Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis on Monday defended his state’s rejection of an Advanced Placement course on African-American studies recommended by the College Board after the White House called the decision ‘incomprehensible.’

DeSantis said Monday that the course at question was eliminated because it teaches controversial topics outside African-American history, such as ‘queer theory’ and abolishing prisons.

‘In the state of Florida, our education standards not only don’t prevent, but they require teaching black history, all of the important things, that’s part of our core curriculum,’ DeSantis said. ‘This course on Black history. What are one of, what’s one of the lessons about? Queer theory? Now who would say that an important part of Black history is queer theory? That is somebody pushing an agenda on our kids, and so when you look to see they have stuff about intersectionality, abolishing prisons, that’s a political agenda.’

DeSantis’ comments came during an education press conference Monday in which he said the decision to remove the course from high schools shields students from lesson plans that the Florida Department of Education said accepts critical race theory concepts. The Florida Department of Education also determined that the course ‘significantly lacks educational value.’

‘Despite the lies from the Biden White House, Florida rejected an AP course filled with Critical Race Theory and other obvious violations of Florida law,’ said Manny Diaz Jr., Florida’s education commissioner, in a statement last week. ‘We proudly require the teaching of African American history. We do not accept woke indoctrination masquerading as education.’

Last week, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre criticized Florida’s decision to eliminate the course and accused DeSantis of trying to remove all lesson plans dealing with Black history.

‘It is incomprehensible to see that this is what this ban — or this block, to be more specific — that DeSantis has put forward,’  Jean-Pierre said. ‘If you think about the study of Black Americans, that is what he wants to block and, again, these types of actions aren’t new, especially from what we’re seeing from Florida, sadly.’

Black politicians and religious leaders in Florida have rallied against the DeSantis administration’s removal of the course, which they claim is beneficial and appropriate for high school students. A march at the Florida capitol in Tallahassee is planned for February to rally against the decision. A removal of the course, critics argue, erases history.

‘Florida currently bans teachers from talking about who they are and who they love, as we’ve talked about many times in this briefing room,’ Jean-Pierre said Friday. ‘They have banned more books in schools and libraries than almost every other state in the country.’

The Florida Department of Education has said that African-American history is still included in its education plans.

White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre insisted that President Biden takes classified information seriously on Monday, just days after a fourth batch of documents with classified markings turned up during an FBI search of his home in Wilmington, Delaware. 

Fox News White House Correspondent Peter Doocy asked if there is a ‘precedent for people running for president after the FBI searched their sock drawer?’ 

‘Here’s what the president’s going to focus on. He’s going to focus on continuing to deliver for the American people. That’s his focus. That’s what he focuses on every day,’ Jean-Pierre responded, adding that Biden does intend to run for president again in 2024. 

In the latest discovery, the Justice Department said it seized ‘six items consisting of documents with classification markings’ from his Wilmington estate during a 13-hour ‘planned, consensual search’ by the FBI on Friday. 

Some of the classified documents were from his time as a U.S. senator, and others were from his tenure as vice president in the Obama administration. 

Additional classified documents have also been found in Biden’s garage and personal library in Wilmington, as well as at the Penn Biden Center think tank on Nov. 2, 2022.

‘The president has been very clear that he takes this very seriously when it comes to classified information, when it comes to classified documents, and that his team has been fully cooperative with this legal matter,’ Jean-Pierre said Monday, referring other questions to White House counsel. 

Doocy also asked Jean-Pierrre if President Biden is involved in a ‘cover-up.’

Republicans have sharply criticized the handling of classified documents by Biden, who called the discovery of classified documents at former President Trump’s home ‘totally irresponsible’ last year. Democrats have also offered milder criticism. 

Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin, D-Ill., told CNN on Sunday that Biden should be ’embarrassed by the situation,’ but that the president has been more transparent than Trump. 

