Democracy Dies in Darkness

Smithsonian removes Trump impeachment text as it swaps his portrait

A Trump official previously complained about a caption beside his National Portrait Gallery photo mentioning his impeachments and the U.S. Capitol insurrection.

January 10, 2026 at 5:26 p.m. ESTYesterday at 5:26 p.m. EST

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Visitors view an updated portrait of President Donald Trump, with abridged text adjoining it, on Saturday at the National Portrait Gallery in D.C. (Maxine Wallace/The Washington Post)

By Samantha Chery

Janay Kingsberry

and

Kelsey Ables

The National Portrait Gallery removed a swath of text that mentioned President Donald Trump’s two impeachments and the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection as it swapped out a prominent photo of him this week.

Trump and the White House posted on social media Friday and Saturday to highlight the updated portrait in the “America’s Presidents” exhibition, which now features a framed black-and-white photo by White House photographer Daniel Torok. It shows Trump staring intensely, with his fists on the Resolute Desk — an image the president first shared on his Truth Social account last year.

What readers are saying

The comments overwhelmingly criticize the Smithsonian's decision to remove references to Trump's impeachments and the January 6 insurrection from his portrait display. Many commenters express concern about rewriting history and compare the action to authoritarian practices. They... Show more

This summary is AI-generated. AI can make mistakes and this summary is not a replacement for reading the comments.

By Samantha Chery

Samantha Chery is a breaking news reporter in Features. Previously, she was a multiplatform editor for The Washington Post's gender and identity team. She joined The Post in 2022 as a reporting intern for the Features desk.@SamanthaBChery

By Janay Kingsberry

Janay Kingsberry is an arts reporter for Style where she covers prominent cultural institutions, including the Smithsonian, the Kennedy Center, the National Endowment for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Humanities. Send her secure messages on Signal at janaykingsberry.29@janaykingsberry

By Kelsey Ables

Kelsey Ables is an arts reporter covering museums, arts institutions and architecture in D.C. and across the U.S. She was previously a breaking-news reporter/editor at The Washington Post's Seoul hub and started at The Post in 2019 on the Features desk, where she wrote about art and architecture. @ables_kelsey

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