Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s visit to a U.S. Army ammunition plant in Scranton, Pennsylvania on Sunday has come under fire from some Republicans including Speaker Mike Johnson for being partisan.

Johnson wrote in a letter to Zelenskyy, “The tour was clearly a partisan campaign event designed to help Democrats…”

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The visit was at the request of Ukraine to thank the American workers who have helped boost ammunition production for Ukraine to defend against Russia, White House and Pentagon officials told Fox News.

Elected officials who attended the event were all Democrats, but that is because it is standard procedure to invite House and Senate members who represent the district where the visit is located.

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In this case, all elected officials happened to be Democrats due to what is called the “geographical jurisdiction,” a defense official told Fox News.

U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson wrote in a letter to Zelenskyy, “The tour was clearly a partisan campaign event designed to help Democrats…” (Getty Images)

Zelenskyy has met exclusively with Republicans in past trips due to this same reason of who happens to be in elected office in the districts he is visiting.

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Zelenskyy visited Utah in July of this year to meet with Utah’s Republican Gov. Spencer Cox and met with Utah’s all-Republican Congressional delegation.

Zelenskyy visited Utah in July of this year to meet with Utah’s Republican Governor Spencer Cox and met with Utah’s all-Republican Congressional delegation. (Utah State Office of the Governor)

Senator Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) the Senate Armed Services Committee’s top Republican said in a statement, “If President Zelenskyy came to Mississippi, he would be accompanied by Republican officials because that’s who the people in their wisdom elected.”

The U.S. Army helped arrange the visit, White House press secretary KJP told Jacqui Heinrich in today’s briefing

Jacqui Heinrich questioned KJP about this in the WH briefing earlier this afternoon-

Karine Jean-Pierre: “This is something that Ukrainians asked for. They did this a couple months ago in Utah, in Utah, with a Republican governor and Republican, elected officials were there as well. We didn’t hear any type of investigation request when we went to a Republican state. We didn’t.”

Testifying Wednesday before a Senate Judiciary subcommittee, Breane Wingfield said she was 14 when, in 2005, she was sexually assaulted in a van by a deputy probation officer employed at Los Padrinos Juvenile Hall in Downey.

It happened again at a holding cell at the Compton Courthouse, she said. And again, almost daily, she alleged, by a guard at Camp Joseph Scott, a juvenile probation facility in Santa Clarita.

“No one interfered or protected us,” said Wingfield, 32, her voice cracking as she recounted the abuse. “I did what I needed to do to survive.”

Wingfield’s testimony came during a hearing titled “Sexual assault in U.S. prisons two decades after the Prison Rape Elimination Act.” Sen. Cory Booker (D-New Jersey), chair of the subcommittee on criminal justice and counterterrorism, said it’s clear that sexual violence has persisted despite the 2003 law, which aimed to eradicate rape of prisoners in correctional facilities across the country.

The hearing was meant to invite reflection on the law and explore possible improvements to reduce sexual abuse in carceral settings.

“We were all horrified when seven correctional officers, including the warden and [rape elimination act] coordinator, were sentenced for sexually abusing those in custody at FCI Dublin in California,” he said, referring to a high-profile conviction last year of employees at a women’s prison where sexual abuse was so rampant it was known as the “rape club.”

“I’m confident that the solutions we will explore today enjoy the same bipartisan, united response we saw 21 years ago.”

Wingfield’s testimony brings L.A. County’s abuse-plagued juvenile halls and camps to a national stage.

Sexual abuse within the county’s Probation Department has been in the local spotlight since 2020, when California passed a law providing victims of childhood sexual abuse a new window to sue. Since then, the county has been flooded with claims of abuse from those placed in its sprawling network of foster homes, children’s shelters and probation camps and halls.

County officials have said some of the alleged incidents date as far back as the 1950s and many of the facilities have since closed.

The Probation Department declined to comment on Wingfield’s testimony, noting a policy of not commenting on pending litigation.