‘It is outrageous that either occurred,’ Durbin told the news outlet. ‘But the reaction by the former president and the current president could not be in sharper contrast.’

Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., told NBC News on Sunday that Biden ‘should have a lot of regrets’ and admit that he was ‘irresponsible.’

Biden said that he doesn’t regret how he’s handled the ordeal while touring storm-damaged areas of California last week. 

‘I think you’re going to find there’s nothing there. I have no regrets,’ Biden said. ‘I’m following what the lawyers have told me they want me to do. It’s exactly what we’re doing. There’s no there there.’ 

Attorney General Merrick Garland appointed former U.S. attorney Robert Hur as a special counsel to investigate Biden’s handling of classified documents. 

Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont announced a series of proposed gun laws Monday in a state already considered one of the strictest for firearms ownership, including a statewide ban on open carrying expected to draw strong opposition from gun rights supporters.

Lamont revealed his latest plans to curb gun violence during a news conference in Waterbury with fellow Democrats, including Attorney General William Tong and mayors of the state’s largest cities, as well as state and local law enforcement officials.

Lamont and other officials said the legislation, which also includes new registration requirements for ghost guns and monthly limits on handgun purchases, is needed to help curb rising gun violence and crack down on illegal firearms around the state. Hartford, for example, recorded 39 murders in 2022, the most in two decades.

‘That sense of anxiety and fear that many people sense — it doesn’t do us any good to say we’re in one of the safest states in the country … and people don’t feel safe,’ Lamont said. ‘Over this last tough few years, the shootings are up. They’re up across the country. They’re up in our state.’

Lamont and others at the news conference also referred to Saturday night’s shooting that killed 10 people at a Los Angeles-area ballroom dance club, in expressing their dismay and in talking about the need for more gun control.

The governor’s proposals include a ban on the currently legal open carrying of firearms, while still allowing concealed carrying; limiting handgun purchases to one per month to discourage bulk purchases and illegal sales; and spending an additional $2.5 million on community anti-violence programs.

Lamont also wants to update the state’s ban on unregistered ghost guns, which are firearms assembled from kits and do not have serial numbers, making them hard to trace. He said a flaw in the current ban has made it difficult to enforce.

A 2019 state law requires ghost guns to be registered with the state, but only those assembled after the law took effect. Police said it is difficult to determine whether a ghost gun was made before or after the law. The proposed legislation would require all ghost guns, including those assembled before the law, to be registered.

The governor, however, did not include in his proposals a plan he talked about during his re-election campaign last year — eliminating an exception to the bans on certain semiautomatic rifles that allows people who owned such firearms before the bans took effect to keep them.

Republicans in the Democratic-controlled legislature issued statements criticizing the governor’s proposals as focusing too much on law-abiding citizens and not enough on criminals who aren’t obeying the law.

‘Today the Governor and Democrats pitched a familiar path to an ‘everybody problem’ by offering proposals that will again have law-abiding gun owners carrying most of the freight,’ said House Republican Leader Vincent Candelora. ‘Missing from their news conference was any talk about focusing on the people who are squarely responsible for causing mayhem in our communities.’

Republican Rep. Craig Fishbein, House ranking member of the Judiciary Committee, added, ‘If enacted, these new proposals will do more to harass and restrict law-abiding citizens from exercising their Constitutional Rights, and little to curb the increased violent crime sweeping through our state.’

The Connecticut Citizens Defense League, a prominent gun rights group, did not immediately return a message seeking comment.

Connecticut, state officials and experts say, has some of the toughest gun laws in the country, many passed in the months after the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting that killed 20 children and six educators. The state, for example, bans many semiautomatic rifles and prohibits magazines that hold more than 10 rounds.

More recent mass shootings, including in Uvalde, Texas, last year, have spurred new calls for more gun control in many states.

Gun rights groups, including the Connecticut Citizens Defense League, are currently suing the state in federal court in an attempt to overturn the prohibition on what they call ‘modern sporting arms’ such as AR-15-style rifles like the ones used at the Sandy Hook school in Newtown and in many other mass shootings.

