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A legal expert is calling for a leadership overhaul at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History (NMAH), arguing the museum has embraced a negative, "self-loathing" portrayal of the nation’s past.

"I think this is part of a broader effort by radicals on the left to redefine the history of the United States and reframe it in an oppressor-versus-oppressed narrative," Cully Stimson, a senior legal fellow at the Heritage Foundation and former assistant U.S. attorney for Washington, D.C., told Fox News Digital.

"Instead of looking at American history chronologically with all the triumphs and tragedies, including slavery, and then the things that our country did to eradicate the vestiges of slavery, and then passing the 13th, 14th and 15th Amendments and the Civil Rights Acts and getting rid of various other laws that were discriminatory in practice or in spirit. They take a very pro-reparations, ‘we’re a bad country,’ oppressor-versus-oppressed narrative."

The comments come after a July 2026 White House report accused the Smithsonian of advancing DEI and left-wing agendas, prompting a pair of heated congressional hearings that put National Museum of American History Director Anthea Hartig under the national spotlight.

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Lawmakers accused museum leaders of allowing political activism to seep into exhibits and influence how history is presented, while Hartig maintained that the museum is nonpartisan and "does not take sides in America’s political debates."

Stimson said the hearings are exposing "bile that they’re trying to pass off as history," saying "sunlight’s a good disinfectant."

"If the head of the Smithsonian had any shame whatsoever, she would have resigned in disgrace already and she doesn’t have any shame because she’s perfectly happy with what she’s done," Stimson said. "She’s just the pointy end of the radical spear that’s out there trying to force this thing down the throats of Americans."

Stimson said Hartig should have been fired "the minute after the hearing" for what he called "smug and self-righteous" behavior during her testimony and for failing to take accountability.

"Her little writing the question down and her smugness was really evincing of what she really thinks of the American people and congressional oversight," he said.

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Looking back to America's 250th anniversary celebrations in July, when hundreds of thousands of people came to D.C. to celebrate the milestone, Stimson said families and children were instead greeted with "all sorts of disgusting things, bondage, and all sorts of other nasty things" at the museum.

Some of the controversial exhibits highlighted in the report and hearings featured sexually explicit material, focused on race, gender and sexuality, and portrayed the Founding Fathers through their ties to slavery rather than their roles in building America.

"There should be an entire section dedicated toward the Founding Fathers and the Constitutional Convention of 1787 and the Reconstruction Amendments and all the things that happened, the Civil War, but no," he said.

Stimson said America has gone through many ups and downs "to get beyond the ugly parts of our history," giving Americans reason to celebrate the country today.

"We should not have a museum dedicated to flagellation and self-loathing," he said. "That is not how you celebrate your country."

Many Democrats have also accused Republicans of trying to "whitewash" history, a claim Stimson rejected, saying that celebrating America does not mean ignoring the darker parts of its past.

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"Celebrating doesn’t mean whitewashing history," he said. "Every civilization throughout mankind has had slavery. That doesn’t make it right, it makes it reality."

But Stimson said this approach to teaching history goes further than the museums and that the concern is "something you need to be aware of."

"You see this in higher ed, you see this unfortunately in high school and even below in lower schools, and unfortunately at our premier national museums, including the American History Museum," he said.

Stimson said people should take away the same lessons that emerged during the COVID-19 pandemic, when parents isolated at home got a firsthand look at what their children were being taught.

"That’s why you saw more and more homeschoolers, more and more people in the school choice movement just explode across the country," he said.

He added "parents are the first educators of their children" and it’s up to them "to present American history" the right way.

A complete reset could be what the museum needs, according to Stimson.

"That’s all it is," he said. "It’s bile. It needs to be ripped out, root and branch, and redone."

Fox News Digital reached out to the Smithsonian for comment but did not receive a response before publication.

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In 2021, after nearly two decades, the United States abruptly withdrew military forces from Afghanistan, causing the nation to fall back under Taliban control. Almost five years later, it’s hard to forget the images of crowds of people clinging on to planes in a desperate attempt to escape what lay ahead for their country. In the aftermath, many conservative evangelicals and veterans’ advocates stood up for Afghans fleeing persecution and violence. But the job remains unfinished. Now is the time to renew our efforts and push for a lasting solution for our Afghan neighbors.

