The Smithsonian has scrubbed references to Donald Trump’s impeachments from a museum display, following repeated attempts by the White House to make changes to the institution.
This month, the National Museum of American History removed a temporary label at an exhibit that described Trump’s two impeachments, reverting to an outdated label from 2008, according to The Washington Post.
The 2008 version states that “only three presidents have seriously faced removal,” referring to Andrew Johnson, Bill Clinton and Richard Nixon.
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The temporary label concerning Trump’s impeachments had been in place since Sept. 2021, a Smithsonian spokesperson told the Daily Beast.
“It was intended to be a short-term measure to address current events at the time, however, the label remained in place until July 2025,” the spokesperson said.
The change took place as part of a content review that the Smithsonian agreed to conduct after Trump tried to fire the director of the Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery earlier this year, a person familiar with the exhibit plans told The Post.
A Smithsonian spokesperson told the Daily Beast that a “future and updated exhibit will include all impeachments,” but did not specify when that would happen.
“A large permanent gallery like The American Presidency that opened in 2000, requires a significant amount of time and funding to update and renew,” the spokesperson said in a statement.
“In reviewing our legacy content recently, it became clear that the ‘Limits of Presidential Power’ section in The American Presidency: A Glorious Burden exhibition needed to be addressed,” the statement said.
“The section of this exhibition covers Congress, The Supreme Court, Impeachment, and Public Opinion. Because the other topics in this section had not been updated since 2008, the decision was made to restore the Impeachment case back to its 2008 appearance.”
The White House did not return a request for comment.
In Jan. 2020, the Smithsonian announced that it intended to update its collection to represent the “historic events” of Trump’s impeachment by the House and his forthcoming Senate trial.
Trump was impeached in Dec. 2019 for abuse of power and obstruction of Congress related to his attempts to push Ukraine to investigate Joe Biden. He was acquitted by the Senate the following month.
In Jan. 2021, he was impeached a second time by the House for incitement of insurrection after the Capitol riot. The Senate acquitted him.
The latest development at the institution follows multiple attempts by the Trump administration to force changes on the Smithsonian, which includes a network of museums, galleries, libraries, research centers and the National Zoo.
It receives federal funding but is supposed to operate independently from the executive branch. However, Trump has sough to exert his influence since taking office amid a wider push to remake D.C. institutions like the Kennedy Center in his image.
In January, the Smithsonian canceled its diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs to comply with an executive order from Trump. In March, Trump issued an executive order that specifically targeted the Smithsonian, claiming it had “come under the influence of a divisive, race-centered ideology.”
The order called for the removal of “improper ideology” from the institution’s properties and said it would prohibit spending on “exhibits or programs that degrade shared American values, divide Americans based on race, or promote programs or ideologies inconsistent” with federal law.
In May, he tried to fire Kim Sajet, who had led the National Portrait Gallery since 2013, accusing her of being a “partisan person” who supports DEI initiatives. The organization rebuffed him, saying its secretary held authority over personnel decisions. Sajet resigned the following month.
Reacting on CNN to The Post’s reporting on the Smithsonian Thursday, Republican Rep. Mike Lawler of New York said he believes museums should show “the good, the bad, the ugly” when it comes to history.