Waterbury Mayor Neil O’Leary, a Democrat and former police chief in the city, said fear and anxiety over violent crime are the highest he has seen in his four decades of public service.

‘The number one issue for urban mayors is guns and gun violence, mental health. It is all intertwined,’ he said at Monday’s news conference. ‘And the sadness that’s in everyone’s hearts about what happened in California last night is just another example of why we’re all here in this room.’

Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz rolled out more pieces of his budget Monday, calling for $300 million to support public safety agencies across the state, over $1 billion to expand affordable housing, and allowing more residents to buy into the MinnesotaCare health plan for the working poor.

The Democratic governor went to the Roseville Fire Department to highlight the health, safety and housing components of his two-year budget proposal, which he’s scheduled to unveil in full on Tuesday.

Walz’s overall general fund budget is expected to total in the high $50 billion range, while one-time spending from the state’s $17.6 billion surplus could boost the complete package to over $60 billion. While he has made education his top priority, he reiterated Monday that his budget proposal will include some kind of rebates to taxpayers from the enormous surplus, which he said could make the difference between being evicted or not for some struggling renters.

The proposed $300 million for public safety would go to cities, counties and tribal governments across the state, based on their population, and they would get wide latitude in deciding how to spend it. Walz made a similar proposal last spring, but the Legislature was divided then between a Republican-controlled Senate and a Democratic-led house. The idea stalled and most of the surplus went unspent amid partisan stalemates. But Walz’s fellow Democrats now control both chambers.

‘This proposal will make sure that communities have what they need,’ Walz said at a news conference. He added that it will be coupled with increased funding for communities that he’ll announce Tuesday for the state’s separate local government aid program.

Public Safety Commissioner Bob Jacobson said communities would have the flexibility to use the money for recruiting and retaining police officers, for better responses to mental health crises, community engagement or whatever else they need.

‘Our public safety folks have been through, like many others, a rough last two or three years,’ Jacobson said. ‘We’ve been through pandemics, we’ve been through the murder of George Floyd, there’s a lot of work for us to do, but part of that is to uplift the folks that are doing that work.’

Roseville Fire Chief David Brosnahan said the money would ‘truly matter’ for cities like his.

‘Fire departments and public safety agencies throughout the state share the same mission, but oftentimes have different means and needs to complete that mission, whether it is recruitment or retention of career or volunteer staff, equipment changes or needed upgrades, support for enhanced training or a focused effort on firefighter cancer and mental health awareness and prevention,’ Brosnaham said.

The governor’s housing budget is aimed at increasing the availability of affordable housing statewide for both renters and first-time homebuyers, and preventing homelessness, including money aimed at ending homelessness among veterans, Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan said.

Walz said offering a ‘public option’ for MinnesotaCare will be one of his initiatives to improve access to health care and reduce costs for patients, including more choices for the nearly 300,000 Minnesotans who currently don’t have health insurance, with a special focus on all young people 19 and under including the undocumented.

The governor revealed several other pieces of his budget last week, including a plan for education and families that includes big tax credits for families with young children as well as more money for schools across the state. He’s also proposing money to launch paid family and medical leave for workers, to bolster support for small businesses and to expand the workforce in critical sectors. He also proposed an agriculture budget with money to expand the state’s biofuels infrastructure and help new and emerging farmers.

Walz plans to announce his proposal for a public infrastructure borrowing package known as a bonding bill on Thursday.

The White House on Monday responded to multiple inquiries from House Oversight Committee Republicans, but didn’t provide much insight into the requested information regarding President Biden’s classified documents scandal.

In a letter obtained by Fox News, White House Counsel Stuart Delery congratulated Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., on his leadership position on the committee and said the Biden administration seeks to work ‘cooperatively’ with Congress.