As the Taliban retook Kabul, those allies were suddenly in grave danger. Their ranks included many translators, drivers and others who became targets because they worked with the United States. Many turned to the U.S. for such a chance at safety, and in 2021, a multi-agency, public-private effort mobilized to rally around our allies.

Both our organizations support Afghan evacuees in different ways. World Relief, in coordination with hundreds of local churches, has spent years resettling Afghan families in American communities, and AfghanEvac has fought to bring home the mission partners who served alongside our troops and enabled the U.S. mission. Since the beginning of U.S. involvement in Afghanistan, promises have been made to provide a pathway to legal residency in America for Afghan allies who assisted the U.S. government.

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Many evangelical Christians in the U.S. recognized the moral crisis at stake and were eager to help welcome and support people fleeing persecution in Afghanistan. Evangelical leader Franklin Graham led  an initiative to organize support for Afghans. Here at World Relief, we were flooded by calls from churches wanting to help, and our offices were soon full of donations. At the time, polls found a majority of evangelicals supported taking in Afghan refugees. Due to unprecedented levels of support, many Afghan families were soon resettled in American communities. 

Ideally, Afghans who had worked for the U.S. government would have arrived with approved Special Immigrant Visas (SIVs) or through the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program, either of which would have ensured new arrivals that they had a permanent place in the United States. But due to the urgent nature of the evacuation, most of the roughly 70,000 Afghans  brought to the U.S. by the federal government in the months immediately after the fall of Kabul were admitted on humanitarian parole, which allowed them to be lawfully present and authorized to work, but only temporarily. This was conducted through Operation Allies Welcome, an initiative made possible through grassroots veteran involvement. Some of these individuals were subsequently granted Temporary Protected Status (TPS), a distinct but still, obviously, temporary legal protection.  

When the conditions in Afghanistan did not improve over time, it was clear a more lasting resolution was needed. The Afghan Adjustment Act was originally introduced in 2022 and 2023 to create a pathway to a green card and citizenship for Afghans with little hope of returning home. As its name suggests, the bill would establish an adjustment process for tens of thousands of Afghan evacuees to gain permanent legal status. The act has bipartisan endorsements and the support of many evangelical Christian organizations . However, despite the diverse coalition behind urging Congress and President Biden to act, the bill failed to become law, leaving many stuck in limbo. 

Since the beginning of the second Trump presidency, their situation has not improved. Little has been done to help Afghans already present on temporary status, and pathways for those still stuck in Afghanistan or in refugee camps in neighboring countries have been shut down. No Afghan principal applicants have been issued SIVs in 2026, and for those SIV applicants still waiting to be processed, the average wait time is over 1,000 days, leaving them hanging in suspense. The U.S. Refugee Admissions Program has been effectively closed for all but a favored minority. In July of 2025, Temporary Protected Status was terminated for nearly 12,000 Afghans — despite pushback from evangelicals — forcing them into an impossible situation. By ending or suspending these programs, the administration has not just abandoned Afghans but has closed the door to anyone facing persecution abroad. 

Despite many attempts since the early waves of Afghan arrivals, a legislative fix still has not been passed. A new bill has recently been proposed  in both the House and the Senate — the Afghanistan TPS Act of 2026 — that would re-secure TPS for Afghans, protecting them from removal and buying more time to find a permanent fix. This act is needed to address the urgent crisis facing Afghan evacuees.

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The response in 2021 by churches, veterans’ groups and many other Americans, was overwhelmingly positive and extended welcome to Afghans. However, as we reflect on the five-year anniversary of the evacuation, the work of helping them integrate and make a home in the United States is incomplete. Now is the time for us to secure their welcome permanently. For the faith communities that have carried so much of this work, Scripture is direct about welcoming the stranger and loving your neighbor. For veterans, and for a country that gave its word, the obligation is just as plain. America told these men and women that if they stood with us, we would stand with them. Both roads lead to the same place.

