FIRST ON FOX: House Oversight Committee Republicans accused Hunter Biden’s art dealer of stonewalling their investigation into the first son’s anonymous art buyers.

Several House Oversight Republicans sounded off after Georges Berges, Biden’s art dealer, told committee chairman James Comer, R-Ky., he would not produce the records of the anonymous buyers of the first son’s high-priced paintings.

‘In light of these considerations, providing the documents and information requested in your letter seemingly would defeat the efforts of Mr. Biden and the White House to avoid the ‘serious ethical concerns’ that you raise,’ Berges’ attorney William Pittard told the House Oversight chairman.

‘Mr. Berges hopes that you and Mr. Biden can resolve that tension,’ he added.

A House Oversight Committee spokesperson told Fox News Digital the committee has ‘received the letter from Mr. Bergès’ attorney and have reviewed his objections to producing documents or sitting for questioning about who is buying Hunter Biden’s artwork.’

‘We find the objections unconvincing and incoherent,’ the spokesperson said. ‘Mr. Bergès should abandon these delay tactics and produce the documents and information.’

Rep. Lisa McClain, R-Mich., who sits on the House Oversight Committee, told Fox News Digital that Biden’s artwork isn’t good enough to adorn the walls of ‘a foreclosed motel.’

‘Hunter Biden’s artwork isn’t worthy of hanging on the walls of a foreclosed motel, so why would anyone buy it?’ McClain said. ‘The answer is simple, to curry favor with the corrupt son of the President.’

‘We need to know who purchased Hunter’s so-called ‘art’, and Georges Berges refusing to provide that information to Congress only adds fuel to the fire for our investigation,’ she continued.

Colorado GOP Rep. Lauren Boebert sounded off with her House Oversight Committee colleague, telling Fox News Digital that all ‘Hunter’s attorney is doing is delaying the inevitable.’

‘We will receive this evidence, one way or another,’ Boebert said.

Rep. Clay Higgins, R-La., another member of the House Oversight Committee, told FOX News Digital that nobody ‘cares specifically about Hunter.’

‘We’re investigating the Biden crime-family operations. They’ve moved a lot of very suspicious money,’ Higgins said. ‘‘Selling’ Hunter Biden art is just a method they’ve employed.’

‘We’ll have every ‘art buyer’ identified and every dollar tracked by the end of this summer,’ the reserve law enforcement officer said. ‘We’re cracking open the whole Biden crime-family.’

The House Oversight Committee has made investigations into Biden, President Biden, and their family a cornerstone of the GOP leadership.

Comer sent a letter to a former Serbian politician and United Nations General Assembly president investigating his link between Hunter Biden, the Chinese Communist Party and more as the probe into the Biden family’s foreign business dealings marches on.

FOX News Digital’s Kelly Laco contributed reporting.

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre on Thursday appeared to defend President Biden for having yet to visit East Palestine, Ohio, to assess the damage from a fiery train derailment that caused a chemical spill and massive fire. 

A reporter asked Jean-Pierre if Biden had any comment for East Palestine Mayor Trent Conway, who said it was a ‘slap in the face’ that the president visited Ukraine before visiting his city. 

Jean-Pierre pointed to the Biden administration’s efforts since the Feb. 3 derailment, saying agencies were ‘on the ground very early on’ with an ‘all-hands approach.’ 

‘That is because of this president’s leadership, and that is because of what he has asked his team to do and what he’s asked the agencies to do,’ Jean-Pierre said before reiterating that the administration would hold the rail company Norfolk Southern accountable. 

She noted that the president, who visited Poland and Ukraine this week to shore up partnerships with NATO allies against Russia, remained in contact with leadership in East Palestine to get updates. 

Jean-Pierre said Biden has had ‘regular contact’ with Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine and Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro. Still, it was not clear whether the president had spoken with the mayor of East Palestine.

Conway tore into Biden earlier this week, accusing him of neglecting domestic responsibilities ‘while giving away millions of dollars’ during his surprise visit to Ukraine. 

When asked about the federal handling of the toxic spill as news of the president’s surprise visit to Kyiv circulated, Conway said on ‘Jesse Watters Primetime’: ‘That was the biggest slap in the face. That tells you right now he doesn’t care about us. He can send every agency he wants to, but I found out this morning that he was in Ukraine giving millions of dollars away to people over there and not to us… on Presidents’ Day in our country, so I’m furious.’ 

