The Smithsonian Institution, which oversees the National Museum of American History in Washington, DC, said on Saturday that it removed the “temporary” placard because it failed to meet the museum’s standards regarding “appearance, location, timeline, and overall presentation.”

“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 institution said in a statement. “We were not asked by any administration or other government officials to remove content from the exhibit.”

The Smithsonian, which manages 21 museums and the National Zoo, said the impeachment section of the museum would be updated in the coming weeks to “reflect all impeachment proceedings in our nation’s history.”

The statement follows a report by The Washington Post on Thursday that the museum had removed explicit references to Trump’s impeachments last month, resulting in the exhibit incorrectly stating that “only three presidents have seriously faced removal.”

The Post, citing an unnamed source familiar with the exhibit plans, said the display was taken down after a “content review that the Smithsonian agreed to undertake following pressure from the White House to remove an art museum director.”

The museum’s decision sparked swift backlash, with critics of Trump portraying the move as a capitulation to the demands of an authoritarian-leaning president. “You can run, but you cannot hide from the judgment of history,” Democratic Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said on Friday.

“So here’s my message to the president: No matter what exhibits you try to distort, the American people will never forget that you were impeached – not once, but twice.”

Since returning to office, Trump has moved quickly to assert greater control over political, cultural, and media institutions as part of his “Make America Great Again” agenda. In March, the US president signed an executive order directing the removal of “improper ideology” from Smithsonian properties and denying funding to exhibits that “degrade shared American values” or “divide Americans based on race.”

During his first term, Trump was impeached twice by the House of Representatives, in 2019 and 2021, though he was acquitted by the Senate on both occasions. He was the third US president to be impeached, after Andrew Johnson and Bill Clinton, and the only one to be impeached twice. Former President Richard Nixon faced near-certain impeachment before resigning in 1974 amid the Watergate scandal. (Al Jazeera)