Amna Nawaz
@PBSNewsHour·5.3M subscribers·62.2K videos
WATCH: Rep. Fallon questions museum director Anthea Hartig in Smithsonian oversight hearing
Posted
July 21, 2026
Views
4,147
Likes
34
Engagement
0.82%
July 21, 2026
4,147
34
0.82%
Every word spoken in this episode is indexed. Type any phrase to jump straight to the moment it was said.
Type any word or phrase that may have been spoken. Click a result to seek the player to that exact moment.
Try a name, a topic, or a quoted line
Episode Timeline
Every episode in order around the one you’re watching — click any card and the page flips straight to it.
5:19Now PlayingRep. Pat Fallon, R-Texas, questioned Anthea Hartig, director of the National Museum of American History, on Tuesday in a House Oversight subcommittee hearing.
In announcing the hearing, the Republican-led committee claimed that the “Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History is promoting a narrow, politically tendentious agenda instead of seeking to instill in visitors an appreciation for America’s unique history as a beacon of liberty, democracy, and opportunity.”
In President Donald Trump’s second term, his administration has sought to clamp down on how American history is framed in public spaces, removing exhibits from national parks on slavery and violence against Native Americans. On July 4, the White House released a 162-page report called “Saving America’s Story” that alleged that the National Museum of American History has moved “away from straightforward historical education and scholarship toward an extreme political activism that seeks to transform our country.”
The Smithsonian has pushed back against that characterization.
“For more than 180 years, the Smithsonian has served the American public with nonpartisan and independent scholarship, and we remain committed to doing so,” it said in a statement earlier this month.
The hearing is one of two scheduled for this week in the House focused on the Smithsonian.
Sign up for Here's The Deal with Lisa Desjardins
Subscribe for exclusive content in our newsletters
PBS News podcasts
Stream your PBS favorites with the PBS app
Find more from PBS News at
Subscribe to our YouTube channel
Sentinel Indexing in Progress
Metadata and chapters are available. Claim extraction for this episode is pending.
All video content is delivered via YouTube embedded players in accordance with the YouTube Terms of Service. Sentinel provides research tools that promote discovery and accountability across political media.
