The director of the country’s premier American history museum said she has no regrets about any of the museum’s exhibits under her tenure after an expert confronted her with a «shocking» display that he said smeared founding father Benjamin Franklin.

Smithsonian National Museum of American History Director Anthea Hartig faced intense questioning from lawmakers during two Capitol Hill hearings this week. The hearings followed a White House Domestic Policy Council report accusing the museum of using taxpayer dollars and its status as a world-renowned institution to advance a «radical activist ideology.»

During a House hearing on Tuesday, Heritage Foundation expert Mike Gonzalez testified that a multiyear special exhibit titled «The Electric Dr. Franklin» included a display that «pondered whether he had ever done experiments, electrical electroshock on indentured servants or slaves.» Gonzalez testified that the display included this suggestion «without producing any evidence whatsoever,» which he called «shocking.»

«Why smear a founding father such as Ben Franklin by pondering such a really bizarre thing,» asked Gonzalez.

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Immediately after Gonzalez’s testimony, Rep. Brian Jack, R-Ga., confronted Hartig, saying, «We’ve heard a lot of concerning examples as just referenced. Do you have any regrets in your tenure thus far [about] some of the exhibits have been displayed? Do you regret any of the exhibits and if so, which?»

Hartig answered, «I am incredibly proud of the work we’ve done, but we are imperfect and we surely have made mistakes. But I don’t have any regrets.»

Jack pressed further, asking, «Which mistakes would you say you’ve made?»

To which Hartig responded, «There are always factual errors.»

«One of my favorite, currently,» she went on, «is that one of our volunteers has pointed out that we’ve been mislabeling a coin in the American Presidency exhibit for years, and we were, of course, you know, slightly embarrassed about that, but we fixed it.»

Hartig became director of the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History in February 2019. The Benjamin Franklin exhibit opened to the public in 2021 and remained on display through 2025.

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National Museum of American History Director Dr. Anthea Hartig is sworn in during an Oversight and Government Reform subcommittee on Delivering on Government Efficiency hearing on Capitol Hill on July 21, 2026 in Washington, DC. (Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)

The museum currently has a webpage containing expanded material from the exhibit. The site states that «researchers also used people as conductors to determine how far an electrical charge might travel, and if electrical effects would fade with distance. Franklin wrote about experiments in which he took shocks and used family and friends in these ways, although he seldom identified who in particular assisted him. Indentured servants and enslaved people in his household could also have been used, although we may never know for certain.»

A sweeping new White House report concluded that the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of American History has become a taxpayer-backed institution of «ideological capture» and «extreme political activism.»

According to the 162-page «Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History» report, delivered on America’s 250th birthday, NMAH treats the American story as a political tool rather than a shared national inheritance.

The White House Domestic Policy Council wrote that the «Smithsonian Institution, and the National Museum of American History in particular, under its current leadership and current interpretive ideology, cannot be trusted to tell America’s story honestly and in a way that is inspiring, unifying, and worthy of our great republic.»

Further, the report said that «by the intention and at the direction of current Museum and Smithsonian leadership, NMAH has become subject to institutional capture by a radical, activist ideology that is fundamentally opposed to telling the noble, honest story of the great country we know and love.»

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The Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History is being called out for being ‘ideologically captured’ and presenting woke revisionist history on the weekend of America’s 250th birthday. (Kevin Carter)

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During her testimony Tuesday, Hartig said that «the Smithsonian takes the concerns raised in the White House Domestic Policy Counsel’s report seriously, and as we continue to fact check the report, we unwaveringly attest that it does not fairly or accurately characterize the full body of work at the museum.»

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She added that «there is always room for improvement, but I also know the beauty and the inspiration and the expertise that lies in our collections, our exhibits, and our programing.»

Fox News Digital reached out to the Smithsonian Institution, the National Museum of American History, and Gonzalez for additional comment.

La sombra de Mussolini

El general retirado Roberto Vannacci, durante un encuentro de su partido Futuro Nazionale, en junio en Roma. Foto: REUTERS

El avance del general

FIRST ON FOX – Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., sent a letter to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP)-linked Fuyao Glass Industry Group Co., one of the world’s leading automotive glass manufacturers with U.S. headquarters in Ohio, demanding information on the company’s operations and finances amid allegations of labor violations.

