The report had accused the museum of denigrating U.S. heritage through “extreme political activism” and said the Smithsonian was failing its obligations to the American people.
Bunch answered that the Smithsonian remains guided by scholarship, nonpartisanship, independence, accuracy and integrity, while insisting it must tell the full American story, including the nation’s flaws.
The clash extends President Trump’s push to reshape the Smithsonian after he called on the vice president and Congress to overhaul it; Bunch has so far resisted even after the National Portrait Gallery director resigned last year.