The Justice Department is charging four Russian fighters with committing war crimes against a U.S. national. 

U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland announced the ‘Justice Department has filed the first ever charges under the U.S. war crimes statute against four Russia-affiliated military personnel for heinous crimes against an American citizen’ through an indictment returned Tuesday in the Eastern District of Virginia. The charges include conspiracy to commit war crimes, including war crimes outlawed by the international community after World War Two, unlawful confinement, torture and inhuman treatment. 

The indictment charges Suren Seiranovich Mkrtchyan, 45, Dmitry Budnik, Valerii LNU (last name unknown), and Nazar LNU in connection with their alleged unlawful detainment of a U.S. national in the context of the armed conflict between Russia and Ukraine. The defendants are alleged to have interrogated, severely beaten, and tortured the victim. 

They also allegedly threatened to kill the victim and conducted a mock execution, according to the Justice Department. 

‘These charges against four Russia-affiliated military personnel are the Justice Department’s first criminal charges under the U.S. war crimes statute. They are also an important step toward accountability for the Russian regime’s illegal war in Ukraine. Our work is far from done,’ Garland said. 

‘We will not forget the atrocities in Ukraine, and we will never stop working to bring those responsible to justice,’ he continued. ‘Throughout our work. We will continue to put our trust in the rule of law. The rule of law is the best answer we have to crimes that cannot be truly answered. The rule of law is how we pursue true accountability for the individuals responsible for those crimes and how we deter future aggression. And the rule of law is how we pursue justice in a way that protects people and protects our shared humanity.’ 

Garland detailed the allegations in the indictment.

‘The victim was living in Mylove, a small village in southern Ukraine and was not participating in the armed conflict between Russia and Ukraine,’ Garland said. ‘As such, the victim was what is known as a protected person under international law. After Russian forces invaded Mylove, the victim was abducted from his home by three of the defendants.’ 

During the abduction, Garland said, those defendants threw the victim to the ground while he was naked, tied his hands behind his back, pointed a gun to his head, and beat him with their feet, their fists and the stocks of their guns. The indictment alleges that they forced him into a building that Russia-affiliated forces were using as a jail and into a closet that they were using as a jail cell where they interrogated him, tortured him and beat him again with a gun. Proseuctors say the defendants and their co-conspirators punched the U.S. national in his chest and stomach, threatened to shoot him, stripped off his clothes and took pictures. One of their conspirators allegedly threatened to sexually assault the victim, Garland said. 

‘And during the interrogation, when the victim’s answers did not satisfy the defendants, we allege that Budnik, who was also a commanding officer, threatened the victim with death and asked for his last words. We alleged that Nazar and other conspirators then took the victim outside. There they forced him to the ground, put a gun to the back of his head. The victim believed he was about to be killed,’ Garland said. ‘They moved the gun just before pulling the trigger and the bullet went just past his head. After the mock execution, the victim was beaten and interrogated again. At one point, he was told through an interpreter that he was, ‘going to sleep.’ And he was told by Mkrtchyan, ‘Good night.’’ 

After Garland spoke, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas took to the podium to highlight the work of his department in bringing the charges to fruition.

‘In 2008, the Department of Homeland Security and its Homeland Security Investigations, or HSI, created the Human Rights Violators and War Crimes Center – the only U.S. government entity focused entirely on investigating these global atrocities,’ Mayorkas said. ‘For 15 years, this select group of special agents, attorneys, intelligence analysts, criminal research specialists, and historians from across the federal government have worked together and with their international counterparts to hold those who engage in the perpetration of war crimes, genocide, torture, and other human rights violations accountable.’ 

‘Today, an investigation more than a year in the making by this Center and its federal partners bears fruit. For the first time in our nation’s history, federal agents gathered sufficient evidence to bring charges of war crimes perpetrated against an American citizen – in violation of Title 18 of the United States Code, Section 2441. The allegations detail gruesome events,’ Mayorkas said. ‘The agents who made this case possible were tireless in their investigation, giving extraordinary attention to every detail, and making considerable sacrifices throughout.’

