Smithsonian National Museum of American History Director Anthea Hartig appeared stumped by a basic question on sex and gender from Rep. Nancy Mace, R-S.C.

During a House hearing on alleged «extreme political activism» on display at the Smithsonian, Mace asked Hartig, «Do you believe that men can become women?»

Hartig hesitated before answering, «Ma’am, as the director of the museum, that’s not relevant in this case.»

«It’s very relevant,» Mace shot back. Motioning to images of Smithsonian displays featuring drag queens, Mace continued, «You’ve got men dressed up as women, and you have them on displays in front of kids. Do you think men can become women? Yes or no?»

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Hartig did not answer the question but instead began to discuss one of the drag queen displays pictured on the board behind Mace. The congresswoman interrupted her.

«What is a woman, Dr. Hartig?» Mace demanded.

Hartig began to answer that «as a director and as a historian, it’s not my-» before Mace cut her off again, saying, «You sexualized the American History Museum. So, this is a fair question. What is a woman?»

Looking down for a moment, Hartig responded, «We strive to represent and not categorize all Americans.»

«OK, I have another question for you,» Mace continued. «There’s a glossary at the museum that informs visitors that while American culture traditionally recognizes two genders, other countries recognize three or more.»

«So, enlighten me this morning: how many genders are there?» Mace asked.

Hartig hesitated again before asking, «Ma’am, which glossary?»

«This is a display, and it has a glossary that says other countries recognize three or more genders. So, I would like you to enlighten me today; you’re the director of the American History Museum, who’s sexualized things in front of kids. I want to know, I want to ask you, how many genders are there?»

Finally, Hartig responded, «I’m not sure which glossary you’re speaking,» before adding, «I’m happy to get back to you about that glossary.»

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National Museum of American History Director Anthea Hartig is sworn in during a House subcommittee hearing on Capitol Hill on July 21, 2026, in Washington, D.C. (Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)

Mace pressed further, saying, «One of your exhibits at the American History Museum says sometimes gender isn’t revealed at birth. So, when is gender revealed?»

«When was your gender revealed to you, Dr. Hartig?» she added.

Smiling, Hartig simply answered, «I don’t really think that’s relevant to the conversation.»

«It is relevant. You have a display at the American History Museum talking about, ‘Gender isn’t always revealed at birth.’ So, when was your gender revealed?» insisted Mace.

Hartig began to answer by saying, «So, since I am a Ph.D.-» before Mace yielded the floor back to the committee chair.

Earlier this month, 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 July 4, 2026, the museum treats the American story as a political tool rather than a shared national inheritance.

«The report concludes 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,» the White House Domestic Policy Council wrote in its July 4 report following up on President Donald Trump’s March 27 executive order. «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 was called out for being «ideologically captured» and presenting woke revisionist history on the weekend of America’s 250th birthday. (Kevin Carter/Getty Images)

«At the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History, visitors young and old should encounter the story of the United States told with honesty, seriousness, and pride,» the report’s executive summary began. «In particular, it should help the American people understand where America came from, what makes it distinctive, and why it is worth preserving.»

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Hartig said in her opening statement that «the Smithsonian takes the concerns raised in the White House Domestic Policy Council’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 asserted that «the museum does not take sides in America’s political debates,» but instead, «We preserve and document the evidence of American life in all of its breadth, so that the public can encounter the past and draw their own conclusions.»

«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 programming,» said Hartig.

Fox News Digital reached out to the Smithsonian Institution for additional comment.

Fox News Digital’s Eric Mack contributed to this report.

Al menos 41 personas murieron por el naufragio de un ferry frente a las costas de Guyana. Así lo reveló el último parte oficial difundido por el gobierno este martes, después del accidente de la embarcación, que cumplía un trayecto de 16 horas y que era elegido como opción económica para el transporte de personas y mercadería. Llevaba más de 150 pasajeros.

«En total, ahora se han recuperado 41 cuerpos», indica el reporte. Al balance anterior de 27 fallecidos se sumaron este martes 14 más. El ferry volcó el sábado a la noche y aún hay 51 desaparecidos.

