Smithsonian Minimizes Trump’s Double Impeachment Display

On Friday, the Smithsonian National Museum of American History removed some of the language used to explain President Donald Trump’s historic two impeachments, softening the description amid the institution’s ongoing review of its content to address increased scrutiny from the administration. Language referring to both impeachments—from 2019 over his dealings with Ukraine and 2021 following the January 6 attack on the Capitol—was altered.

Previously, the display mentioned Trump’s 2021 incitement charge being based on “repeated ‘false statements’ challenging the 2020 election results” and giving a speech that “encouraged — and foreseeably resulted in — imminent lawless action at the Capitol.”

Now, the label reads: “On Jan. 13, 2021, Donald Trump became the first president to be impeached twice. The charge was incitement of insurrection based on his challenge of the 2020 election results and on his speech on Jan. 6. Because Trump’s term ended on Jan. 20, he became the first former president tried by the Senate. He was acquitted on Feb. 13, 2021.”

In the section that addresses Trump’s first impeachment, the Smithsonian added the word “alleged” to the following line: “The charges focused on the president’s alleged solicitation of foreign interference in the 2020 presidential election and defiance of Congressional subpoenas.”

The reworked language comes after the institution removed references to Trump’s two impeachments from an exhibit display in late July, with the promise that an updated version was to come. The decision to remove the language was made by the Smithsonian’s Board of Regents, the governing body of the institution. The group had committed to reviewing its content in response to pressure from the Trump administration. Trump, as The New York Times reports, “has called for what he has described as a more positive framing of the country’s history in Smithsonian museums.”

The administration’s increased scrutiny of the Smithsonian Institution—a museum, education, and research complex of 21 museums and the National Zoological Park, which saw almost 17 million visitors in 2024—has been happening for months.

In March, Trump signed an Executive Order targeting the Smithsonian. The order, titled “Restoring Truth And Sanity To American History,” accused the network of museums of being a part of a “revisionist movement” that “seeks to undermine the remarkable achievements of the United States by casting its founding principles and historical milestones in a negative light.”

“Once widely respected as a symbol of American excellence and a global icon of cultural achievement, the Smithsonian Institution has, in recent years, come under the influence of a divisive, race-centered ideology,” the order reads. “This shift has promoted narratives that portray American and Western values as inherently harmful and oppressive.”

The move called on Vice President JD Vance, who has a spot on the Smithsonian’s board, along with the Director of the Office of Management and Budget, to work with Congress to prohibit expenditures on exhibitions or programs that “degrade shared American values, divide Americans by race or promote ideologies inconsistent with federal law.”

The Smithsonian has held that it received no presidential instruction to remove the language about Trump’s impeachments and that the changes were made because the temporary display did not meet its usual presentational standards. In a statement on Friday, the institution also said that the temporary exhibit, put up in 2021, was blocking other items in the display and that they had “removed it to make way for a more permanent update to the content inside the case.”

“At the heart of the Smithsonian’s work is a steadfast commitment to scholarship, rigorous research, and the accurate, factual presentation of history,” the statement read. “Adhering to principles foundational to our role as the nation’s museum, we take great care to ensure that what we present to the public reflects both intellectual integrity and thoughtful design.”

The impeachment section at the museum isn’t just about Trump—it’s a part of an exhibit on the American presidency that opened at the Museum of American History 25 years ago. The section on the current and former presidents is displayed alongside information about the impeachments of former presidents Andrew Johnson and Bill Clinton, and the possible impeachment of former president Richard Nixon.

Since Trump was elected, the Smithsonian has been at the epicenter of the administration’s battle against inclusion in artistic institutions, as well as diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives, and how history museums tell the story of America.

In May, Trump, via his social media platform Truth Social, claimed that he had fired Kim Sajet, the director of the National Portrait Gallery, which is a part of the Smithsonian network, calling her “a highly partisan person, and a strong supporter of DEI, which is totally inappropriate for her position.” But, he didn’t have that power. The Smithsonian bylaws stipulate that the president cannot fire the head of one of its museums. Still, in early June, Sajet announced she would be stepping down from the position.

Last month, the artist Amy Sherald—who rose to fame with her 2018 portrait of Michelle Obama—withdrew her upcoming solo show that was to be held at the Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery after she says she learned that the museum was considering removing a portrait of the trans model and performance artist Arewà Basit. In the piece, Basit is depicted as the Statue of Liberty.

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The White House had decried the work, entitled “Trans Forming Liberty,” as an effort “to reinterpret one of our nation’s most sacred symbols through a divisive and ideological lens.”

“Trans Forming Liberty,” Sherald said of the painting, “challenges who we allow to embody our national symbols—and who we erase.” The portrait, no longer headed to Washington, graced the cover of this week’s New Yorker instead.