‘In August 2022, these HSI agents traveled with their DOJ and FBI partners to speak with an American citizen who had recently been evacuated from Ukraine, where he had been living with his wife, a Ukrainian citizen,’ Mayorkas said. ‘Throughout this past year, our HSI agents, with the assistance of HSI’s Human Rights Violators and War Crimes Center and alongside our FBI partners, have worked to corroborate the victim’s allegations.  They traveled internationally to interview the victim’s family.  They identified and interviewed individuals who were present within the general vicinity of Mylove around the time the victim was held in captivity, who confirmed the Russian forces’ occupation in the area. Based on the information they obtained, the HSI agents and their FBI partners were able to identify the four defendants whose indictments are announced today.’ 

Mayoraks vowed that the ‘United States will hold the Russian perpetrators of this unthinkable mistreatment, these unacceptable human rights violations, accountable.’

‘First: there is no higher responsibility of government than to safeguard its people and their basic human rights.  As today’s announcement makes clear, when an American citizen’s human rights are violated, their government will spare no effort, and spare no resource, to bring the perpetrators to justice,’ Mayorkas said. ‘Second: the evidence gathered by our agents speaks to the brutality, criminality, and depravity of Russia’s invasion.  The Ukrainian people have had, and must continue to have, America’s full support against Russia’s unjust, unprovoked, and unlawful war of aggression.  We cannot allow such horrific crimes to be ignored; to do so would only increase the risk they will be repeated.’ 

Rep. Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., announced Wednesday that he will resign from his congressional seat after being ousted as House speaker. 

McCarthy made the announcement in an opinion piece for The Wall Street Journal. 

‘No matter the odds, or personal cost, we did the right thing. That may seem out of fashion in Washington these days, but delivering results for the American people is still celebrated across the country. It is in this spirit that I have decided to depart the House at the end of this year to serve America in new ways. I know my work is only getting started,’ McCarthy wrote. ‘I will continue to recruit our country’s best and brightest to run for elected office. The Republican Party is expanding every day, and I am committed to lending my experience to support the next generation of leaders.’

McCarthy surmised, ‘It often seems that the more Washington does, the worse America gets. I started my career as a small-business owner, and I look forward to helping entrepreneurs and risk-takers reach their full potential. The challenges we face are more likely to be solved by innovation than legislation.’

He detailed that ‘the most reliable solution to what ails America is before our eyes: everyday men and women who are raising families, showing up for work, volunteering, and pursuing the American Dream with passion and purpose. I agree with President Reagan’s observation that ‘all great change in America starts at the dinner table.”

‘Despite the best attempts by special interest groups and the news media to divide us, I have seen the goodness of the American people. They are what will ultimately uphold the enduring values of our great nation. We all have a role to play in that effort,’ McCarthy wrote. ‘I never could have imagined the journey when I first threw my hat into the ring. I go knowing I left it all on the field — as always, with a smile on my face. And looking back, I wouldn’t have had it any other way. Only in America.’

McCarthy started the op-ed by writing, ‘I’m an optimist. How could I not be?’ He went on to detail how he’s the son of a firefighter and served in the same congressional seat for the last 17 years, ironically from the same office in which he was previously denied an internship. 

McCarthy recalled how he helped Republicans to a House majority twice. ‘We got more Republican women, veterans and minorities elected to Congress at one time than ever before,’ he wrote. ‘I remained cheerfully persistent when elected speaker because I knew what we could accomplish.’

Listing his accomplishments, he continued, ‘Even with slim margins in the House, we passed legislation to secure the border, achieve energy independence, reduce crime, hold government accountable and establish a Parents’ Bill of Rights. We did exactly what we said we would do.’

‘We kept our eyes on America’s long-term global challenges by restoring the Intelligence Committee to its original charter and establishing a bipartisan Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party,’ McCarthy wrote. ‘We reduced the deficit by more than $2 trillion, revamped work requirements for adults on the sidelines, cut red tape for critical domestic energy projects, and protected the full faith and credit of the U.S. We kept our government operating and our troops paid while wars broke out around the world.’ 

McCarthy was the first House speaker to be voted out of the position in U.S. history. 