Will we support and protect our Afghan neighbors through our hospitality or abandon them out and succumb to fear and apathy? Furthermore, to not fulfill our agreements with our Afghan allies would be to violate our promises as Americans. That is not abstract. By showing ourselves untrustworthy, we risk losing potential allies’ cooperation in future conflicts, putting the lives of our service members in danger.

Since Kabul’s fall, the need has been unambiguous, and through the beginning of 2025, the political will was strong. But as a nation, we have faltered. We must once again stand up for our allies and urge our officials to take action passing the Afghanistan TPS Act, the Enduring Welcome Act, and reopening the resettlement program to all eligible mission partners. Not just because it’s good for our service members in future conflicts, but because it’s the right thing to do.

Shawn VanDiver is the founder and president of #AfghanEvac. 

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Murder suspect Isabelle Johnson was arrested Thursday following a weeks-long multistate manhunt spanning Florida, Georgia and Alabama, authorities said.

A U.S. Marshals task force arrested Johnson, 38, at a home in Cottondale, about an hour west of Tallahassee, according to the Walton County Sheriff's Office. 

She was wanted on a murder charge in the death of Jason Coulthart, whose body was found buried in a shallow grave in Florida on June 25.

Authorities said Johnson was taken into custody without incident Thursday afternoon, capping a 45-day manhunt. She was booked into the Jackson County Jail and is expected to be extradited to Walton County. Officials said she could face additional charges.

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"We got her," the sheriff's office said. "Isabelle Johnson is in custody."

Officials said the arrest stemmed from information developed by the Walton County Sheriff's Office Cyber Crimes Unit about Johnson's whereabouts.

Jackson County Sheriff Donald Edenfield said that after receiving the information, his deputies and members of the task force responded to an address off Peanut Road, just outside Cottondale.

Walton County Sheriff's Office Chief Deputy Dustin Cosson praised the cooperation among local, state and federal law enforcement agencies that led to Johnson's arrest.

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"It's absolutely a good day," Cosson said. "It's really important, again, just want to stress to the public. She's here, she's in custody."

"We can't express the amount of appreciation for the work that's been done," he added.

Cosson said investigators put in "tons and tons of man hours" during the roughly 45-day search for Johnson, while noting that the broader investigation has involved more than 40 subpoenas and over 20 search warrants.

Coulthart was reported missing May 24 after he was last seen leaving the College Condominiums on East College Boulevard in Niceville.

FLORIDA MAN ARRESTED AFTER SUSPECTED HUMAN REMAINS FOUND BURIED AT PROPERTY WHERE HIS FATHER LIVED

During the missing-person investigation, detectives developed information that led authorities to a property off Sunset Lane in Freeport. Investigators obtained a search warrant and found Coulthart's body buried in a shallow grave on June 25, according to the sheriff's office.

Five other people have been arrested in connection with the case. Michael Ray White, Kathleen Morris, Bobbi Wagstaff, Martin Leaverton and Sandra Leaverton have been charged with accessory to a capital felony after the fact.

Authorities said Thursday that they expect additional arrests in the case.

During the manhunt, the Walton County Sheriff's Office described Johnson as "cunning" and a "master manipulator" while warning anyone who may have been helping her to stop.

Officials said additional details surrounding Johnson's arrest could not immediately be released because the investigation remains active.

Fox News Digital's Stepheny Price contributed to this report.

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A new Mississippi law added sexual battery of a child under 12 to the list of crimes eligible for the death penalty.

Senate Bill 2821, which took effect July 1, creates the crime of "capital sexual battery" and allows prosecutors to seek the death penalty against defendants 18 or older in qualifying cases involving victims younger than 12.

If a defendant is convicted, the jury must unanimously find at least two specific aggravating factors beyond a reasonable doubt before the defendant is eligible for the death penalty. At least 8 of the 12 jurors must then recommend death. But if the death penalty is not recommended by jurors, the mandatory sentence would be life in prison without parole.

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State Sen. Jeremy England, the bill's author, said the legislation seeks to give the worst punishment for crimes against the state's most vulnerable population.

