Trump's denouncement of National Portrait Gallery director prompts Smithsonian review

On 30 May, Donald Trump publicly denounced Kim Sajet, director of the National Portrait Gallery in Washington DC, in a Truth Social post saying he was "terminating the employment of Kim Sajet" and calling her "a highly partisan person" and a "strong supporter" of diversity and inclusion programmes.

The Smithsonian’s secretary, Lonnie Bunch III, and the board of regents disputed that the president had the authority to fire her; Sajet left the gallery on 12 June, saying she would "step outside of the maelstrom." The episode followed wider moves by the administration on cultural institutions.

An executive order published on 27 March, titled Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History, claimed the Smithsonian had "come under the influence of a divisive, race-centred ideology" and assigned Lindsey Halligan to lead removals of that "improper ideology." The Smithsonian held emergency board meetings in early June and affirmed that hiring and firing powers lay with Bunch, even as people familiar with the meetings said the vice-president, JD Vance, had personally called for Sajet’s removal.

Key Topics

Culture, Kim Sajet, Smithsonian Institution, Donald Trump, National Portrait Gallery, Lindsey Halligan