Kim Gardner, the embattled Democrat attorney in St. Louis, blasted Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey’s push to remove her from office, and in a raucous press conference called Bailey’s effort a ‘political stunt’ that is ‘nothing more than voter suppression.’

Hours earlier, Bailey moved to push Gardner out of her job for negligence that allowed a repeat offender with multiple bond violations to seriously injure a teenager, Janae Edmondson, in a car crash. Edmondson’s legs had to be amputated as a result.

Gardner lashed out at Bailey and indicated she would fight the move, and accused Bailey of having political motives.

‘The attorney general, as others, use this unfortunate incident and tragic happening to this young lady as a political stunt of an unelected individual,’ she said. ‘This is nothing more than voter suppression, which we’ve seen on a national level as well as in the state of Missouri.’

Gardner admitted they ‘could have done more’ in this case, but defended herself and her office. ‘While it is true my office could have done more, to say we did nothing is not only disingenuous, but is willfully ignorant of the reality of our court system,’ she said.

‘While I understand that politics will always play a role, my office will return to focusing on the important work that the people of the city of St. Louis elected me (to do),’ she added.

Gardner also indicated race is somehow playing a role in controversy.

‘We’re going to fight very hard for justice in spite of the vitriol, the hate, the racist attacks, the known manipulation of the court procedures to make sure our office fails,’ she said.

Hours earlier, after giving Gardner an ultimatum to resign or be removed, Bailey filed a petition of quo warranto, which is the legal mechanism under state statute that allows the AG to remove a prosecutor who neglects his or her duties. Bailey will have to show a judge that Gardner neglected her duties and needs to be removed.

Bailey took that action after 21-year-old Daniel Riley, who repeatedly violated his bond conditions on earlier charges, crashed and left Edmondson, a teenage volleyball player, with major injuries that required both her legs be amputated. Gardner’s office is the one that should be monitoring compliance with bond conditions and revoking them when those terms are violated.

In her press conference, Gardner claimed that she asked the courts to revoke Riley’s bond ‘on three separate occasions, as recently as last month.’ A reporter challenged that claim, saying that no court records of such a request exists.

Gardner responded that the request was made ‘orally. ‘We have what’s called oral motions to evoke bond. Those can be made orally or written and in this jurisdiction, they are made orally and that is normal practice and that was done in this case on numerous occasions,’ she said.

California Attorney General Rob Bonta’s wife has recused herself from matters related to the state Department of Justice after she was appointed to lead a budget committee that oversees and helps determine the spending of her husband’s agency.

‘While it has been made abundantly clear that there is no legal or ethical conflict in my serving as chair of Budget Subcommittee 5 as requested by the speaker, I believe as legislators we have an obligation to ensure the people of California have absolute confidence in the legislative process,’ Assemblymember Mia Bonta, the attorney general’s wife, said in a statement announcing her recusal.

‘I will recuse myself,’ she continued, ‘from Budget Subcommittee 5 matters directly pertaining to the Department of Justice, including budget change proposals, proposed trailer bills and legislative budget proposals that pertain to the DOJ to ensure that the body may focus on the important work before us.’

California Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon earlier this month tapped Bonta to serve as the chairwoman of the Assembly Budget Subcommittee 5, which focuses on how taxpayer dollars are used by the state’s various public safety agencies, including the California Department of Justice, whose budget last year was $1.2 billion

Rendon and both Bontas are Democrats.

The appointment prompted ethical concerns about a potential conflict of interest.

‘It should raise eyebrows,’ Bob Stern, former general counsel for California’s Fair Political Practices Commission (FPPC), told local NBC affiliate KCRA when the appointment was announced. ‘What’s going on with them? It seems to me they have a tin ear about ethics.’ 

Stern clarified there was nothing illegal about Rendon’s appointment of Mia Bonta but argued the state’s top law enforcement official should have a problem with it nonetheless.

‘Particularly as attorney general, he should have the highest ethical standards of any governmental official,’ said Stern. ‘He should set an example for everyone else.’

While not breaking any laws, the decision may still present a conflict of interest, according to experts — even after Bonta’s recusal.

‘One of the things we worry about with respect to conflicts of interest is not only whether it violates the letter of the law, but whether there’s an appearance of impropriety and whether there’s the idea there would be some distrust in the government,’ Mary-Beth Moylan, a law professor at the University of Pacific, told KCRA.

‘If she did recuse herself on that, I think people would still feel like, ‘Well she’s the chair,’ she may still have influence over other members who are on the committee.’