For years, victims say, the Probation Department tolerated unchecked sexual abuse at the camps and halls where they were confined. Many say they reported the abuse to higher-ups but were punished rather than protected. Abusers remained on the county payroll for years, the accusers’ attorneys allege.

At least 20 women have accused Thomas E. Jackson, then a deputy at the Santa Clarita juvenile camp, of molesting them starting in the late 1990s. Jackson resigned from the department last fall. The Times reported last year that the county had placed nearly two dozen staff members on leave after accusations of sexual violence.

County officials said last year that they were anticipating spending between $1.6 billion and $3 billion resolving the deluge of lawsuits from the then-3,000 plaintiffs. Some attorneys have argued that the county should set up a “sexual abuse survivors fund” to pay victims.

At the Senate hearing, witnesses included survivors of sexual assault, criminal justice experts and the head of a union representing prison staffers. Survivors said educational information given to inmates didn’t do enough to help them understand their rights or know what to do if they were abused. Witnesses also said staffing and resource shortages contributed to failures of the sexual abuse prevention law, and that auditors aren’t given enough time on site to adequately judge whether facilities are meeting the law’s standards.

Sen. Jon Ossoff (D-Ga.) said he didn’t buy the idea that staffing shortages contributed to failures.

Booker agreed: “You’re scratching at a bigger issue, which is clearly the law that we designed is not working.”

Wingfield, who graduated from Cal State Long Beach in 2022, now works as a substitute teacher. She said the abuse still haunts her, and without health insurance she can’t afford a therapist.

“In moments where I have not seen a way out, I’ve had to call crisis hotline after hotline, grasping at anything to keep me alive,” she told the senators. “This investigation is long overdue, because the Prison Rape Elimination Act of 2003 isn’t being enforced.”

Wingfield said testifying gave her some hope. She asked the senators to not just listen but to do something to end the cycle of suffering.

“This is the first step towards accountability,” said Courtney Thom, an attorney whose firm represents over 100 clients suing the county, including Wingfield. “Not only for the people who abuse children in the camps and juvenile halls, but also the entities that continue to allow this happen.”

The Democratic candidate for senate in Maryland has pulled significantly ahead of her Republican rival, according to a recent poll. 

The Washington Post-University of Maryland poll released Thursday shows Democrat Angela Alsobrooks holding an 11% lead over her rival, Republican Larry Hogan.

Alsobrooks is leading Hogan 51% to 40%, according to the Washington Post-University of Maryland poll. 

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The gap between them among likely voters is surprising, given that both candidates enjoy a similar level of popularity with respondents.  

Approximately 53% of respondents expressed favorable impressions of Hogan, compared to 27% who reported an unfavorable impression. Respondents gave Alsobrooks a 50% favorability rating, compared to 22% unfavorability.

Registered voters in the poll ranked the economy as the most important issue of the November elections, followed by immigration and then abortion.

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The Washington Post-University of Maryland poll was conducted between Sept. 19 and Sept. 23 with a sample size of 1,012 registered voters. 

It has a reported margin of error of plus or minus 3.5 percentage points.

With Democrats outnumbering Republicans by a roughly two-to-one margin in the state, Hogan will need a good chunk of cross-over voters to have a chance and has been highlighting his opposition to Trump and his independence from his party as he runs for the Senate.

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Former Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan speaking at an annual meeting of the Republican Jewish Coalition. (AP Photo/John Locher)

Hogan, who flirted with a 2024 White House run before deciding against it, stood out from most other Republicans this spring for publicly calling for the guilty verdicts in Trump’s criminal trial to be respected.

Hogan skipped July’s Republican National Convention, where Trump was formally nominated, and has said he would not be voting for the former president. Hogan’s campaign, after the former president’s comments, spotlighted in a statement that “Governor Hogan has been clear he is not supporting President Trump just as he didn’t in 2016 and 2020.” 

Republicans are also aiming to flip seats in Ohio and Montana, two states Trump comfortably carried four years ago. And five more Democratic-held seats up for grabs this year are in crucial presidential-election battleground states.

Fox News Digital’s Paul Steinhauser and Julia Johnson contributed to this report.