"That is a crime that, I think, shocks the conscience, certainly. Those are the worst types of crimes against the most innocent of our citizens here in Mississippi," England said, according to WLBT.

But critics question whether capital punishment serves as a deterrent to crimes against young victims or if it could lead to children becoming too afraid to come forward knowing that doing so may end someone's life.

Abraham Bonowitz, executive director of Death Penalty Action, told the outlet he once supported the death penalty but changed his position, arguing that executions are unnecessary when a life sentence keeps an inmate permanently behind bars.

"There is no need for executions when we can throw away the key," Bonowitz said.

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Bonowitz also said extending the death penalty to child sexual assault cases could deter victims from alerting authorities of the abuse they endured.

"Most of those kinds of crimes are by people that the child knows and you’re asking a child to then testify against a relative and try to get them executed," he said.

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EXCLUSIVE: The FBI on Tuesday marked the first anniversary of the Trump administration's crime crackdown in Washington, D.C., touting thousands of arrests and seizures since the enhanced federal enforcement effort began.

The milestone comes one year after President Donald Trump launched the Safe and Beautiful initiative in Washington, increasing the federal law enforcement presence and deploying hundreds of federal agents and National Guard troops to combat crime in the nation's capital.

"Last summer President Trump made the historic decision to surge federal resources to Washington D.C. to crack down on crime – and thanks to his brilliant leadership, the work of brave FBI agents and our law enforcement partners, and the support of our Justice Department, our nation’s capital is now safer than it’s been in decades," FBI Director Kash Patel told Fox News Digital.

TRUMP’S DC LAW-AND-ORDER BLITZ MARKS ONE YEAR WITH EYE-POPPING HAUL OF SUSPECTS

"One year later, the FBI has worked with partners to make over 6,000 arrests, nearly 2,000 drug seizures, and over 1,300 illegal firearm seizures," Patel continued. "Homicides in D.C. are down an incredible 44% from last year."

The FBI said the enforcement effort has resulted in 6,121 arrests, 237 search warrants and the recovery of $252,592 in cash.

Patel vowed that the federal enforcement effort would continue.

"The greatest country on earth should have a capital city reflecting it – where American taxpayers can live, visit, and petition their government without fear of violent crime," Patel said.

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"Thanks to President Trump and brave law enforcement, one year later we have made historic progress to that end, and the work will only continue," he added.

The federal surge followed a series of high-profile violent crimes in Washington, including the June 2025 killing of 21-year-old congressional intern Eric Tarpinian, the beating of a former DOGE staffer and the fatal shooting of a 14-year-old boy in a case involving alleged MS-13 gang members.

The National Guard deployment also drew criticism from Democratic leaders, including then-Washington, D.C., Mayor Muriel Bowser.

"I don't think it's legal, let me start there, for the National Guard to police Americans on American soil," Bowser said at the time.

Fox News Digital's Ashley J. DiMella contributed to this report.

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MADISON, Wis — The left wing suffered a high-profile setback on Tuesday at the hands of the center-left establishment in their ongoing battle for the ideological future of the party.

Seven days after far-left candidate Abdul El-Sayed narrowly edged out more moderate Rep. Haley Stevens in battleground Michigan's Democratic Senate primary, state Rep. Francesca Hong on Tuesday was upset in her bid to capture the Democratic gubernatorial nomination in Wisconsin, another crucial swing state.

Hong, a state lawmaker from Madison, Wisconsin and a Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) member, was defeated by Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley, the Associated Press reports.

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Crowley will face off in the general election against likely Republican nominee Rep. Tom Tiffany, a hard-right House Freedom Caucus member who is backed by President Donald Trump. The race is considered a top flip opportunity for the GOP.

Crowley was heavily backed by retiring Democratic Gov. Tony Evers, with both warning that a Hong primary victory could jeopardize Democratic control of the governor's office.

The governor's race in Wisconsin opened after Evers announced he would not seek a third term. With Evers stepping aside, the race offered Democrats their first opportunity in 16 years to choose a nominee without an incumbent governor on the ballot.

The primary was closely watched as an early test of whether Wisconsin Democrats favored the party's progressive wing or its establishment, with the winner advancing to a high-stakes general election in one of the nation's premier battleground states.