El reciente saldo contabiliza además 77 personas rescatadas, ocho más que la víspera. En tanto, decenas siguen desaparecidos.

«Los buzos franceses y locales continúan las operaciones de búsqueda y recuperación submarina en el sitio del naufragio», señaló el gobierno en el texto.

En aquel balance del lunes, el Gobierno de Guyana había informado que ya estaba localizada la embarcación MV Barima que naufragó la noche del sábado con 179 viajeros, tras partir de Georgetown, por la costa del Atlántico Norte, hacia Port Kaituma.

Un punto que generó controversia fue el número de ocupantes del ferry, ya que en un primer momento se había indicado que había 133 personas a bordo. Eso era lo que figuraba en los registros. Sin embargo, viajaban más personas y hubo que recurrir a los videos del embarque para concluir que, en realidad, iban 179 personas.

El Ejecutivo guyanés confirmó el lunes que localizó el lugar donde se hundió la embarcación, gracias a la ayuda de un pescador. El ministro de Aviación, Deodat Indar, declaró que se ha llevado a cabo la «identificación positiva» de la zona y «se está llevando a cabo la extracción completa» del ferry.

El MV Barima tenía 87 años de antigüedad.

Este martes, en tanto, agentes de protección civil y pescadores locales ampliaron el área de rastreo de 400 a 1.070 kilómetros cuadrados.

Juan A. Edghill, ministro de Obras Públicas guyanés, precisó el domingo que el ferry zarpó aproximadamente a las 15:15 hora local (19:15 GMT) del sábado y la torre de control de Timheri recibió la llamada de socorro de la embarcación aproximadamente a las 23:01 hora local (3:01 GMT), lo que provocó la activación inmediata de las medidas de respuesta de emergencia.

Edghill declaró a los medios de comunicación que las autoridades siguen tratando de esclarecer qué ocurrió y que hasta ahora, la versión preliminar es que «una ola enorme que hizo zozobrar al barco».

Por último, Edghill afirmó que el MV Barima estaba equipado con 250 chalecos salvavidas y seis balsas salvavidas inflables, de conformidad con sus requisitos de seguridad, realizaba el trayecto, que dura cerca de 16 horas, y es una de las dos opciones más económicas para el transporte de mercancías y personas en Guyana.

Gran cantidad de guyaneses que viven o ejercen su actividad comercial en las comunidades de la Región 1 optan por utilizar el transbordador, ya que es la opción más asequible para desplazarse hasta la capital guyanesa de Georgetown y las comunidades de la Región 1.

Una mujer que logró ser rescatada relató cómo fue el momento del naufragio y aseguró que perdió a cuatro de sus nietos en el accidente.

«Estaba luchando por mi vida. El barco se hundió en minutos, en segundos«, relató Helena Moonsammy y contó que le cayeron cajas encima mientras intentaba salvar a sus nietos. «Les dije a mis nietecitos que se aferraran a cualquier cosa mientras yo les gritaba. Recé toda la noche y estuve en el agua durante nueve horas».

El accidente generó una ola de críticas de la oposición. La Asociación de los Pueblos Amerindios (APA, en inglés), que representa a los indígenas de Guyana, pidió la renuncia del ministro Edghill. «El Departamento de Transporte y Puertos está bajo su responsabilidad ministerial y la tragedia ocurrió durante su mandato», señaló la APA en un comunicado, junto al líder de la oposición, Azurddin Mohamed, por el accidente de la embarcación MV Barima.

La APA alegó además que durante años habían existido numerosas quejas sobre el estado de las embarcaciones en el país sudamericano.

«Durante años, los pasajeros que viajaban en el servicio de ferry del noroeste se habían quejado del mal estado de las embarcaciones, de la conducta de algunos miembros de la tripulación y de las condiciones inseguras en las que viajaban», agregó el ente.