‘As stated in our December 29, 2022, letter, the Biden Administration seeks to work cooperatively with Congress. We intend to follow the principles, policies, and practices first articulated by President Reagan in 1982, which have guided the Executive Branch’s response to oversight requests from congressional committees for decades,’ the letter said.

‘We are reviewing your recent letters with the goal of seeking to accommodate legitimate oversight interests within the Committee’s jurisdiction while also respecting the separation of powers and the constitutional and statutory obligations of the Executive Branch generally and the White House in particular,’ Delery wrote. ‘As I’m sure you are aware, these considerations include the critical need to protect the integrity and independence of law enforcement investigations.’

The letter explained how Biden’s personal lawyers found the documents and ‘fully cooperated’ with the National Archives and with the Department of Justice. It also said the administration is working to cooperate with the appointment of a special counsel into the matter.

Delery said the White House ‘does not have possession’ of the documents as DOJ is continuing to conduct its investigation.

A spokesperson for the committee told Fox News Digital that the White House is not being transparent with this response to their inquiries. 

‘For the second time in three weeks, the White House has made it clear they don’t plan on being transparent with the American people. First, the White House informed Chairman Comer on December 29 he would not receive any responses from the White House for requests made prior to January 3 – requests that covered important issues like the Afghanistan withdrawal, COVID origins, border and fentanyl crises, and more,’ said the spokesperson.

‘Now, the White House Counsel is telling Chairman Comer that they will review the questions he’s asked to determine if his requests are ‘legitimate oversight.’ This is not ‘legitimate’ transparency from President Biden who once claimed he’d have the most transparent administration in history. Chairman Comer and Committee Republicans will use all possible tools to secure answers for the American people.’

The letter was received just days after DOJ on Friday told House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, it would not provide certain information related to its ongoing investigations that Jordan has been seeking for months.

But it said it would otherwise negotiate in ‘good faith’ with House Republicans as they push for tougher oversight of the department.

Fox News’ Pat Ward and Brianna Herlihy contributed to this report.

FIRST ON FOX – A congressman from Florida who was seriously injured after falling more than 20 feet while cutting a tree outside his Sarasota home says he’ll ‘be carrying out as many of my congressional duties as possible’ as he recovers at home after being released from the hospital.

‘I am blessed to have a great support team in my wife Jennifer as well as numerous friends and family, including the Steube pups! Grateful for everyone’s prayers and well-wishes as I recover from a fractured pelvis, a punctured lung, and several torn ligaments in my neck,’ Rep. Greg Steube of Florida said in a statement shared first with Fox News Digital on Monday.

In the first photo of the congressman since his fall, Steube lies in a neck brace with his two pups on the couch of his Florida home. 

The three-term Republican congressman emphasized that ‘while I will be sidelined in Sarasota for several weeks, I will be carrying out as many of my congressional duties as possible, and our DC and district staff continue to be readily available to assist Floridians in FL-17. I’m eager to rejoin my colleagues in Washington as soon as possible!’

Steube spent four days in the hospital after he was knocked from a ladder on Wednesday and fell 25 feet. 

A bystander witnessed the fall and called 911. The lawmaker was then rushed to Sarasota Memorial’s intensive care unit.

House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., spoke withe Steube last week, following the incident, to inform the congressman of his committee assignment, serving on the Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government.

Fox News’ Lawrence Richard contributed to this report

A former senior FBI counterintelligence official who spearheaded the Trump-Russia probe was arrested and charged over his own alleged ties to a sanctioned Russian oligarch amid the war in Ukraine.

Charles McGonigal, the former special agent in charge of the FBI’s Counterintelligence Division in New York who retired in 2018, is charged with violating U.S. sanctions by agreeing to provide services to Oleg Deripaska, a sanctioned Russian oligarch. He was charged alongside Sergey Shestakov, a former Soviet and Russian diplomat who later became a U.S. citizen and a Russian interpreter for courts and government offices, through a five-count indictment unsealed in Manhattan federal court Monday.

