The director of the Smithsonian’s Nationwide Museum of American Historical past (MNAH) defended its work in a congressional listening to on Tuesday morning amid sharp criticism from the White House over the contents of the Washington, D.C. museum.
“Our work is ruled by the Smithsonian requirements of scholarship, accuracy, independence, and nonpartisanship,” Anthea Hartig mentioned. “The museum doesn’t take sides in America’s political debates. We protect and doc the proof of American life in all of its breadth, in order that the general public can encounter the previous and draw their very own conclusions.”
Hartig’s feedback got here throughout her opening remarks to lawmakers in a Home Subcommittee on Delivering Authorities Effectivity listening to titled “Rewriting American Historical past: Inspecting the Smithsonian’s Efforts to Reshape the Previous.”
She can also be anticipated to testify in a associated listening to on Wednesday earlier than the Committee on Home Administration, a committee spokesperson confirmed to ABC Information.
Hartig was named in a scathing White House Domestic Policy Council report launched on July 4, accusing the MNAH and its management of participating in “excessive political activism” and presenting “a radical view of American historical past.”
She pushed again in opposition to the report’s findings on Tuesday.
“The Smithsonian takes the considerations raised within the White Home Home Coverage Council’s report critically, and as we proceed to fact-check the report, we unwaveringly attest that it doesn’t pretty or precisely characterize the total physique of labor on the museum,” Hartig mentioned. “There may be all the time room for enchancment, however I additionally know the sweetness and the inspiration and the experience that lies in our collections, our displays, and our programming.”
Requested concerning the report, a spokesperson for the Smithsonian advised ABC Information on July 5 that the establishment stays dedicated to neutral studying.
“For greater than 180 years, the Smithsonian has served the American public with nonpartisan and unbiased scholarship, and we stay dedicated to doing so,” the spokesperson mentioned.
Anthea M. Hartig arrives for the Smithsonian Celebration of Asian Pacific Individuals in Los Angeles on Could 18, 2019.
Michael Tran/AFP by way of Getty Photographs
Hartig’s testimony this week marks the primary time {that a} high chief on the Smithsonian will get grilled publicly by Congress after President Donald Trump focused the establishment in his March 27, 2025 govt order, “Restoring Fact and Sanity to American Historical past.”
The chief order directed Vice President J.D. Vance, in session with the president’s advisers on home coverage, “to take away improper ideology” from Smithsonian establishments, arguing that supplies that solid America in a “adverse mild” don’t have any place in federal cultural establishments.
The White Home final yr launched an investigation into the Smithsonian, which oversees 21 museums, galleries and the nationwide zoo, and launched the July 4 report focusing on the American historical past museum as a part of this probe.
The Smithsonian American Historical past Museum on July 07, 2026 in Washington, DC.
Finn Gomez/Getty Photographs
The report accuses the museum of “anti-White activism,” “unlawful alien activism,” and “transgender activism.” It additionally consists of many photographs of supplies the White Home has recognized as problematic.
It additionally accused the museum’s leaders of not loving America.
“The intense considerations raised on this report aren’t about a number of displays or a number of controversial labels,” the report says. “Because it stands at present, it could profit most Individuals, particularly dad and mom bringing their youngsters for a tour, if the Smithsonian’s flagship historical past museum had a label at each entrance that reads: ‘Warning: the displays on this museum have been ready by individuals who don’t desire you to like your nation.'”
Hartig pushed again in opposition to this declare on Tuesday and invited lawmakers to go to the museum to view its contents themselves.
“I consider what you’ll discover, madams and sirs, just isn’t an establishment that has forgotten its nation, however one which loves it sufficient to inform the total sweep of historical past, our triumphs and our struggles,” she mentioned. “I like the USA of America. I think about it the privilege of my profession to assist protect its treasures and serve the American individuals.”
Vince Haley, the Director of the White Home Home Coverage Council, mentioned in a press release to ABC Information that “No American desires the Smithsonian’s Nationwide Museum of American Historical past to be a system of ideological activism.”
“Sadly, the report demonstrates that’s precisely what the Smithsonian’s flagship museum has turn out to be,” he mentioned. “It’s our hope and expectation that the Smithsonian will ultimately rise as soon as once more to that noble obligation — to inform America’s story for our kids, the world, and future generations of Individuals,” he added.
Secretary of the Smithsonian Establishment Lonnie Bunch speaks throughout an occasion on the Smithsonian Nationwide Museum of American Historical past on February 20, 2026 in Washington, DC.
Anna Moneymaker/Getty Photographs
Smithsonian Secretary Lonnie Bunch, who has not addressed the report publicly, disputed its findings in an inside letter to workers that was obtained by ABC Information.
Bunch wrote that Smithsonian management is “fastidiously” reviewing the report’s findings, however mentioned that the report’s evaluation is “not a good characterization.
“Whereas there’ll all the time be room for enchancment, this report just isn’t a good characterization of the work and totality of the Nationwide Museum of American Historical past,” Bunch mentioned within the letter. “On the Smithsonian, our work is pushed by scholarship, accuracy, and an uncompromising dedication to inform the fullness of America’s story.”
“As public servants and the keepers of this establishment, we’re charged with serving to a nation discover understanding, hope, and readability and as a part of that responsibility, we’re devoted to excellence, reflection, and progress,” Bunch added.
ABC Information’ Tesfaye Negussie and Mariam Khan contributed to this report.