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Senate Intelligence Committee Vice Chairman Mark Warner’s Republican challengers are seizing on the Virginia Democrat’s on-air exchange over his opposition to the SAVE Act, after the anchor corrected him on his own state’s election laws.

Warner argued the SAVE Act — part of conservatives’ election security push — could disenfranchise married women and others, while pointing to Sen. Lisa Murkowski’s, R-Alaska, opposition as evidence of bipartisan concern.

«It’s astonishing that a man who has spent nearly two decades representing Virginia in the United States Senate doesn’t even know Virginia’s own voter ID laws,» Marine Reserves Lt. Col. David Williams exclusively told Fox News Digital on Tuesday.

«If Senator Mark Warner can’t get a basic fact about our elections right on national television, how can Virginians trust him to protect the integrity of those elections?»

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Williams, an Iraq War veteran and former diplomat, said the SAVE Act is the «common-sense» move to secure America’s elections without disenfranchising «legal vote[s].»

«If Senator Warner believes only American citizens should vote in American elections, he should join me in demanding an immediate vote on the SAVE America Act. If he won’t, Virginians deserve to know why.»

On Sunday, ABC News anchor Jon Karl told Warner 80% of Americans including 71% of Democrats support nationwide voter ID, to which Warner replied that «in Virginia we have voter ID and photo ID – I have to show my…» trailing off as Karl cut in:

«That’s actually not the case. I’m a Virginia voter,» Karl said. «You don’t need to show voter-ID in Virginia — There are a wide range of things you can show for it.»

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David Williams is running for Senate in Virginia. (David Williams for Senate)

Karl added that voters can still provisionally vote if they sign an affidavit.

Warner replied there are a variety of ways Virginians can legally vote, adding he found irony in some states purportedly accepting «NRA gun licenses» while rejecting student IDs.

The Virginia Department of Elections’ list of acceptable forms of identification includes some that do not require photographs, such as a water bill.

Under Virginia law, election officers must ask in-person voters for identification, but acceptable forms include voter confirmation documents, utility bills, bank statements, government checks and paychecks, which do not need to include a photograph. A voter without acceptable identification can sign an ID Confirmation Statement under felony penalties and cast a regular ballot. Voters who provide neither must cast a provisional ballot.

«[C]ertain states will say we’re going to let you show your NRA gun license but you can’t show your student ID if you’re going have a set of IDs let’s have it across the board as long as it comes from some official point,» Warner said.

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Then-candidate Donald Trump greets Maj. Gen. Bert Mizusawa onstage in Greenville, N.C. in 2016. (Ethan Hyman/Getty Images)

Maj. Gen. Bert Mizusawa [Ret.], who is also seeking the Republican nomination to challenge Warner, echoed Williams’ criticism.

«The biggest takeaway is that Mark Warner opposes the SAVE America Act, which is required to secure America’s defining democratic process: honest elections that reflect the will of legitimate voters,» Mizusawa said in a statement.

«The question is why? He either knows that our current flawed elections are rife with fraud and likes it that way or chooses to stay ignorant, both to the detriment of the American people.»

Fox News Digital reached out to Warner’s campaign for comment.

Mizusawa said that if elected, he also would join fellow Republicans in supporting the SAVE Act and «finally secure our federal elections.»

Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Sen. Richard Burr, R-N.C., right, and committee Vice Chairman Sen, Mark Warner, D-Va. confer on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, June 28, 2017, as the panel conducts a hearing on Russian intervention in European elections in light of revelations by American intelligence agencies that blame Russia for meddling in the 2016 U.S. election. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

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Tech executive Kim Farington, the other candidate in the race, replied to coverage of Warner’s interview on X.

«You either still don’t know Virginia’s voter ID requirements after serving three terms or you’re not telling Virginians the truth,» Farington said.

The SAVE Act would require documentary proof of U.S. citizenship to register to vote in federal elections, a proposal Republicans say is needed to secure elections and Democrats argue could create new barriers for eligible voters.

Fox News Digital’s Brian Flood contributed to this report.