McGonigal and Shestakov both were arrested Saturday. The indictment is a rare move by federal prosecutors to bring charges against a former senior FBI official before a federal grand jury. 

Though not referenced in or related to the indictment, McGonigal, while serving as chief of the cybercrimes section at FBI headquarters in Washington, D.C., was one of the first bureau officials to learn of allegations that George Papadopoulos, a campaign adviser for former President Donald Trump, boasted that he knew Russians had dirt on Hillary Clinton, launching the investigation into alleged Russian election interference known as Operation Crossfire Hurricane, Business Insider previously reported.

McGonigal, 54, of New York City, and Shestakov, 69, of Morris, Connecticut, ‘both previously worked with Deripaska to attempt to have his sanctions removed, and, as public servants, they should have known better,’ U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York Damian Williams said in a statement. ‘This Office will continue to prosecute those who violate U.S. sanctions enacted in response to Russian belligerence in Ukraine in order to line their own pockets.’

Both men are charged with one count of conspiring to violate and evade U.S. sanctions, in violation of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (‘IEEPA’), one count of violating the IEEPA, one count of conspiring to commit money laundering, and one count of money laundering, each of which carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison. Shestakov is also charged with one count of making false statements, which carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison, prosecutors said.

‘The FBI is committed to the enforcement of economic sanctions designed to protect the United States and our allies, especially against hostile activities of a foreign government and its actors,’ FBI Assistant Director in Charge Michael J. Driscoll said. ‘Russian oligarchs like Oleg Deripaska perform global malign influence on behalf of the Kremlin and are associated with acts of bribery, extortion, and violence.’ 

‘After sanctions are imposed, they must be enforced equally against all U.S. citizens in order to be successful,’ Driscoll added. ‘There are no exceptions for anyone, including a former FBI official like Mr. McGonigal. Supporting a designated threat to the United States and our allies is a crime the FBI will continue to pursue aggressively.’

It was then-President Barack Obama who in 2014 issued Executive Order 13660, which declared a national emergency with respect to the situation in Ukraine following the annexation of Crimea.

On April 6, 2018, the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (‘OFAC’) designated Deripaska as a Specially Designated National (‘SDN’), sanctioning him for acting on behalf of a senior official of the Russian Federation’s government and for operating in the Russian energy sector.

In 2021, the two defendants agreed to and did investigate a rival Russian oligarch of Deripaska in return for concealed payments from Deripaska, in violation of sanctions the United States imposed in 2018, the indictment says. McGonigal and Shestakov allegedly knew their actions violated U.S. sanctions because, among other reasons, while serving as special agent in charge, McGonigal received then-classified information that Deripaska would be added to a list of oligarchs considered for sanctions. 

As part of their negotiations with Deripaska’s agent, McGonigal, Shestakov and the agent attempted to conceal Deripaska’s involvement by, among other means, not directly naming Deripaska in electronic communications, using shell companies as counterparties in the contract that outlined the services to be performed, using a forged signature on that contract, and using the same shell companies to send and receive payments from Deripaska, according to the indictment.

In 2019, McGonigal and Shestakov also allegedly worked on behalf of Deripaska in an unsuccessful effort to have the sanctions against Deripaska lifted. In November 2021, when FBI agents questioned Shestakov about the nature of his and McGonigal’s relationship with Deripaska’s agent, the interpreter made false statements in a recorded interview, federal prosecutors said. 

FBI Director Christopher Wray told Fox News Digital in a statement: ‘The way we maintain the trust and confidence of the American people is through our work—showing, when all the facts come out, that we stuck to the process and we treated everyone equally, even when it is one of our own. The FBI will go to great lengths to investigate and hold accountable anyone who violates the law, including when the individual is an FBI employee. We hold ourselves to the highest standard, and our focus will remain on our mission and on doing the right thing, in the right way, every time.’