With the departure of former Rep. George Santos, R-N.Y., and McCarthy, the House GOP margin goes down to just two at the end of the year. 

At the start of 2024, the House will have 220 sitting Republicans and 213 Democrats, with two vacancies. 

A 218 majority is needed to pass legislation, meaning the GOP can only afford to lose two votes to pass a bill. If the GOP loses three votes, that legislative proposal will fail. 

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, a Democrat, has already set a special election for Santos’ Third District on Feb. 13. 

California Gov. Gavin Newsom, also a Democrat, must announce a special election date within 14 days of McCarthy’s exit. 

McCarthy will leave Congress two months after he was booted from his House speakership position after his top rival, Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., orchestrated the rare vote on the obscure ‘motion to vacate.’ Though McCarthy maintained support from most Republicans in the House, eight GOP detractors ultimately ushered in his ouster in October, mainly taking issue with McCarthy for choosing to work with Democrats to temporarily delay a federal government shutdown. 

At the start of this year, Republicans held only a fragile margin in the chamber after a predicted ‘red wave’ failed to materialize in the 2022 elections.

McCarthy endured a dayslong floor fight in January that eventually resulted in his ascension to the House’s top job at a time when deep divisions within the GOP raised serious questions about the party’s ability to govern following former President Donald Trump leaving office. 

It took a record 15 votes over four days for McCarthy to line up the support he needed to win the post he had long coveted, finally prevailing on a 216-212 vote with Democrats backing leader Hakeem Jeffries and six Republican holdouts voting present. Not since the Civil War era has a speaker’s vote dragged through so many rounds of counting.

FIRST ON FOX: Sen. J.D. Vance, R-Ohio, sent a letter Wednesday to Attorney General Merrick Garland and Secretary of State Antony Blinken demanding answers regarding a recent Washington Post op-ed that he said suggested ‘open rebellion’ against the United States.

Robert Kagan, an editor at large at the newspaper, wrote a piece last week, claiming that ‘resistance’ to former President Donald Trump, should he win the 2024 presidential election, ‘could come from the governors of predominantly Democratic states such as California and New York through a form of nullification. States with Democratic governors and statehouses could refuse to recognize the authority of a tyrannical federal government.’

‘That is always an option in our federal system,’ Kagan added.

Vance wrote in his letter to Garland and Blinken that Kagan’s piece potentially violates federal law.

‘Excuse me? I must have missed that day in civics class,’ he wrote after quoting Kagan’s piece. ‘According to Robert Kagan, the prospect of a second Donald Trump presidency is terrible enough to justify open rebellion against the United States, along with the political violence that would inevitably follow.’

Vance also mentioned in his letter that Kagan is married to Victoria Nuland, who is currently serving as the Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs, and he asks whether her ‘close relationship with her husband might compromise her judgment about the best interests of the United States.’

Vance gave Garland and Blinken a Jan. 6 deadline to answer several questions, including whether the Department of Justice will open an investigation into Kagan.

‘If not, what factors counsel against such an investigation? Why were those factors inapplicable in President Trump’s case?’ he asked.

‘How does the Department of Justice distinguish between heated political rhetoric and evidence of a conspiracy to violate rights or rebel against the United States?’ he asked. ‘In the view of the Department of Justice, could a demand for ‘nullification’ or secession ‘intimidate’ a voter into changing his behavior at the ballot box?’

Fox News Digital has reached out to Kagan, The Washington Post, the State Department and the DOJ for comment.

EXCLUSIVE: The National Archives plans to provide more than 62,000 pages of additional records in response to House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer’s requests, including President Biden’s communications using email aliases, and records related to Hunter Biden, Fox News Digital has learned.

A source familiar told Fox News Digital that the records are expected to be turned over to the committee in the coming days. The source said the production will be in addition to the more than 20,000 pages of records from Biden’s time as vice president that the National Archives already has made public on its website.

Comer, R-Ky., initially asked for unredacted emails involving communications between Biden and Hunter Biden’s business associates in September. The committee was seeking unrestricted special access to a case record by the National Archives titled, ‘Records on Hunter Biden, James Biden, and Their Foreign Business Dealings,’ which was first made public as a result of an ongoing Freedom of Information Act lawsuit by America First Legal. 

