Museum director resigns over ultimatum given after refusing to let Donald Trump gift King Charles historic artefact

A museum director in the US has resigned after being given an ultimatum over a historical artefact US president Donald Trump wanted to give as a gift.

When Trump made his state visit to the UK last month he wanted to bring a gift for King Charles in the form of a sword from the collection of the Dwight D Eisenhower Presidential Library.

However, museum director Todd Arrington resigned from his job after he refused to give Trump an original sword and the president instead gifted the King a replica.

Arrington told CBS News that on Monday (29 September) he was given the ultimatum to 'resign or be fired', meaning that either way he was going to lose his job, and he decided to resign.

"Apparently, they believed I could no longer be trusted with confidential information," he said, suggesting that the information was 'about the sword' and an unrelated matter.

Trump brought a gift for King Charles on his state visit, but now someone's lost their job over it (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

Eisenhower owned several swords earned during his time in the US Army, including ones presented to him for his part as the supreme commander of the Allied troops in Europe in the Second World War, and thereafter became US president for two terms in the 1950s.

Arrington said he argued against giving away a sword which had been donated to the collection and offered to help find an alternative gift or a replica for the blade.

He also said he never spoke with anyone at the White House, only with people from the Foreign Gift Office and the National Archives, and insists he never spoke critically about Trump or his administration

He said: "I never said a bad word about anybody. I talked to colleagues about trying to find a sword or artifact, something we could give to them for the president to give to the King, and at no time did I disparage anyone.

"If someone in the administration said that I disparaged the administration, that was never communicated to me."

The plan was to gift King Charles a sword from President Eisenhower's library, but director Todd Arrington refused (M. McNeill/Fox Photos/Getty Images)

The former museum director started his job in August 2024 and said if the opportunity came up he'd 'return to this job in a heartbeat'.

"I love the job, I love the people, I love the history. I never in a million years wanted this to happen," he said.

Arrington said it had 'felt very good' to have helped find an alternative gift for the state visit and considered it a 'feather in our cap', though it's since spelled the end of his job.

LADbible has contacted the White House for comment, which was met with an automatic response complaining about the government shutdown and blaming it on the Democrats.