the AP reported it Friday.

Weghorst also noted that Don’s Johns has provided portable toilets for past inaugurations — including both events for President Barack Obama — and the company’s logo was not obscured for those events.

According to the company’s website, Don’s Johns also provided portable restrooms for a “sewage emergency” at Arlington National Cemetery in April 2016 and for “the Pentagon rescue effort and recovery after the September 11, 2001,” terrorist attacks, as well as events like the Marine Corps Marathon.

The company boasts of “the largest restroom and shower trailer inventory in the Washington, D.C., Maryland and Virginia area.”

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