Comer, in August, specifically requested any document or communication in which a pseudonym for Joe Biden was included, either as a sender, recipient, copied, or was included in the contents of the communication. The aliases and pseudonyms included but were not limited to Robert Peters, Robin Ware, and JRB Ware. Comer also requested any communication in which Hunter Biden and/or his business associates Eric Schwerin or Devon Archer were listed as a recipient, sender or copied.

He also requested drafts of Biden’s speech delivered to the Ukrainian Rada on Dec. 9, 2015; communications from his official vice presidential office to Schwerin, Archer, or Jeffrey Cooper; any records related to travel on Marine Two and Air Force Two; calendars; and more.

‘The Biden White House still has an ‘F’ in document production to the Oversight Committee,’ Comer told Fox News Digital on Wednesday. ‘The White House is trying to make an appearance of cooperation after two brave IRS whistleblowers yesterday provided information revealing Joe Biden used an alias as vice president to email directly with Hunter Biden’s business associate.’

Comer was referring to records released by the House Ways & Means Committee turned over by IRS whistleblowers Gary Shapley and Joseph Ziegler.

Shapley and Ziegler turned over metadata that revealed that Joe Biden, while serving as vice president, used email aliases to communicate with his son Hunter Biden and his business associate Eric Schwerin hundreds of times. Schwerin was president of Hunter Biden’s Rosemont Seneca.

‘Just today, President Biden lied again when confronted with information that he interacted with his family’s business associates,’ Comer told Fox News Digital. ‘The White House must comply with all of our requests for records from Joe Biden’s time as vice president and all other committee requests related to the impeachment inquiry.’ 

Comer added: ‘Anything less is obstruction.’ 

President Biden, on Wednesday, was asked about the hundreds of emails exchanged using his email alias to Hunter Biden and Schwerin, and denied they took place.

‘I did not, they’re lies. It’s a bunch of lies,’ Biden said at the White House Wednesday.

Responding to the president, House Oversight Committee Republicans posted on X: ‘President Biden SHOCKED when confronted about the lies he told regarding his interactions related to his family cashing in on the Biden name.’

‘We have produced evidence revealing Joe Biden spoke, dined, took meetings, and had coffee with his son’s foreign business associates,’ the post continued. ‘Where are the fact checkers?’

Schwerin, in addition to working as president of Rosemont Seneca, also served as then-Vice President Biden’s ‘bookkeeper’ from 2009 to 2017.

Schwerin, during a March 2023 meeting with the House Oversight Committee staff, explained that ‘he was not aware of any transactions into or out of the then-Vice President’s bank account related to business conducted by any Biden family member,’ a spokesperson for the Democrats on the committee told Fox News Digital. 

The White House has also cited Schwerin’s statement that Biden was not involved in his family’s business dealings when pushing back against Republicans’ impeachment inquiry. 

A person familiar with Schwerin’s role in handling then-Vice President Biden’s finances told Fox News Digital that Schwerin worked on Biden’s personal budget and helped coordinate with his tax preparers.

The individual also pointed to the frequency of Schwerin’s communications with Biden and his top aides and said it was ‘inevitable’ Rosemont Seneca business came up in conversations.

Comer has subpoenaed Schwerin for a deposition on Nov. 9. The committee is in communication with his attorney to set a date for the deposition. 

Comer is co-leading the House impeachment inquiry against President Biden with House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, and House Ways & Means Committee Chairman Jason Smith, R-Mo.

FIRST ON FOX: The White House is offering to meet with House Republicans to discuss their subpoena for former White House Counsel Dana Remus, suggesting her testimony could violate Executive Branch interests and threaten the ongoing special counsel investigation into President Biden’s alleged improper retention of classified records.

Fox News Digital obtained a letter Special Counsel to the President Richard Sauber wrote to House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer and Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan.

‘We were pleased to read that after several months of not responding to my letters, you are now ready to discuss accommodations to address the substantial Executive Branch institutional interests implicated by your subpoena to former White House Counsel Dana Remus,’ Sauber wrote in a letter to Comer and Jordan Wednesday. ‘We propose a meeting with your staff to start this important process.’

