Four Democratic senators urge Smithsonian to resist White House attempts to 'bully the institution'

"In a letter sent Friday to the Smithsonian Institution's secretary, Lonnie G. Bunch, Sen. Alex Padilla (D-Calif.) and three other Democratic senators urged Bunch to resist any attempts by the White House to "bully the institution to go against its mission and values." The letter from the four Senate Democrats comes weeks after President Trump called the Smithsonian and museums "all over the Country essentially, the last remaining segment of 'WOKE.'""

"Within the letter, the senators asserted that oversight of the Smithsonian rests with Congress from its founding, not the White House. "As you know," the senators wrote in part, "the Smithsonian Institution is a national treasure, and it is also a public-private partnership managed as an independent federal trust. It is not an executive agency over which the President can exert unilateral control over its historical, scientific or artistic content. The Institution was created by Congress t"

Senators Alex Padilla, Catherine Cortez Masto, Gary Peters, and Jeffrey Merkley urged Smithsonian secretary Lonnie G. Bunch to resist White House attempts to bully the institution away from its mission and values. President Trump criticized the Smithsonian on Truth Social, saying the institution emphasizes how horrible the country is, the harms of slavery, and the downtrodden's lack of accomplishment while offering nothing about success or the future. The White House released an unsigned memo criticizing 22 exhibitions and programs, though some criticized exhibits were temporary and are no longer on view. Two senators serve on the Board of Regents and one chairs relevant appropriations oversight for Smithsonian funding. The senators asserted that congressional oversight — not presidential unilateral control — governs the Smithsonian, which operates as a public-private partnership and independent federal trust.

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