A former security guard at the U.S. Embassy in Norway was convicted of spying on behalf of Russia and Iran, a report said. 

The 28-year-old Norwegian, whose identity has not been made public, was sentenced Wednesday to three years and seven months, The Associated Press reported. 

A Norwegian police official reportedly told Reuters at the time of the suspect’s arrest last November that he was working at the U.S. Embassy in Oslo, Norway’s capital. 

The State Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment Thursday from Fox News Digital. 

Prosecutors alleged that the man handed over details about the embassy’s diplomats, its floor plans and security routines, among other information, Norwegian state broadcaster NRK reported. The broadcaster added that American ties to Israel and the war in Gaza prompted the man to contact Russia and Iran. 

The suspect acknowledged the indictment’s facts but denied any criminal guilt, according to the AP.

The man’s defense attorneys said in a statement Thursday that the verdict raises questions about what is considered espionage under Norwegian law. 

‘He lied about having security clearance to agents from other countries and exaggerated his own role,’ attorney Inger Zadig of Elden Law Firm told the AP. ‘He had roughly the same level of access as a janitor at the embassy. The information he shared was worthless and neither separately nor collectively capable of harming individuals or the security interests of any state.’ 

The defendant was found guilty of five espionage-related charges and was acquitted of gross corruption. His defense attorneys are weighing whether to appeal the verdict. 

At the time of his arrest last November, the man had been studying for a bachelor’s degree in security and preparedness at Norway’s Arctic University, UiT. 

The Associated Press contributed to this report. 

Senate Democrats for a 10th time blocked Republicans’ attempts to reopen the government and have ensured that the shutdown goes into next week.

That’s because after one final vote series later on Thursday, lawmakers will leave Washington, D.C., for another long weekend after just three short days on the Hill.

Neither Republicans nor Democrats are ready to flinch in their deeply entrenched positions, and talks between both sides, though largely informal exercises, have begun to fade.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., is determined to continue on the same course of action to keep bringing the House-passed continuing resolution (CR), which would reopen the government until Nov. 21, up for a vote again and again.

Though some in the GOP are mulling a new end date for the CR, that would require the House, which has been out of session for nearly a month, to come back and pass a new one.

While Thune and Republicans are adamant that their plan is the only pathway to ending the shutdown, now on Day 16, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and the Senate Democratic caucus still want to hammer out a deal on expiring Obamacare subsidies — and they want President Donald Trump to get directly involved in negotiations.

‘We’re willing to have, as I said, conversations about all the other issues that they want to talk about,’ Thune said. ‘But that can’t happen while they are holding the federal government and all these federal employees and our troops and our air traffic controllers and our TSA agents and our border Patrol officials hostage. Open up the government.’

‘Every day that this goes on, the problems are compounded for federal workers and for ordinary Americans,’ he continued. ‘Chuck Schumer may think that every day gets better for them politically, but I can tell you that is not the experience of the American people.’

When asked if he would compromise on the Democrats’ demands as the shutdown dragged on, Schumer dodged and countered that he wouldn’t negotiate in the public eye.

‘The bottom line is [Republicans] won’t even negotiate with us,’ Schumer said. ‘So that’s a premature question. But of course, I’m not going to negotiate in public. We need to address the crisis that is afflicted, and that’s the right word, the American people.’

However, Sen. Markwayne Mullin, R-Okla., said that Republicans weren’t working on a subsidy proposal to show Democrats, and he noted that talks between the parties were ‘not really’ happening anymore.

When asked if it was possible to get an extension of the credits before the Nov. 1 open enrollment date, he said, ‘I don’t think there’s a way to do that.’

‘And I think if you don’t have it done by Christmas, it becomes a political issue,’ Mullin said. ‘But you could maybe push it to January, to February, if you wanted to, but we get bumped up against, you know, everybody’s primaries, from the Democrat primaries and Republican primaries, and it becomes a political issue, because, unfortunately, healthcare is political.’

Republicans are also trying to reignite the appropriations process in the Senate as the shutdown continues on. Thune teed up a procedural vote later Thursday on the Senate’s defense spending bill, which, among other things, would fund paychecks for the military.

Whether Democrats support the spending bill after spending months demanding a bipartisan government funding process remains an open question — many argued after their closed-door meeting on Wednesday that they didn’t know exactly what Republicans were going to put on the floor and considered a vote on it moot.

As with most of the past 10 attempts to send the House-passed CR to Trump’s desk, the same trio of Democratic caucus members, Sens. John Fetterman, D-Pa., Catherine Cortez Masto, D-Nev., and Angus King, I-Maine, voted with Senate Republicans.