The letter, first obtained by Fox News Digital, asks for extensive documentation of Fuyao’s business operations in the U.S., its labor practices, its ties to the CCP and more.

Khanna, the top Democrat on the House Select Committee on the Strategic Competition Between the U.S. and the Chinese Communist Party, cited allegations that Fuyao has been violating U.S. labor laws by, among other things, importing foreign workers to undercut American labor.

«They have serious allegations against them of suppressing prices because they’re being subsidized by the Chinese Communist Party, allegedly, of bringing people into this country who are undocumented and violating our immigration laws, and then exploiting those workers and having them work long hours with little pay,» Khanna told Fox News Digital.

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A 2024 federal raid on Fuyao’s Ohio properties resulted in a civil asset forfeiture of $126 million that included the seizure of luxury goods, vehicles, and 12 commercial and residential properties, including what the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) described as «boarding houses» to accommodate migrant workers.

«It is alleged that many of the workers were illegally smuggled into the United States, primarily through Mexico, and encouraged to travel to the Dayton area to be employed by one of the target entities and serve as a workforce at the various factories. Most of the workers are of Chinese or Hispanic nationality. Workers allegedly lived at ‘family style hotels’ (boarding houses) owned by the target entities and were driven to and from work in transportation provided by the target entities,» the DOJ said in a press release.

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Among the many pieces of information Khanna requested from Fuyao was data on whether the company was being subsidized by the CCP, allowing them to undercut U.S. competitors, who he argued were being negatively affected by Fuyao’s practices.

This image released by Netflix shows Zach Ray at work at the Fuyao Glass America factory in Dayton, Ohio, in a scene from the Oscar-nominated documentary «American Factory.» (Netflix via AP)

«They are hurting. American glass manufacturers, one of them that we met on our Heartland tour in Western Pennsylvania. And they are putting American workers out of business,» Khanna told Fox News Digital. «And at the same time, they are exploiting our laws. Now we have requested the findings from the Justice Department that undertook an investigation. And they still have not released the findings. And so I am going to take on myself, with the China Committee, to investigate Fuyao.»

In the 2025 press release, the DOJ said a criminal investigation into Fuyao is ongoing.

Khanna also asked the company to reveal the degree to which the CCP is involved in the company’s operation.

«We need to understand a lot more. I want to understand whether they’re getting subsidies from the CCP. I want to understand whether any CCP government official is on their board or on their executive team,» he said. «I want to understand if they’re providing reports to the CCP, I want to understand if the CCP is helping them to lower prices where they can undercut American competition. And I certainly want to know if the CCP is helping them smuggle in people who are undocumented. So these are unanswered questions that we need to answer.»

Like all Chinese companies, Fuyao is required to have a CCP representative in their company ranks. The company’s vice president, He Shimeng, is also a CCP secretary, according to the Made In China Journal.

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When asked if the U.S.’s southern border’s porousness under former President Joe Biden relative to the border under President Donald Trump’s administration contributed to Fuyao’s ability to import foreign workers, Khanna said that a strong border is necessary. Notably, migrant encounters at the southern border are at a 50-year low under the second Trump administration, according to the Pew Research Center.

Cao Dewang, chairman of Fuyao Glass Group, attends the annual black-tie dinner hosted by the National Committee on U.S.-China Relations at the Ziegfeld Ballroom on Oct. 24, 2023, in New York City. (Liao Pan/China News Service/VCG via Getty Images)

«I’ve said that we need border security, and I’ve also been candid that we allow too many people to come in without the proper vetting in 2024,» Khanna told Fox News Digital.

«I disagree with the ICE raids that are taking place very strongly, but I believe we need a secure border,» he said, adding, «as an American, we should be outraged that you have a Chinese-funded company that is undercutting American jobs, potentially exploiting workers, and potentially breaking our immigration laws. So with that. That is wrong. And so I am going to make sure that we stand up for American workers and for our laws.»

