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Smithsonian Says It Wasn’t Pressured to Remove Trump References From Impeachment Exhibit
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People visit the Smithsonian Museum of American History on the National Mall in Washington, on April 3, 2019. (Pablo Martinez Monsivais, File /AP Photo)
By Jacob Burg
8/3/2025Updated: 8/3/2025

The Smithsonian said on Aug. 2 that it was not compelled by any presidential administration or government official to remove references to President Donald Trump’s two impeachments from an exhibit and plans to include them in an updated display “in the coming weeks.”

Some had criticized the museum after discovering that Trump was no longer included in an exhibit of impeached presidents at the National Museum of American History on the National Mall in Washington.

“We were not asked by any Administration or other government official to remove content from the exhibit,” the Smithsonian said in a statement.

Phillip Zimmerman, a Smithsonian spokesperson, had previously said that a “future and updated exhibit will include all impeachments” but did not specify exactly when the new exhibit would be unveiled.

In 2021, the museum added a label referencing Trump’s two impeachments at the National Museum of American History’s exhibit on U.S. presidents, in a display called “Limits of Presidential Power.”

That display features documents and visuals on the impeachments of Presidents Andrew Johnson and Bill Clinton, as well as the Watergate scandal that preceded President Richard Nixon’s resignation in 1974.

“As the keeper of memory for the nation, it is our privilege and responsibility to tell accurate and complete histories,” the museum stated. “As has been recently reported, in July, a placard was removed from the National Museum of American History’s exhibit ‘The American Presidency: A Glorious Burden.’ The intent of the Impeachment section of the exhibit is to reflect all impeachment proceedings in our nation’s history.”

The Smithsonian said the reference to Trump’s two impeachments was “meant to be a temporary addition to a twenty-five year-old exhibition” and “did not meet the museum’s standards in appearance, location, timeline, and overall presentation.”

“It was not consistent with other sections in the exhibit and moreover blocked the view of the objects inside its case. For these reasons, we removed the placard,” it said.

Trump is the only president to be impeached twice. The Democrat-controlled House of Representatives first impeached him in 2019 for allegedly pushing Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to investigate Joe Biden, who became the Democratic Party’s presidential nominee the following year and went on to win the 2020 election.

The House impeached Trump again in 2021, one week before his term expired, accusing him of “incitement of insurrection” over the events at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, when Trump supporters breached the building.

Although the Democratic majority in the House voted to impeach Trump both times, the Republican majority in the Senate acquitted Trump in both cases.

In late March, Trump signed an executive order to remove what he called “improper, divisive, or anti-American ideology” from facilities operated by the Smithsonian Institute, including its museums, its research centers, and the National Zoo.

“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 states. “This shift has promoted narratives that portray American and Western values as inherently harmful and oppressive.”

The order did not reference the “Limits on Presidential Power” exhibit or the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History.

Aldgra Fredly and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Jacob Burg reports on national politics, aerospace, and aviation for The Epoch Times. He previously covered sports, regional politics, and breaking news for the Sarasota Herald Tribune.

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