President Donald Trump was impeached twice in his first term as president, but visitors to Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery will not read about them.
That’s because any reference to those impeachments were removed when his portrait in an exhibition of U.S. presidents was replaced last week, per Mediaite.
The original text included, “Impeached twice, on charges of abuse of power and incitement of insurrection after supporters attacked the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021, he was acquitted by the Senate in both trials.”
When his portrait was replaced on Thursday, all text was removed, except for Trump’s birth year and naming him as the 45th and 47th president.
The portrait was replaced with one taken by White House photographer Daniel Torok.
As of Sunday, Trump’s display was the only one that did not include extended text.
For instance, the text for former President Bill Clinton’s portrait reads he was impeached for “lying while under oath about a sexual relationship he had with a White House intern.”
The gallery said in a statement the change was part of planned update to the exhibit. It added it had previously rotated two photographs of Trump from its collection before hanging Torok’s photo.
“The museum is beginning its planned update of the America’s Presidents gallery which will undergo a larger refresh this Spring,” the gallery statement said, per the Associated Press. “For some new exhibitions and displays, the museum has been exploring quotes or tombstone labels, which provide only general information, such as the artist’s name.”
White House spokesman Davis Ingle said in a statement Torok’s portrait was an “iconic photo” of Trump and “his unmatched aura will be seen and felt throughout the halls of the National Portrait Gallery.”
This is not the first time the Smithsonian removed mention of Trump’s impeachments.
In July, the National Museum of American History removed – and then restored – mentions of the impeachment proceedings from an exhibit entitled “The American Presidency: A Glorious Burden.”
Trump has criticized what he refers to as the institution’s “woke” practices.
In August, Trump posted on Truth Social where he attacked the Smithsonian Museum for many things, including showing “how bad slavery was.”
“This Country cannot be WOKE, because WOKE IS BROKE. We have the “HOTTEST” Country in the World, and we want people to talk about it, including in our Museums,” Trump posted.