Hong, a 37-year-old former chef and single mother, was backed by top nationally known progressives, including Reps. Ilhan Omar of Minnesota and Ro Khanna of California, a potential 2028 Democratic presidential contender. But Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, a longtime champion of the left, last week said he didn't plan on endorsing Hong, arguing that he was not familiar enough with her campaign or the race.

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Hong is running on a platform that includes guaranteed paid leave, boosting the state's minimum wage from $7.25 to $20 per hour, and a one-year moratorium in Wisconsin on building AI data centers. Hong has faced scrutiny over years-old social media posts calling for defunding and abolishing the police. But she says she no longer supports cutting police budgets or abolishing police departments.

"I'm not defunding the police, not abolishing police. I am serious about public safety," Hong emphasized on Saturday as she took questions from voters.

Hong also made national headlines over the past two weeks for a resurfaced social media post from 2020 where she argued that the country should "cancel Thanksgiving" in order to "stop celebrating colonialism."

Hong walked back her Thanksgiving comments, amid backlash, and now says that Thanksgiving is her "favorite holiday."

On her resurfaced tweets, Hong told reporters on Saturday that she has "evolved" and "learned."

Wisconsin Lt. Gov. Sara Rodriguez and former Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes, two of the major contenders for the Democratic nomination, exited the race this summer. And Crowley, who earlier suspended his campaign and backed Rodriguez, re-entered the contest.

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Crowley was backed by Evers, who joined him on the campaign trail in the closing stretch leading up to the primary.

There was a growing number of more moderate Democrats concerned that if Hong captured the gubernatorial nomination, it would give Tiffany a big boost in his bid to flip the governor's office.

A Wisconsin-based Democratic strategist who asked to remain anonymous to speak more freely argued that with Hong at the top of the ticket, "it will hurt Democrats down ballot, in key congressional and legislative races" in the Midwestern battleground

Meanwhile, pro-GOP super PACs, including one aligned with the Republican Governors Association, shelled out millions of dollars to boost Hong in the primary, because they view her as the weakest Democratic candidate.

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In a Fox News Digital interview on the eve of the primary, Tiffany pointed to his expected general election showdown with Hong and said his state would be "the firewall… We’ll be the place that stops socialism."

Asked about electability concerns, Hong told Fox News on Sunday that "this election belongs to the voters. We let the voters decide. The candidate that's the most electable is the one that earns the most votes. So we're focused on meeting voters up until Election Day, until the polls close."

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A Mexican national who had been deported from the US multiple times before illegally reentering the country has been sentenced to 20 years in federal prison for sexually exploiting two minors, according to federal officials.

Erik Santana-Garcia, 34, of Salt Lake City, Utah, was sentenced July 30 to 20 years in federal prison without parole, followed by a lifetime of supervised release, for interstate transportation of a minor with intent to engage in illegal sexual activity, possession of child pornography and illegally reentering the US following a prior deportation, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Western District of Missouri.

He pleaded guilty March 3, according to court documents.

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Santana-Garcia transported a minor across state lines intending to engage in illegal sexual activity with the child, prosecutors said.

He left Utah with the victim on Nov. 10, 2024, and intended to take the child to New York, but Oak Grove, Missouri, police located the pair two days later. Investigators with Homeland Security Investigations later discovered child pornography depicting a second minor on a phone seized from Santana-Garcia at the time of his arrest, prosecutors said.

Santana-Garcia had previously been deported and removed from the US multiple times, most recently on March 6, 2019, according to prosecutors.

"Now, Erik Santana-Garcia’s going to spend the next 20 years in a federal prison because ICE HSI Kansas City, ICE HSI Salt Lake City, ICE HSI Billings and local police from Oak Grove, Missouri, nabbed him," Immigration and Customs Enforcement wrote on X.

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ICE said Santana-Garcia will be deported to Mexico after completing his prison sentence.

"This criminal illegal alien should have stayed in his own nation, because under @POTUS Trump, the United States has ZERO tolerance for child predators or illegal aliens who sneak across our borders," the agency said.

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