Fetterman, who has consistently voted with the GOP every time, echoed his counterparts across the aisle and said that any outside issues aside from reopening the government could be dealt with after the lights were turned back on in Washington.

‘It was wrong to shut it down in March,’ he said. ‘I’m in the same position. It’s not going to change. Everything else we’re talking about,  open up the government first, and then we can figure out the rest.’

Kennedy Center President and Ambassador Richard Grenell slammed former President Joe Biden for avoiding Russian President Vladimir Putin as war raged between Russia and Ukraine, while praising President Donald Trump’s ‘common sense’ foreign policies.

‘You have a president who is really watching the situation, unlike the last president, Joe Biden, who literally didn’t talk to Vladimir Putin for three and a half years,’ he said. ‘President Trump doesn’t believe in that strategy. He wants to confront the issues. He wants to figure out ways to fix them.’

Trump plans to speak with Russian President Vladimir Putin Thursday — just hours after Russian missiles and drones attacked Ukrainian cities. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy already had been scheduled to head to Washington to meet with Trump Friday, to discuss the war and strengthening his country’s defenses. 

Trump vowed from the campaign trail that he would facilitate negotiations for a peace deal to end the war between Russia and Ukraine, which has raged since 2022, but ongoing talks have yet to yield an agreement. 

In addition to Russia and Ukraine, Trump also has been active in efforts to bring peace to the Middle East. Trump secured a historic peace declaration as of Monday, when he traveled to Israel and Egypt to meet with foreign leaders stretching from the Middle East to Europe.

Grenell discussed Trump’s strategy for international conflicts during his second term in office while attending ‘The Sound of Music’ at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C.

‘Well, first of all, I’ve worked with President Trump for a long time, and the one thing about President Trump is that he’s filled with common sense, and he evaluates his decisions constantly,’ Grenell told Fox News Digital.

Grenell said Trump can make America stronger on the world stage with his ability and willingness to adapt to different international conflicts.

‘You see him adjust the policy,’ he said. ‘Something isn’t working, he’s not afraid to replace somebody or change the policy.’

Grenell described Trump as an ‘active president’ who is ready to make moves and advance U.S. interests.

‘I think that what we’re seeing on the global stage is someone who is an activist president, watching the situation, adjusting the policy so that it’s making America stronger, more prosperous, and solving problems around the world,’ Grenell said.

When U.S. forces launched strikes against Iranian military targets in June, critics warned it could ignite a regional inferno — even the start of World War III. Four months later, the Middle East is quieter than at any point in years. Iranian proxies have scaled back attacks, Gulf tensions have cooled, and Washington has shifted attention toward the Western Hemisphere.

The unexpected calm is raising a new question: Did decisive U.S. action restore deterrence — or has Washington simply been lucky?

Those who favor a more forceful U.S. foreign policy counted Iran’s lack of a response as a win for their frame of mind — and a loss for restrainers. They now credit the strikes with bringing about a period of relative peace that culminated in a fragile ceasefire between Israel and Hamas this week.

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., publicly broke from her longtime support of President Donald Trump after the strikes.

‘Six months in and here we are turning back on the campaign promises, and we bombed Iran on behalf of Israel,’ she said on Newsmax at the time.

‘We’re entering a nuclear war, World War Three, because the entire world is going to erupt. And you know what, the people that are cheering it on right now, their tune is going to drastically change the minute we start seeing flag-draped coffins on the nightly news.’

On Monday, she praised Trump for brokering the peace deal between Israel and Hamas. ‘Blessed are the peacemakers! May healing begin for all.’ 

‘You’ve put every U.S. troop and embassy in the region at risk and squandered America’s diplomatic leverage — though you’ll likely think you’ve strengthened it,’ said Adam Weinstein, deputy director of the Middle East Program at the Quincy Institute, at the time.

Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., claimed the strike ‘put the United States on a path to a war in the Middle East that the country does not want, the law does not allow, and our security does not demand.’

Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., was even more blunt. ‘It was a good week for the neocons in the military-industrial complex who want war all the time,’ he said on CBS’ Face the Nation.

Four months later, those who once warned of a spiral toward World War III are facing an uncomfortable reality: the region is largely quiet.

‘Those who warned of World War III before the U.S. and Israeli strikes on Iran fundamentally misunderstood both the nature of deterrence and the regime in Tehran,’ said Mark Dubowitz, CEO of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies.

‘Strength and resolve don’t invite escalation — they prevent it. What we’ve seen in recent months is a return to deterrence through escalation dominance: Iran, Hezbollah, Hamas, and other American enemies are recalibrating precisely because the United States finally imposed real costs on the Islamic Republic.’

