Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-CO) grilled a Smithsonian history official, accusing her of dividing Americans and making white people “feel guilty.”
National Museum of American History Director Anthea Hartig testified Tuesday before the House Oversight Committee’s Delivering on Government Efficiency subcommittee. It was, according to ABC News, the first time a top Smithsonian leader had faced public congressional scrutiny since President Donald Trump targeted the institution.
Boebert opened by accusing Hartig of pushing “a racial narrative that divides Americans by their skin color and by guilt” at a taxpayer-funded institution.
“So you’re using taxpayer funds to divide our country by racism and guilt?” Boebert demanded.
“No, ma’am. I’m using the power of history —” Hartig replied.
“And are you rewriting that history?” Boebert pressed.
“No, ma’am,” Hartig said.
Boebert then lashed out at Hartig’s past statements, alleging that the museum director believed people were “being cushioned by white privilege and being propped up by your whiteness.”
“Is that what you care about?” Boebert asked. “Just racism and making people feel guilty?”
“No, ma’am,” Hartig replied. “I care about the full richness of the American past.”
The exchange came as the Trump administration has spent more than a year targeting the Smithsonian, ABC News reported. In March 2025, Trump signed an executive order directing Vice President JD Vance to eliminate “divisive race-centered ideology” from Smithsonian museums.
Earlier this month, a White House report titled “Saving America’s Story” named Hartig dozens of times and called her “an activist advancing an ideological agenda contradictory to the museum’s founding purpose of fostering patriotism.”
During Tuesday’s hearing, Boebert also pressed Hartig on abortion, demanding to know where the museum’s compassion was for “the babies that were killed.”
“I’m not here at this hearing to discuss that,” Hartig said — twice.
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