Sauber, pointing back to previous correspondence with House Republicans, said that ‘by seeking testimony on matters that are the subject of an ongoing Special Counsel investigation, your efforts raise the troubling appearance that Congress seeks to interfere with a Department of Justice investigation.’

‘I have also raised concerns about your attempt to use compulsory process as part of your ‘impeachment inquiry,’ as this inquiry, along with subpoenas issued pursuant to it, was not properly authorized,’ Sauber wrote.

‘Nonetheless, we believe engaging in good faith is critical to avoid a constitutional conflict, and we propose a meeting with your staff to start this important process,’ Sauber said. ‘Given the compressed timeline created by your waiting nearly three weeks to respond to my prior letter, we expect you will pull down the return date for your subpoena to allow the accommodation process to proceed.’

Sauber’s letter was in response to a previously unreported letter Comer and Jordan sent to Sauber this week in which the committee chairmen said they were ‘willing to work with the White House to address any legitimate Executive Branch institutional interests.’

A spokesperson for the House Oversight Committee told Fox News Digital that the White House has been uncooperative with the pending investigations into the president.

‘The White House continues to obstruct Congress’ quest for information about President Biden’s mishandling of classified documents and his involvement in his family’s influence peddling schemes. Instead of cooperating with Congress, the White House created a war room with two dozen staffers to combat our constitutional oversight and send snarky letters. The American people deserve better from the White House and we will continue to provide the transparency and accountability they are owed,’ the spokesperson said.

Comer and Jordan, last month, subpoenaed former White House Counsel Remus last month to appear for a deposition as part of their investigation into President Biden’s alleged mishandling and improper retention of classified records.

Comer and Jordan said this week that without a ‘specific legal basis or privilege that would prohibit her compliance with our subpoenas,’ they expect Remus will comply and appear for a deposition.

The White House, last month, requested that the committees ‘withdraw all subpoenas issued in connection with this investigation of President Biden,’ but House Republicans said White House officials ‘did not assert ay legal reason, let alone privilege, that would prevent Ms. Remus from sitting for a deposition with the committees.’

Comer first requested Remus appear for a transcribed interview before the House Oversight Committee in May. That request came after the panel obtained information that they said ‘contradicts important details from the White House’s and President Biden’s personal attorney’s statements about the discovery of documents at the Penn Biden Center, including the location and security of the classified documents.’

Comer has described Remus as a ‘central figure in the early stages of coordinating the packing and moving of boxes that were later found to contain classified materials.’ Comer, in May, said Remus could be a witness ‘with potentially unique knowledge’ about the matter.

Meanwhile, the subpoena also came after Comer, in October, demanded answers from Special Counsel Robert Hur, who is investigating Biden’s alleged improper retention of classified records, on whether the sensitive, classified documents Biden retained were related to specific countries which were involved in his family’s lucrative foreign business deals.

Comer is investigating the Biden family’s foreign business dealings as part of the House impeachment inquiry, as well as Biden’s alleged mishandling of classified documents.

Comer also requested from Hur a list of the countries named in any documents with classification markings recovered from Penn Biden Center, Biden’s residence, including the garage, in Wilmington, Delaware, or elsewhere; and a list of all individuals named in those documents with classification markings; and all documents found with classified markings.

Biden sat down for an interview with Hur in October.

‘As we have said from the beginning, the president and the White House are cooperating with this investigation, and as it has been appropriate, we have provided relevant updates publicly, being as transparent as we can, consistent with protecting and preserving the integrity of the investigation,’ White House spokesperson for investigations Ian Sams said after the president’s interview with the special counsel. 

Hur’s investigation comes after a batch of records from President Biden’s time as vice president, including a ‘small number of documents with classified markings,’ were discovered at the Penn Biden Center by the president’s personal attorneys on Nov. 2, 2022.

Additional classified records were discovered at President Biden’s Wilmington home in January. After that discovery, Attorney General Merrick Garland appointed Hur as special counsel to investigate the matter.