Fuyao was the subject of the 2019 Netflix documentary «American Factory,» which captured the company’s takeover of a former General Motors plant in Moraine, Ohio, a suburb of Dayton. One of the film’s major themes was Fuyao’s million-dollar effort to crush the area’s local unions.

«Once the focus begins to shift… to the fight over an upcoming vote on unionization — with [Fuyao founder] Cao [Dewang] paying ‘consultants’ over a million dollars to lecture workers at length on the horrors of unions and then telling them that ‘you have a voice’ — the film begins to toughen considerably as it shows how corporate manipulation works,» Roger Ebert critic Peter Sobczynski wrote in 2019.

The alleged union-busting is a major focus of Khanna’s inquiry.

«What is Fuyao’s reasoning for its opposition to unionization efforts at facilities in the United States?» Khanna’s letter asked.

Side view of a white colored Ford F-150 pickup truck. (Smith Collection/Gado/Getty Images)

«Has Fuyao retaliated against any whistleblower (without regard to whether the subject matter of the whistleblower allegation related to collective bargaining), including but not limited to through actions impacting employment, hours, pay, employment records, or other workplace decisions?» Khanna also queried.

In addition to requesting the comprehensive information packet from Fuyao, Khanna is also requesting an onsite visit to the company’s flagship Ohio plant before Nov. 1, «so I can go in and see for myself who the workers are,» he told Fox News Digital.

«Are they undocumented? Are they being exploited, what the pricing is?» he asked.

«What we have heard is they’ve engaged in anti-union activity,» Khanna told Fox News Digital. «What we’ve heard is that they are working their employees long hours well beyond the 40-hour work week. What we heard is, that they’re not paying overtime. What we’re heard is wage theft, that they’re not paying their workers an appropriate wage. So all of this is exploitive. And of course, if these are undocumented workers in certain cases, they’re most vulnerable. They’re totally dependent on Fuyao for their staying in America and their living.»

Fuyao is one of the largest automotive glass manufacturers and suppliers in the world. The company claims to have 35% of global market share in the automotive glass trade, a number corroborated by trade publications like Bamboo Works, which pegs the number even higher at 40%. Fuyao supplies glass to global and U.S. automakers such as BMW, Volkswagen, General Motors and Ford.

Khanna said that if Fuyao did not comply with his request for information, he would be willing to subpoena the information from them as ranking member of his committee.

«We can subpoena them, if not, and I fully expect to have this as a priority when I become chair, if we win the election, but we wanna do this in a bipartisan way,» he said. «They need to allow us onto the site and they need to provide this information.»

He explained that he has a good relationship with committee Chairman Rep. John Moolenaar, R-Mich., and said other colleagues across the aisle have supported his efforts.

«I fully anticipate it will be bipartisan. I have a very good relationship with John Moolenaar, our chair. We share a commitment to an American industrial policy. We understand that there needs to be more investment in our communities, and we share a concern about Chinese companies coming into the auto industry or Chinese companies coming in. If they’re not playing fair, I don’t want Ohio to be taken over by Chinese companies that are violating our trade laws and our labor laws and our immigration laws,» he said.

Rep. John Moolenaar, R-Mich., in the Cannon Tunnel on April 30, 2024. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)

Khanna conceded that Trump was one of the first to raise the issue of China’s unbalanced relationship with the U.S., but still criticized the president’s overall policy on China, giving it a «C» when asked to grade it.

Chinese President Xi Jinping and President Donald Trump visit the Temple of Heaven on May 14, 2026, in Beijing, China, during a high-level summit between the two leaders. (Brendan Smialowski – Pool/Getty Images)

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«I’d give it a ‘C’ because I think he was the first to sound the alarm on China, eating our lunch and taking our jobs. And he was right to sound the alarm. And so I give him credit for sounding the alarm, but he hasn’t followed through. Why are we begging them for foreign investment? Why aren’t we having an industrial investment bank for our people here? Why aren’t we investing in our industry and ships and steel and robotics here? And in building up our manufacturing base? And then why aren’t we going after companies like Fuyao, where they’re clearly violating the law?» Khanna said.

Fox News Digital contacted Moolenaar, Fuyao and the DOJ for comment.