Dubowitz said years of Western restraint emboldened Iran. ‘For years, Western policymakers indulged in a fantasy that restraint would produce stability,’ he said. ‘It did the opposite. Tehran read our de-escalation as weakness and kept pushing.’

‘Everybody who said that a strike on Iran would be a disaster was wrong,’ said Matthew Kroenig, vice president of the Atlantic Council’s Scowcroft Center and a former Pentagon strategist. ‘These fears about Iranian retaliation and region-wide war were exaggerated. Iran doesn’t want a major war with the United States, the greatest superpower on earth that could end its regime. Instead, Iran engaged in some kind of token retaliation, and the whole thing died down.’

Trump’s authorization of the strikes was not a departure from his ‘America First’ principles, as Greene suggested, but a continuation of them.

‘When it comes to hitting an adversary hard, Trump has always been open to that kind of short, sharp, decisive use of force to achieve a clear objective,’ Kroenig said.

Those in the restraint camp say they don’t count Trump’s decision as a total loss for their viewpoint. They argue that predictions of a wider war were based on a different scenario — one that Trump ultimately avoided.

‘The prediction that this could lead to a wider war was for the scenario in which the U.S. would join Israel in a larger military campaign against Iran with the intent of regime change,’ said Trita Parsi, co-founder of the Quincy Institute. ‘This is not what Trump opted for. He clearly signaled to Tehran before the strikes where he would strike to ensure that the locations would be vacated and that there would be no casualties. He also signaled his intent to only strike these sites and be done with it. This significantly reduced the risk of a larger escalation.’

Rosemary Kelanic of Defense Priorities acknowledged that the strikes were ‘not a win for restraint’ in principle, and though the U.S. felt few repercussions, it was still a gamble.

‘I think it’s really easy to learn the wrong lesson from this, which is, all we have to do is go in and bomb for 45 minutes and then everyone will back down,’ she said. ‘Most of the time, U.S. military force doesn’t actually produce the outcomes that we want.’

Adam Weinstein said the operation came at the cost of diplomacy, noting that the strikes took place in the midst of ongoing negotiations with Tehran over its nuclear program.

‘The strikes were a setback on diplomacy with Iran,’ he said. ‘They negatively affected the world’s ability to ensure that Iran doesn’t develop a nuclear capability. It essentially destroyed trust between Iran and the international community.’

Former President Barack Obama endorsed former Democratic Rep. Abigail Spanberger in Virginia’s governor race, releasing a pair of ads attacking Republicans. 

The contest between Spanberger, a former CIA officer, and Virginia Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears is one of only two governor races in the U.S. this November. The contests are viewed as political bellwethers ahead of the 2026 midterm elections. 

‘Virginia’s elections are some of the most important in the country this year. We know Republicans will keep attacking abortion rights and the rights of women. That’s why having the right governor matters, and I’m proud to endorse Abigail Spanberger,’ Obama said in one of the ads, titled ‘Protect Our Rights.’ 

‘In Congress, Abigail held Republicans accountable and fought to protect voting rights and abortion rights,’ Obama said. ‘But it won’t happen without you. Every vote counts, so turn out. Virginia, Abigail Spanberger is the best choice for governor.’

Earle-Sears’ press secretary Peyton Vogel told Fox News Digital in reaction to the ads that, ‘Abigail Spanberger is scared, and it shows.’

‘After losing support across Virginia, she’s leaning on liberal elites to try and save her collapsing campaign. This is a desperate play from a candidate who’s run out of support, out of ideas, and out of time. Voters see through it, and that’s why Winsome Earle-Sears is surging,’ Vogel added.

In the other ad, Obama said, ‘Republican policies are raising costs on working families so [that] billionaires can get massive tax cuts.’

‘As governor, Abigail will stand up for Virginia families,’ Obama said. ‘She’ll work to build an economy that works for everyone, not just big corporations and the wealthy.’ 

Earle-Sears most recently criticized Spanberger on her X account Wednesday night for her reaction to the texting scandal surrounding Democratic Virginia attorney general candidate Jay Jones. 

The scandal involving Jones came to light earlier this month when the National Review published text message exchanges between Jones and his former state legislative colleague, Republican House Delegate Carrie Coyner. In the exchanges, Jones appears to call for violence against then-Virginia House of Delegates Speaker Todd Gilbert, his wife, Jennifer, and their children. 

‘Jay Jones expressed his desire to murder a dad and his two young boys — and to see police officers get shot,’ Earle-Sears said. ‘Abigail Spanberger still supports him.’ 

Fox News Digital reported this week that Spanberger’s campaign store continues to sell merchandise co-branded with the rest of the statewide Democratic ticket — which includes Jones. 

Fox News’ Paul Steinhauser, Rachel Wolf and Charles Creitz contributed to this report.