FIRST ON FOX: Two Republican lawmakers are leading the charge on a sweeping reform bill aimed at clearing a passport processing backlog that regularly causes difficulties for Americans seeking to travel abroad – a bill that is believed to have a good chance of getting to President Biden’s desk.

Reps. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., and Maria Salazar, R-Fla., are introducing the Passport System Reform and Backlog Prevention Act, which would aim to reduce processing times for passports, which have been a problem for years but have remained high since the COVID-19 pandemic shuttered offices and led to massive delays.

The authors say that the delay Americans currently face, which the State Department currently has at 7-10 weeks for regular processing, for a passport renewal is well behind other countries for processing, where online functionality and speed are more common. Processing times shot up during the COVID-19 pandemic and are not yet at the pre-pandemic levels, which the authors say was still high. 

Secretary of State Antony Blinken told lawmakers this year that during the COVID-19 pandemic ‘the bottom basically dropped out of the system’ at the department for handling both passports and visas due to travel demand plummeting, and the agency is still rebuilding while trying to keep up with the enormous surge in demand.

The State Department issued a record 22 million passports in fiscal year 2022, and officials have said the agency is on track to break that record in 2023.

‘The collapse of the passport system represents a signature failure that upended and inconvenienced tens of millions of Americans who have the right to expect far more of their government,’ Issa said in a statement to Fox News Digital. ‘This transformative approach will not only address many of the problems that led to the backlog, but also deliver modernizations that are overdue and will set the system right for decades to come.’

‘Passport processing backlogs have been a nightmare for my constituents. It has been almost four years since the start of the pandemic,’ Salazar said. ‘There is no excuse for forcing the American people to wait more than three months for a passport. Our legislation cleans up this mess at the State Department and puts this critical government service back on track.’

The aim of the legislation is to reform the system so that a U.S. citizen can get a passport renewed within 30 days, in part by the federal government using technology and best practices to do so. To achieve this, it not only sets standards for the government but also allows the State Department to hire up to 100 personal service contractors in each of fiscal years 2024-2026 for consular affairs.

The targets set include those related to cybersecurity, affordability, customer service and geographic accessibility.

The bill envisions a dashboard to allow congressional caseworkers to track casework for their constituents, a system of communication for citizens to receive email and text alerts about the state of their passport renewal and an app for those communications.

It also would allow internet-based submissions of first-time applications as well as renewals. Separately, it would require the Government Accountability Office to review the passport issuance process and see where additional improvements could be made, including possible collaboration with other agencies.

Issa’s office told Fox News Digital that they are confident of the bill making it out of committee and passing on the House floor. They are also hopeful that it will pick up the support of Democrats, with speedier passport processing seen as an area where there is bipartisan support. 

The bill has also picked up the support of Salesforce, a cloud-based software company that specializes in the type of software that would be used to modernize passport processing.

‘Citizens want government organizations to provide online services that match the innovative consumer experiences found in the private sector. But the impact of legacy systems can often create mass-scale frustration,’ Hugh Gamble, vice president of Federal Government Affairs at Salesforce, told Fox News Digital.

‘Salesforce is excited about the steps Congress is taking to modernize government IT, which will accelerate the public sector’s digital transformation and ensure a future where constituents can just as easily access critical services as calling an Uber,’ Gamble said.

The House Judiciary Committee launched an investigation this week into whether Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis coordinated with the House Jan. 6 Committee in their investigations.

House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, and Rep. Barry Loudermilk, R-Ga., are leading the probe after learning that Willis’ office ‘coordinated its investigative actions with the partisan Select Committee.’

The lawmakers say Willis asked the House Select Committee on Jan. 6 to share evidence with her office.

Willis was investigating former President Trump’s alleged efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election in the state of Georgia.

Willis charged Trump in August with one count of violation of the Georgia RICO Act, three counts of criminal solicitation, six counts of criminal conspiracy, one count of filing false documents and two counts of making false statements. Trump pleaded not guilty to all counts.

But Jordan and Loudermilk said the new information ‘raises additional questions relevant to the Committee’s oversight of Willis’s politically motivated prosecution of a former President of the United States and several former senior federal officials.’

