Trump history purge sparks combative House hearing

Democrats say the nation’s 250th anniversary is being overshadowed by removals of history and science exhibits at national parks.

February 11, 2026

A House Natural Resources hearing intended to showcase plans for the nation's semiquincentennial devolved into a forum on the Trump administration’s recent efforts to purge national parks of negative history.

Democrats dominated Tuesday's nearly three-hour Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations hearing convened by Chair Paul Gosar (R-Ariz.) with warnings that the celebration of America’s 250th anniversary is being overshadowed by the Trump administration’s removals of U.S. history and science exhibits at national parks.

“How the hell do we know how far we've come if we erase the history? How is that patriotic?" asked Oregon Democratic Rep. Val Hoyle, during a terse exchange with a Republican colleague.

Democrats also used the session to repeatedly slam the Trump administration for using a National Park Service nonprofit to gather anonymous donations for the president’s suite of celebrations for the country’s 250th anniversary.

“This leaves us all guessing which one of Donald Trump's billionaire buddies and which foreign interests are buying access,” said Oregon Rep. Maxine Dexter, the subcommittee’s top Democrat. “Hiding the flow of money means we never get to know whether he is selling more than access to his donors.”

The hearing underscores the bitter partisan divide that's emerged amid planning for the nation's anniversary.

Park and public land nonprofit leaders, called to testify about the boon of government-private partnerships, barely shared their perspectives during the hearing, which centered instead on how national parks are removing historical content that's run afoul of the White House's demand for "uplifting" history, including references to slavery, climate change and queer Americans.

The White House launched the brand "Freedom 250" as an umbrella for all its 2026 festivities. Those plans include sending mobile museums — called "Freedom Trucks" — across the country, erecting a statue garden of U.S. historical figures and holding a fight on the White House grounds.

Freedom 250 is also the name of a limited liability company set up by the National Park Foundation (NPF) to handle some funds for this year’s events, which has sparked confusion over public and private funding.

Rep. Chellie Pingree (D-Maine), the ranking member on the Appropriations subcommittee that governs the National Park Service budget, said she was concerned about transparency on how those NPF funds are being handled and their ties to a Trump initiative “perceived to be peddling political propaganda and whitewashing history.”

Jeff Reinbold, CEO of the National Park Foundation, downplayed those concerns. He said NPF was asked by the park service to receive money for the events in parks this year and serve as a fiduciary. NPF, which was commissioned by Congress to help raise financial support for parks, follows NPS guidelines for accepting donations, he said.

“They did not ask us to raise money but to hold the money and disperse it at their request,” he said. “Our role is, quite honestly, to serve somewhat as the banker.”

Tim Whitehouse, executive director of Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, slammed the administration's use of the park nonprofit, saying it sets a bad precedent and risks quid pro quo favors to anonymous donors.

“This is an effort by the Trump administration to move money off the books and to mix public money and private funds for partisan purposes,” he said.

Negative history

Democrats focused largely on the Trump administration's attempts to excise recognition of negative events in the nation's history.

The removals of informational signs and displays are being carried out in compliance with an executive order Trump signed last year that mandates federal sites limit content to "uplifting" U.S. history.

The order slammed “revisionist” history that focuses too heavily on the country’s sinsm such as slavery and oppression of women and minority groups.

Rep. Sydney Kamlager-Dove (D-Calif.) displayed reproductions of a slavery exhibit dismantledby the Trump administration last month at Independence National Historical Park in Philadelphia. The removals have sparked a lawsuit.

“They want to hide behind an executive order about not disparaging Americans, as if telling the truth about slavery is some kind of insult, rather than a basic duty of a democratic society,” Kamlager-Dove said.

Rep. Adelita Grijalva (D-Ariz.) drew attention to an order at Grand Canyon, reported by the Washington Post, to remove signs that described the forced removal of Indigenous people.

“This was not a neutral administrative change. It was a choice to obscure a painful, consequential chapter of American history,” she said. “It misleads the public. It violates federal trust and responsibility.”

Alan Spears, senior director of cultural resources at the National Parks Conservation Association, said his organization opposes "ongoing efforts to sanitize or erase American history, as it's told in our national parks."

Spears said rangers were struggling with the order to remove content and that Americans deserve to know their history.

"We are citizens of a nation with a fascinating, diverse and complex history. We need the leadership of the National Park Service, unimpaired, to help us enhance our understanding of our shared experiences when it comes to American history. We want the full story," he said.

Rep. Addison McDowell, a North Carolina Republican, accused Democrats of failing to celebrate the country’s achievements. He said the testimony Tuesday critical of the Trump administration betrayed “ideological grievances” and a “deeply misguided and dark vision of America.”

“You might believe from their remarks that the United States is not the greatest experiment in human history, but an ongoing crime scene,” he said.

That prompted Hoyle's response, in which she agreed the nation should be celebrated but asked how erasing history is patriotic.

The sometimes-combative hearing caught the attention of other nonprofits critical of the Trump administration’s fundraising who demanded that Congress call Interior Secretary Doug Burgum to testify on these actions.

“Interior Secretary Doug Burgum must testify in person to lawmakers about why he is distorting America's 250th anniversary to cover up vital but painful truths about our past and tell a complete story about the country’s history,” said Lisa Gilbert, co-president of Public Citizen, in a statement following the hearing.

Government or God?

Lawmakers on Tuesday also got into a tense disagreement over the religious roots of the nation.

California Rep. Jared Huffman, the top Democrat on the full committee, took aim at what he called the conservative Christian tone of the Freedom 250 messaging.

The administration's Freedom Trucks are mobile museums with content curated in part by Hillsdale College, a conservative Christian college in Michigan, according to reporting by the New York Times.

Freedom 250 is also planing a faith gathering on the National Mall titled a "National Jubilee of Prayer, Praise and Thanksgiving.” Huffman argued that the nation has secular roots that have been "obscured by a Christian Nationalist fiction."

Natural Resources Chair Bruce Westerman (R-Ark.) appeared frustrated by Democrats’ critiques of Christian nationalism. He asked each of the panelists — including Jeff Trandahl, CEO of the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation; Dieter Fenkart-Froeschl, CEO of the National Forest Foundation; and I Ling Thompson, CEO of the Foundation for America’s Public Lands — to raise their hands if they believed their rights were granted by the government or by god.

“I challenge you, before July the Fourth, to maybe reflect on where our rights come from,” Westerman said.


By:  Heather Richards
Source: E&E Daily