President Donald Trump on Friday posted on social media that he had fired the director of the National Portrait Gallery in Washington, calling her “a highly partisan person, and a strong supporter of DEI, which is totally inappropriate for her position.”

It is unclear if the president has legal grounds to fire the director, Kim Sajet, because the National Portrait Gallery is part of the Smithsonian Institution, which is independent of the federal government despite receiving nearly two-thirds of its budget from Congress.

The museum’s bylaws don’t have a provision for terminations, and some legal experts believe that the president would first need approval from the Smithsonian’s board of trustees, because he does not directly control the organization. However, this year he called on Vice President JD Vance, who is a member of the Smithsonian’s board, to work with Congress to overhaul the institution.

A Smithsonian official said the organization was caught off-guard by Trump’s announcement but declined to comment further. The National Portrait Gallery did not respond to a request for comment.

Since returning to office in January, Trump has reshaped the capital’s arts scene, installing himself as chair of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.

After he quickly signed an executive order banning diversity, equity and inclusion programs in federally funded institutions, organizations including the Smithsonian closed their diversity offices. The National Gallery of Art changed its mission statement by replacing “diversity, equity, access and inclusion” with “welcoming and accessible.”

Sajet, who has served as the National Portrait Gallery’s director for more than 12 years after a long career working in the arts sector, previously said she has struggled with the question of who is and is not represented in the museum.

In 2022, she told The New York Times that the collection tilted toward “the wealthy, the pale and the male.” She attempted to bring more contemporary artists into the gallery, and some of their work has commented on political issues such as immigration and race.

“The question is how do you show the presence of absence?” Sajet said at the time. “How do we actually signal that there are a whole lot of people and voices and opinions missing?”