‘The coordination between Fulton County, GA District Attorney Fani Willis, and Pelosi’s January 6 Select Committee, should be concerning to everyone,’ Loudermilk said in a statement. ‘This new information raises questions about Willis’ and Thompson’s commitment to due process, and whether House Rules were violated when the Select Committee failed to properly disclose this material.’

He added: ‘We have serious concerns about this behavior and we are seeking the truth.’ 

Jordan and Loudermilk sent letters to Willis and former Jan. 6 Committee Chairman Bennie Thompson, D-Miss.

Thompson said he received the letter and said it contained ‘significant factual errors.’ 

‘As I have said time and again, the [Jan. 6 Committee] archived its official records in accordance with House rules,’ Thompson told NBC News. ‘Only the Committee on House Administration is in possession of these records, and Mr. Loudermilk is fully aware of this.’

Senate Republicans on Wednesday blocked billions of dollars in additional security aid to Ukraine, Israel and the Indo-Pacific, as they pressed President Biden to focus on tougher measures at the U.S.-Mexico border. 

Votes came 49-51, falling short of the Senate’s 60-vote threshold for passing. The failure to pass came hours after President Biden said it was ‘stunning’ that Congress has not yet approved tens of billions in military and economic assistance for Ukraine. 

The Biden administration has warned of dire consequences for Kyiv, and a ‘gift’ to Russia’s Vladimir Putin, if lawmakers don’t act. 

This is a developing story. Check back for updates. 

‘Squad’ Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., claimed that ‘all’ underage women will face ‘genital examinations’ if biological men are barred from women’s sports.

Ocasio-Cortez made her claim during the Tuesday House Oversight Subcommittee on Health hearing featuring NCAA swimming legend and women’s sports advocate Riley Gaines.

The New York Democrat said there were several proposals looking to ‘marginalize’ transgender Americans before claiming during her questioning that women would have to get their pants checked if someone disbelieves their stated gender.

‘We are talking about opening up all women and girls to genital examinations when they are underage, potentially just because someone can point to someone and say, I don’t think you are a girl,’ she claimed.

‘And we’re saying this in an environment of a post-Dobbs America, where states are criminalizing access to abortion and want nothing more than data on women to figure out when, who’s getting a menstrual cycle, who doesn’t have one, and we’re supposed to believe this is going to make us better and safer?’

‘I think not, and, per usual, I don’t believe we’re sitting here on a panel of men that has actually thought about the biology and privacy consequences of all women, trans or cisgendered,’ the ‘Squad’ Democrat added.

Ocasio-Cortez’s claim comes almost a year after the Ohio state Senate removed a controversial provision from a state House proposal barring biological men from competing against women, which would have required ‘internal and external’ exams to confirm a student-athlete’s gender.

Ohio Senate Republicans replaced the provision with a requirement for student-athletes whose gender is in question to ‘present a copy of the participant’s original birth certificate’ to compete.

‘I’m not sure why that’s in the bill, it’s unnecessary,’ State Senate President Matt Huffman said about the genital inspection provision in June 2022.

‘All of these tests can be done with a simple DNA swab,’ Huffman added.

Tuesday’s hearing saw fireworks from the get-go as Gaines, an outspoken advocate of keeping women’s sports limited to biological women, fired back at Ocasio-Cortez’s fellow ‘Squad’-mate, Rep. Summer Lee, D-Pa.

Lee called Gaines’ testimony, as well as the testimonies of the other women leaders looking to restrict women’s sports to biological women, ‘transphobic’ in her opening remarks.

Gaines blasted Lee, the ranking member of the House Oversight Subcommittee on Health, after the Squad member took her shot at the witnesses’ testimony.

‘There’s a place for everybody to play sports in this country,’ Gaines said, noting transgender Americans were included in her view. ‘But unsafe, unfair and discriminatory practices must stop.’

‘Inclusion cannot be prioritized over safety and fairness,’ the former NCAA swimmer concluded in her opening remarks. ‘And ranking member Lee, if my testimony makes me ‘transphobic,’ then I believe your opening monologue makes you a misogynist.’

Fox News Digital’s Ronn Blitzer contributed reporting.