"No pressure from the White House" US museum removes references to Trump trial
Was it political influence or pure curatorial routine? The Smithsonian Museum has removed references to Trump's double impeachment - and emphasizes: not under pressure from the White House.
03.08.2025, 11:18
03.08.2025, 11:23
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- The Smithsonian explained that references to Trump's impeachment proceedings were removed from the national museum for design reasons and not because of pressure from the White House.
- Media reports had previously claimed that the removal was part of a politically motivated content review at the request of the Trump administration.
- Since taking office in January, Trump has increased his influence on cultural institutions and in March issued a decree on the ideological realignment of the Smithsonian museums.
The references to the previous impeachment proceedings against US President Donald Trump in the National Museum of History have not been removed due to pressure from the White House, according to the institution's umbrella organization. The notices previously displayed at the National Museum of American History in Washington had only served as temporary information, the Smithsonian, the research and educational institution responsible for the museum, explained on Saturday in the online service X.
The notices "did not meet the museum's standards for appearance, placement, timing, and overall presentation," Smithsonian added.
The notices would not have matched other parts of the exhibition and would have blocked the view of objects displayed in a glass case. "For these reasons", the notices were removed. "We have not been asked by any government or other state representatives to remove any content from the exhibition," it continued.
Trump twists the truth
The Washington Post reported on Friday that the National Museum of American History had removed references to the previous impeachment proceedings against Trump from its exhibition. This was done as part of a content review, which Smithsonian agreed to under pressure from the White House.
According to the report, a sign in the museum currently states that only three presidents in US history have been "seriously confronted with impeachment". The Democrats Andrew Johnson and Bill Clinton are named, as well as the Republican Richard Nixon, who resigned in 1974 before he could be removed from office.
Trump takes tough action
Trump is the only president to have faced two impeachment proceedings. He survived them in his first term of office (2017 to 2021) because the Republicans loyal to him defeated the proceedings in the Senate.
Since taking office again in January, Trump has been cracking down on cultural institutions and what he sees as their left-wing ideology. In March, he signed a decree to restore the Smithsonian's 20 or so national museums as "symbols of inspiration and American greatness" and to "remove inappropriate ideologies". He entrusted Vice President JD Vance with this task.
