TL;DR:
• Kim Sajet, the director of the Smithsonian Institution’s National Portrait Gallery, has continued to report for work. Top congressional Democrats have asserted the president does not have legal authority for the firing.
• The Smithsonian is not a traditional government agency nor part of the executive branch. It is composed of a mix of officials from all three branches of government and members of the public.
• Trump is not without allies on the Smithsonian board, including Vice President JD Vance who, like Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr, is a member of its board.
• It follows an executive order he issued on March 27 titled “Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History,” which aims to “restore the Smithsonian. to its rightful place as a symbol of inspiration and American greatness” A 35-year-old special assistant and senior staff secretary, Lindsey Halligan, instigated the order, in part, by early-2025 visit to show “The Shape of Power: Race and the American Sculpture”.