Trump sacks portrait gallery director over DEI support
Trump Removes National Portrait Gallery Director Over DEI Stance
Former President Donald Trump announced Friday that he had dismissed Kim Sajet, the director of the National Portrait Gallery in Washington, D.C., citing her support for diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) policies as grounds for her removal.
Trump, posting on his Truth Social platform, provided no concrete examples of Sajet’s actions or statements that prompted the decision. He simply stated, “Upon the request and recommendation of many people, I am herby terminating the employment of Kim Sajet.” The post included a spelling error in “hereby.”
Sajet, who made history as the first woman to lead the gallery, has overseen the institution since 2013. The gallery, part of the Smithsonian Institution, houses over 26,000 portraits, including those of every U.S. president.
The Smithsonian receives a large portion of its funding from Congress, but it operates independently from direct government control, raising questions about whether Trump has the authority to dismiss Sajet.
Neither Sajet nor representatives from the Smithsonian or the gallery responded immediately to media requests for comment.
This move is part of a broader push by Trump to challenge DEI-focused leadership and reshape the cultural institutions of the nation’s capital. He has recently removed members from the Kennedy Center’s board and assumed the role of chairman himself.
Critics say such efforts threaten to undo decades of work aimed at achieving representation and equity for historically marginalized groups. Trump’s allies argue that DEI policies promote unfair advantages and undermine merit-based systems.
Sajet, born in Nigeria and trained as an art historian, has been a vocal advocate for highlighting underrepresented voices in American art. In a 2015 interview with The Washington Post, she questioned the gallery’s lack of diversity, asking, “Where are all the women and African Americans?” She emphasized the challenge of representing those historically left out of visual records, noting, “We can’t correct the ills of history… How are we going to show the presence of absence?
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