Doug Emhoff, husband of former Vice President Kamala Harris, was removed from the board of the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington on Tuesday, April 29, 2025, following a presidential decision to revise previous appointments. The dismissal is widely seen as politically motivated, part of President Donald Trump’s broader effort to break with the Biden-era administration.
A new chapter in the American political transition has opened with controversy. Doug Emhoff, a Jewish attorney and prominent advocate against antisemitism during his wife’s vice presidency, announced his removal from the museum’s board—calling it a dangerous politicization of Holocaust remembrance.
“Holocaust memory and education should never be politicized,” Emhoff warned in a public statement.
The museum’s board consists of 63 members, the majority of whom are appointed by the sitting U.S. president. Trump, now back in office, has begun systematically removing Biden-era appointees. Among those already ousted are Ron Klain, Biden’s former chief of staff, and Susan Rice, a senior adviser to Barack Obama.
A targeted purge of cultural institutions
This move is part of Trump’s broader strategy to reshape America’s cultural landscape. In mid-February, he dismissed several Kennedy Center board members, criticizing their support for what he called “shameful drag queen performances.”
By late March, he went further, signing an executive order to regain control over the Smithsonian museums, accusing them of promoting “ideological indoctrination” through narratives centered on race and social justice.
As the first-ever “Second Gentleman” of the United States, Emhoff has become a symbolic figure. He views his removal as a direct attack on the universality of historical remembrance.
“Turning one of history’s greatest atrocities into a source of political division is dangerous and dishonors the memory of the six million Jews murdered by the Nazis,” he posted on Instagram.