Despite what Newt Gingrich told TPM on Friday, the Smithsonian’s National Zoo and the monuments on the National Mall were closed during the last government shutdown.
In an interview about his reaction to the National Zoo and its panda cam being closed down due to the current shutdown, Gingrich suggested President Bill Clinton did not take the same measures in the last shutdown that President Barack Obama has this time. Gingrich said he was “pretty sure” Clinton did not close the zoo in 1995.
“He certainly did not go around and shut the open air monuments on the mall,” Gingrich added.
However, a New York Times article about the 1995 shutdown noted that “the National Zoo and the Lincoln and other memorials will also be shut.”
