{"id":32430,"date":"2026-08-08T12:24:24","date_gmt":"2026-08-08T07:24:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=32430"},"modified":"2026-08-08T12:24:24","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T07:24:24","slug":"lisa-murkowski-jeff-merkley-demand-answers-on-donald-trumps-smithsonian-disclaimers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=32430","title":{"rendered":"Lisa Murkowski, Jeff Merkley demand answers on Donald Trump&#8217;s Smithsonian disclaimers"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><script>\r\n  atOptions = {\r\n    'key' : '644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6',\r\n    'format' : 'iframe',\r\n    'height' : 90,\r\n    'width' : 728,\r\n    'params' : {}\r\n  };\r\n<\/script>\r\n<script src=\"https:\/\/www.highperformanceformat.com\/644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<br \/>\n<br \/><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/thehill.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/07\/6a4a99695ffab6.33276864.jpeg?w=900\" \/><\/p>\n<div>\n<p>\n        <iframe id=\"instaread_iframe\" width=\"100%\" height=\"100%\" scrolling=\"no\" frameborder=\"0\" loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Audio Article\" style=\"display:block\" data-pin-nopin=\"true\"><\/iframe>\n    <\/p>\n<p><\/instaread-player><\/p>\n<p>A bipartisan pair of lawmakers are requesting more information from the Trump administration about its <a href=\"https:\/\/thehill.com\/homenews\/administration\/5989724-trump-orders-smithsonian-disclaimer\/\">plans to install disclaimers<\/a> outside of the Smithsonian\u2019s National Museum of American History.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>GOP Sen. Lisa Murkowski (Alaska) and Democratic Sen. Jeff Merkley (Ore.) \u2014 the chair and ranking member, respectively, on the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies \u2014 expressed concern about the project in a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.murkowski.senate.gov\/imo\/media\/doc\/doi_letter_smithsonian.pdf\">Thursday letter<\/a> to Interior Secretary Doug Burgum.\u00a0<\/p>\n<aside class=\"ad-unit ad-unit--mr1_ab\">\n<\/aside>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.whitehouse.gov\/presidential-actions\/2026\/07\/restoring-trust-in-the-smithsonian-institution-e061\/\">Executive Order 14416<\/a>, \u201cRestoring Trust in the Smithsonian Institution,\u201d compels Burgum, alongside National Park Service Director Jessica Bowron and the assistant to the president for domestic policy, to install temporary signage outside of the museum to warn visitors about alleged inaccuracies included in its exhibits.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFor the past 180 years, the Smithsonian Institution has been committed to sharing objective historical evidence through research and education, not political narratives,\u201d the lawmakers wrote.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe Smithsonian Institution has worked tirelessly to present a comprehensive narrative of our nation\u2019s amazing history, from its many triumphs to its trials,\u201d they continued. \u201cThere is nothing more American than telling our story truthfully.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The signage installation project is the latest in President Trump\u2019s and his administration\u2019s efforts to crack down on the Smithsonian Institution over exhibits they say do not align with their view of American history.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>In his executive order last month, the president cited the results of a report produced by the White House Domestic Policy Council, which conducted a months-long review of the museum\u2019s exhibits.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe Report demonstrates that the Smithsonian leadership does not present American history as a shared national inheritance to be taught and celebrated, but instead views American history as a \u2018prime tool\u2019 to advance ideas of social justice and the radical transformation of our society,\u201d the president said in his executive order.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<aside class=\"ad-unit ad-unit--mr2_ab\">\n<\/aside>\n<p>The Smithsonian Institution declined to comment at the time the order was issued.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Murkowski and Merkley requested that the Interior secretary provide Congress with more information about these disclaimers, including the cost of their installation, a map displaying the signs\u2019 locations and quantity and the length of their \u201ctemporary\u201d installation.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The Hill has reached out to the Interior Department for comment.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>Copyright 2026 Nexstar Media Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.<\/p>\n<script async=\"async\" data-cfasync=\"false\" src=\"https:\/\/pl30214220.effectivecpmnetwork.com\/9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<div id=\"container-9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\"><\/div>\r\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A bipartisan pair of lawmakers are requesting more information from the Trump administration about its plans to install disclaimers outside of the Smithsonian\u2019s National Museum of American History.\u00a0 GOP Sen. Lisa Murkowski (Alaska) and Democratic Sen. Jeff Merkley (Ore.) \u2014 the chair and ranking member, respectively, on the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Interior, Environment, and&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":32431,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/thehill.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/07\/6a4a99695ffab6.33276864.jpeg?w=1280","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-32430","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-political-news"],"brizy_media":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32430","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=32430"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32430\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/32431"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=32430"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=32430"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=32430"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}