The Fauci Hearing Was Three Hours of Content for Campaign Ads

Todd Blanche may never officially become Attorney General, and the Trump administration is subpoenaing nonprofit newsrooms

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The Fauci Hearing Was Three Hours of Content for Campaign Ads

Rand Paul has been promising to put Anthony Fauci behind bars for the better part of five years, and on Wednesday, he finally got him under oath in front of the Senate Homeland Security Committee.

In terms of political theater, it was a silent play.

Paul subpoenaed Fauci to testify about the origins of COVID-19 and whether he misled Congress during the height of thepandemic. In a brief opening statement, Fauci called Paul’s fixation on him “unhinged,” then declined to answer every single question that followed, including what color tie he was wearing.

That last one was courtesy of Josh Hawley, who began his questioning by asking Fauci what day of the week it was and what color the carpet was. Fauci gave the same answer to all: “On the advice of counsel, I respectfully decline to answer based upon my rights under the Fifth Amendment to the Constitution.”

All of this occurred even after Former President Biden issued Fauci a preemptive pardon in January 2025, protecting him from prosecution for anything he did during his time in government. Republicans argue that the pardon eliminates the possibility of self-incrimination, which means the Fifth Amendment no longer applies.

Fauci’s lawyers argue the opposite: that Republicans have spent years publicly promising to prosecute him, that the pardon doesn’t cover new statements, and that any answer could be twisted into a perjury charge. House Oversight Chair James Comer helpfully confirmed this the day before the hearing by warning that Fauci could indeed be prosecuted for anything he said at the hearing.

Essentially, he admitted it was a trap. And when Fauci declined to walk into it, Paul announced he’d hold a contempt vote next week.

Meanwhile, Democratic Sen. Gary Peters called the hearing a “biased and selective effort” to legitimize conclusions Paul reached years ago. He noted that Paul has featured Fauci in fundraising emails, put him on the cover of a book, and publicly called for his imprisonment all well before the hearing.

When Peters attempted to let Fauci’s attorney speak, Paul refused and had Capitol Police escort him out of the room.

The senators who spent five years attacking Fauci got exactly what they wanted: a spectacle with no real substance and a contempt vote that will fuel another round of fundraising emails. The American people get multiple cyclospora strains and a salmonella outbreak, courtesy of the man who thinks Lyme disease is a “military weapon.”

Trump’s Personal Lawyer Can’t Get Confirmed as Attorney General

Todd Blanche has been running the Justice Department since April, when Trump fired Pam Bondi for supposedly not being aggressive enough. He has not been confirmed, and as of this week, it’s not clear that he ever will be.

The Senate Judiciary Committee was supposed to vote Thursday on advancing Blanche’s nomination. That vote was postponed Wednesday night after two Republican senators, John Cornyn of Texas and Thom Tillis of North Carolina, refused to go along.

The senators cited the DOJ’s settlement of Trump’s lawsuit against the IRS, which created a $1.8 billion “anti-weaponization fund” for paying out Trump allies. It also barred the IRS from auditing the president, his family, or his businesses for anything before the deal was reached.

A scheduled meeting between Cornyn and Blanche was canceled Wednesday, when his staff instead met with a group of Jeffrey Epstein survivors who urged to block Blanche’s nomination over his handling of the Epstein files.

“Maybe they think I’m just going to give up or go along,” Cornyn told reporters. “But they’re mistaken.”

With the Senate heading into August recess, the nomination could stall until fall, if it even survives at all. Trump said Thursday he’d consider pulling the nomination entirely and renominating Blanche after Cornyn and Tillis leave office in January. Cornyn responded on X that Trump was mistaken if he thought the concerns were limited to two senators.

In the meantime, Blanche will keep running the Justice Department. He just won’t have permission.

Trump Is Subpoenaing Nonprofit Newsrooms

The Republican-controlled House Ways and Means Committee has issued subpoenas to three left-wing nonprofit newsrooms: BreakThrough News, the People’s Forum, and Tricontinental: Institute for Social Research. No charges have been filed as of yet.

The committee requested internal communications, financial records, and donor information related to tech entrepreneur Neville Roy Singham, a self-described socialist who legally made the donations through a donor-advised fund that closed in early 2024.

You may be thinking, “that’s it?” But BreakThrough News covers ICE abuses and Palestinian rights, the exact stories the Trump administration and the mainstream media want to see buried.

The Freedom of the Press Foundation called it what it is: “If lawmakers can abuse tax oversight to single out outlets whose reporting offends them today, no newsroom in America is safe from government intimidation tomorrow.”

The New York Times can fight a subpoena because it has money and power behind its name. These are nonprofits most of you have likely never heard of.

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—Ryan Rose, Co-Founder & Managing Editor, AlterNet America