President Donald Trump has fired Kim Sajet, Director of the National Portrait Gallery, citing her support for diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) as the reason for her dismissal. In a statement posted to Truth Social, Trump described Sajet as “highly partisan” and asserted that her DEI advocacy was “totally inappropriate for her position.” He added that her replacement would be named shortly.
The firing follows growing criticism of the gallery under Sajet’s leadership, including controversy over the caption for a portrait of Trump. The caption noted his two impeachments and his historic return to office in 2024. A White House official claimed the language contradicted Sajet’s prior statements about the gallery’s commitment to avoiding editorial bias and focusing solely on historical fact.
In November, Sajet gave a keynote address at the Smithsonian’s Richardson Symposium, where she openly discussed the gallery’s engagement with identity politics. She spoke of America’s struggle with discrimination and inequality and criticized what she called the “racially insensitive” and “factually untruthful” tone of recent elections. She also defended the gallery’s inclusion of figures like Margaret Sanger and transgender activist Sylvia Rivera as part of its mission to broaden historical representation.
Sajet’s removal marks another high-profile personnel change in the Trump administration, which has begun targeting officials perceived as obstacles to its agenda. In recent weeks, Trump also dismissed Shira Perlmutter, head of the U.S. Copyright Office, and Carla Hayden, the Librarian of Congress.
Within hours of taking office on January 20, Trump signed an executive order eliminating all DEI programs from the federal government, signaling a dramatic cultural and bureaucratic shift in his second term.