Fox News Digital previously reached out to the attorney general’s office for comment, and the office said the California Assembly would be best positioned to answer as these decisions were made at the discretion of the assembly.

Rendon’s office didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment, although he previously defended his decision.

‘I believe Ms. Bonta will continue to be independent and unbiased in her legislative judgment, as she has been since starting her service in the Assembly,’ said Rendon. ‘The legislature has a robust and transparent budget process designed with checks and balances to ensure the best possible budget is passed. 

‘Our final Assembly budget proposal must be identical to the Senate and will be approved or vetoed by the governor. Additionally, we can’t set salaries or benefits for state constitutional officers, so no elected official can ever personally or financially benefit from our budget process.’

The budget subcommittee has its first hearing Feb. 27 and is scheduled to meet to discuss the Department of Justice March 27.

Rendon’s appointment is not the first time the Bontas have faced ethical concerns. In 2020, CalMatters reported Rob Bonta, who was an assemblyman at the time, created a foundation that contributed thousands of dollars to a nonprofit Mia Bonta led as CEO.

Stern at the time said the transaction should have been illegal, and the FPPC has since tightened regulations and now requires more transparency in such situations.

Bonta’s attorney general campaign has provided $14,940 to his wife’s campaigns for State Assembly, according to campaign finance reports.

House Judiciary Committee Chair Jim Jordan on Thursday took aim at Democrats for failing to attend an in-person hearing on the border crisis in Yuma, Arizona, as Republicans heard from witnesses about the devastating impact the crisis has had on their communities.

‘It’s a shame that not one Democrat member of Congress would join us on this trip, despite having weeks of advance notice,’ Rep. Jordan, R-Ohio, said in Yuma. ‘It’s disappointing, but it’s not surprising.’

Republicans held the hearing in the besieged community with local officials and the CEO of a local hospital that had spent millions on migrant care as part of the GOP pledge to hold hearings at the border.

But when the hearing was announced last week, Democrats dismissed the move as a ‘stunt’ and said they had not been consulted.

‘Instead of focusing on real solutions to a complicated problem, Judiciary Republicans will once again not hear from any federal government witnesses at their hearing, further cementing this hearing as a brazen act of political grandstanding,’ ranking member Rep. Jerrold Nadler, D-N.Y., and Rep. Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash., said in a statement. ‘As a result, Democrats, who have been to the border regularly the last few years, will not attend next week’s performative hearing.’

Jordan denied that, saying they had been given weeks of notice. He also rejected the claim that the hearing is a ‘stunt.’

‘I would argue it’s not a stunt. My guess is our witnesses wouldn’t call it a stunt. What we’ve learned today from them, what we’ve seen last night on the border,’ he said.

Rep. Andy Biggs, R-Ariz., told Fox News in Arizona that the decision not to attend was a ‘message of disrespect’ to the American people.

The Republicans viewed the unfinished border wall, of which construction mostly stopped during the Biden administration, and visited the Yuma Regional Medical Center. Officials there said they have delivered over $26 million in uncompensated care to migrants in a 12-month period — enough to support the salary and benefits of 212 bedside nurses.

‘It is an unsustainable model to have a hospital like ours bear the entire burden of paying for migrant health care. No business or service can survive ongoing large-scale expense without any offsetting revenue,’ Dr. Robert Trenschel said.

Other witnesses included Yuma County Sheriff Leon Wilmot and Jonathan Lines, a county supervisor. Wilmot testified that Border Patrol apprehensions of illegal migrants in the area have gone up from 40 a day to over 1,000 a day in the space of two years, and that the county has had to shell out tens of thousands of dollars to lease Porta-Johns to stop migrants defecating in crops.

His county has spent $323,000 in FY 2022 on booking costs for illegal immigrants who have committed state crimes, including sexual exploitation of minors, narcotics charges, assaults, kidnapping, burglary and theft cases.

‘Our southern border, against all public comfort statements out of Washington, D.C., is in the worst shape I have ever seen in my career,’ he said in written testimony. ‘When one looks at Public Safety, National Security, and Humanitarian, our southern border can only be described as the largest crime scene in the country.’

The border saw over 1.7 million encounters in FY 2021 and more than 2.3 million in FY 2022. Numbers are on track to outpace those numbers in FY 2023, although the Biden administration has pointed to a sharp drop between December and January as proof that border measures announced at the beginning of the year — including a humanitarian parole program that allows 30,000 migrants in a month — are now working.

