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Smithsonian to restore Trump to impeachment exhibit ‘in the coming weeks’

The Smithsonian said on Saturday that it would restore information about President Donald Trump’s two impeachments to an exhibit in the National Museum of American History “in the coming weeks.” The Washington Post reported on Thursday that in July, the museum removed a placard describing Trump's impeachments and reverted the exhibit to how it looked in 2008. That display says that “only three presidents have seriously faced removal” - Andrew Johnson, Richard M. Nixon and Bill Clinton.

The change to the exhibition, “The American Presidency: A Glorious Burden,” occurred following a “review of legacy content,” which a person familiar with exhibit plans said the Smithsonian agreed to perform after Trump attempted to fire a Smithsonian art museum director earlier this year.

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On Saturday, the Smithsonian released a statement saying, “We were not asked by any Administration or other government official to remove content from the exhibit.”

“The placard, which was meant to be a temporary addition to a twenty-five year-old exhibition, did not meet the museum’s standards in appearance, location, timeline, and overall presentation,” the statement read. “It was not consistent with other sections in the exhibit and moreover blocked the view of the objects inside its case. For these reasons, we removed the placard.”

“The section in question, Impeachment, will be updated in the coming weeks to reflect all impeachment proceedings in our nation’s history,” the statement concluded.

National Museum of American History spokeswoman Valeska Hilbig told The Washington Post that the museum had made no other changes as part of the content review.