The Biden administration has blamed Republicans for failing to fund border security and for not going along with an immigration reform bill the administration introduced on Biden’s first day in office. The president reiterated those calls for immigration reform, including a pathway for citizenship for millions of illegal immigrants, during his State of the Union address.

Jordan on Thursday dismissed the proposal as a ‘massive amnesty package’ and put the blame for the crisis on ‘reckless’ policies by President Biden.

‘On day one, day one, January 20th, 2021, Joe Biden said, ‘We’re not going to build a wall anymore. We’re not going to keep the Remain in Mexico policy, and we’re not going to deport any illegal migrants who come in for an immigration violation,” he said.

Rep. Tom McClintock, R-Calif., repeated Republican accusations that Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas has not been enforcing the laws on the books — something for which some Republicans, including Biggs, have cited as grounds for impeachment.

‘If this administration refuses to enforce existing laws, why would anyone trust it to enforce future laws?’ he asked. ‘But this won’t stop us from trying. That’s why we’re here today. But I’m afraid that this is going to get worse until the American people demand that these policies be reversed.’

‘History is screaming this warning at us — countries that cannot or will not enforce their borders simply aren’t around very long,’ McClintock said.

Fox News’ Bill Melugin contributed to this report.

A security officer at the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) is no longer working there after a lawsuit claimed he told visitors from March for Life to remove or cover up clothing bearing pro-life messages, Fox News has confirmed.

Archivist Debra Steidel Wall disclosed the information in a letter about the incident from Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, and Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas.

‘The security officers involved in the January 20, 2023, incident are private contractors on a NARA contract,’ Wall said in the letter that NARA shared with Fox News Digital. ‘Our vendor conducted its own investigation of the incident and determined a supervisor that it employed, who was working that day, provided instructions to other security officers who work for the same vendor that were contrary to our policy. The vendor has removed this supervisor from NARA’s contract, and that individual is no longer working in any NARA facility.’

Wall’s letter stated that the supervisor’s ‘action was contrary to NARA policy,’ noting that ‘[t]he irony that this happened just steps away from the permanent display of the original Bill of Rights is not lost on me or any of the employees who proudly welcome more than one million annual visitors to the Museum.’

Wall added that ‘NARA’s policy explicitly allows visitors to the museum to wear clothing that expresses their political and religious viewpoints,’ and that when she learned about the incident she issued a public apology and began investigating the situation.

NARA did not have any additional comment.

Cruz lauded the National Archives for taking ‘the necessary steps’ in handling the situation, the Daily Signal reported.

‘The First Amendment rights of pro-life visitors should never have been infringed to begin with,’ Cruz said. ‘These rights, like the documents housed at the National Archives, are foundational, and must be protected for everyone.’

The National Archives previously apologized for the incident after visitors brought a lawsuit filed by the American Center for Law and Justice. NARA reached a preliminary agreement with the plaintiffs last week and offered them a personal tour.

The Kentucky Senate voted Thursday to carve out a new crime that could punish hazing with jail time, responding to calls for action following the death of a university student.

The bill would create a felony crime for hazing that results in the death or serious injury of a student. The offense would be punishable by up to five years in prison. Also under the bill, someone accused of recklessly engaging in hazing would face a misdemeanor charge, punishable by up to a year in jail.

The bill won Senate passage on a 27-7 vote, sending the proposal to the House.

Republican Sen. Robby Mills, the bill’s lead sponsor, said the goal is to save lives.

‘For far too long, hazing has been this awkward rite of passage in Kentucky that many still refuse to acknowledge is wrong,’ Mills said. ‘We believe the elevation of hazing to a crime addresses head-on the seriousness of these actions. It lets students know that Kentucky values student safety.’

The bill cleared a Senate committee recently after hearing from the family of Thomas ‘Lofton’ Hazelwood, an 18-year-old freshman at the University of Kentucky.

Tracey Hazelwood, the student’s mother, told lawmakers that after he pledged to a fraternity, her son had to participate in illegal acts that ‘could have got him kicked out of school’ in order to belong to the fraternity, the Lexington Herald-Leader reported. On the night he died, she said, his blood alcohol concentration was 0.354. The legal limit for adults to drive is 0.08.

The bill defines hazing as endangering the mental or physical health of a student for recruitment, initiation into or affiliation with an organization, or to enhance or maintain status within a group. It would include consuming alcohol, tobacco or food to the extent that it puts someone at risk of injury, or such ‘physical brutality’ as whipping, beating or branding or exposure to the elements.