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Fauci privately took credit for COVID-19 lockdowns despite public denial, newly exposed diary entries reveal

July 28, 2026 6:30am EDT / Fox News

Multiple 2020 entries contradict Fauci’s repeated public denials that he recommended COVID lockdowns or school closures

By Peter D’Abrosca Fox News

Dr. Anthony Fauci’s private diary entries reveal his fixation on personal fame during the COVID-19 pandemic. Critics point to his diary’s lack of focus on public health terms versus personal accolades, raising questions about his priorities and the pandemic’s origins.

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Despite denying on multiple occasions during and after the COVID-19 pandemic that he personally recommended lockdowns, excerpts revealed from Dr. Anthony Fauci’s private diary prove a clear contradiction.

In a March 15, 2020, entry in the diary, which begins with “BIG DAY!” written in red letters, Fauci, then the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease (NIAID) recalled a striking conversation he had with then-New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio.

“I spoke with Bill de Blasio (Mayor – NYC) and convinced him based on what I was saying publicly and my conversation tonight to close the NYC schools (he had already decided based on what I was saying on TV),” Fauci revealed in his private notes.

National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Director Anthony Fauci testifies before the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee about the COVID-19 response in Washington, D.C., on Nov. 4, 2021.(Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

FAUCI’S NEWLY RELEASED COVID DIARIES REVEAL BIZARRE FIXATION ON FAME AS PANDEMIC DEATHS MOUNTED

“I had a similar call with Ann O’Leary, the Chief of Staff of Gov. Gavin Newsom of California,” this particular entry went on. “Ann said that based on my TV appearances today and yesterday, the Governor has decided to close the schools in California as well as the bars and restaurants.”

But seven months later, on an Oct. 16, 2022 interview with ABC News’ Jonathan Karl, Fauci denied any involvement in inspiring lockdowns.

“Let’s go back and look at the transcript. We said we should try as best as we possibly can to keep the children in school,” Fauci said. “Nobody plays that clip.”

“They always come back and say, ‘Fauci was responsible for shutting schools down.’ I had nothing to do [with it]!” he insisted at the time.

EXPOSED FAUCI DIARY SHOWS HE ESTIMATED COVID-19 DEATH RATE TO BE MUCH LOWER THAN WHAT HE TOLD CONGRESS

In 2022 he told The Hill that he “didn’t recommend locking anything down,” clearly going against his own privately recorded entries.

In January 9, 2024, years after the end of lockdowns ended, Fauci testified the same thing before the House Oversight Committee.

“I did not close the schools,” he said, according to the hearing transcript. And it became the widespread situation where I became a political target.”

Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, throws out the ceremonial first pitch prior to the game between the New York Yankees and the Washington Nationals at Nationals Park on July 23, 2020, in Washington, D.C.(Getty Images)

Fauci recommended to government leaders lockdown measures besides just closing schools, which he would also later deny.

INSIDE FAUCI’S PRIVATE DIARY: WHAT HE WROTE ABOUT TRUMP, TV PERSONALITIES AND CELEBRITIES

In the March 15, 2020, diary entry, Fauci, once the nation’s leading infectious disease expert, said he directed de Blasio to close the city’s bars.

“I went on to tell him he should close the bars and restaurants in NYC. He said that he would base this on my recommendation,” Fauci wrote.

Five days later, he said he told the mayor to close all of New York City.

“Also, had phone call with Major de Blasio who wants to go to ‘shelter in place for the entire city.[‘] He is asking my advice since Gov. Cuomo is pushing back. I advised DeBlasio [sic] to go ahead and do it. I will try to speak with Cuomo,” the entry said.

2020 Democratic presidential candidate and New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio visits FOX Business Network’s “Bulls & Bears” in New York City on Aug. 13, 2019.(Steven Ferdman/Getty Images)

On March 29, 2020, Fauci recounted a tense meeting with President Donald Trump, who he described as “incorrigible.”

The goal of the meeting was to get the president to extend lockdowns after the initial “15 days to stop the spread” period, which began on March 16 of 2020 — about a month after the first case of COVID-19 was recorded in the U.S.

“At the end of the day it was a good outcome since we convinced him to go with 30 day (sic) instead of ending the mitigation prematurely, which I feel would be a disaster,” Fauci said.

In a November 28, 2020, diary entry, he recalled lending support to a Los Angeles County health official who wanted to lock the county down.

“Got call last night from Mark Ghaly (Deputy Director for Community Health for the LA County Dept of Health Services). He has called me several times for advice,” the diary says. “Frantic call saying that they are surging in LA County and very soon hospital beds will be overrun. He wants to do a 3 weeks shutdown of the city to ‘stop the surge’ and wants my support since there is a large pushback to locking down. I agreed to support him.”

A signboard reminds people of the face covering requirement as pedestrians wear facemasks due to the coronavirus in Los Angeles, California on November 12, 2020. – European and world leaders on November 12, 2020 insisted that when Covid-19 vaccines are launched they should be made a available to everyone, under an international project which still needs $28 billion of funding. (Photo by Frederic J. BROWN / AFP)((Photo by FREDERIC J. BROWN/AFP via Getty Images))

But again in 2022, when he joined The Hill’s “Rising” podcast, Fauci denied responsibility for lockdowns.

“Well, you know, again, first of all, I didn’t recommend locking anything down,” he claimed. “You’re asking me questions. You’re talking about the CDC is the public health agency that uses their epidemiologists and their science-based approach to make recommendations…”

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Despite his own denials, Fauci himself told CBS news in the midst of the 2020 chaos that he was behind the lockdowns.

“When it became clear that we had community spread in the country, with a few cases of community spread — this was way before there was a major explosion like we saw in the northeastern corridor driven by New York City metropolitan area — I recommended to the president that we shut the country down,” he said on Oct. 7, 2020.

Peter D’Abrosca is a politics reporter at Fox News Digital.

‘He’s irreplaceable’: How Lindsey Graham made an indelible mark on foreign policy and Trump

2026-07-28T09:00:25.961Z / https://www.cnn.com/2026/07/28/politics/lindsey-graham-trump-foreign-policy

Sen. Richard Blumenthal was stunned.

It was February 28, 2025, and he was watching on live television as a crucial bilateral meeting between President Donald Trump, Vice President JD Vance and Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky descended into chaos.

Blumenthal knew he needed to call the only person he thought could put it all back together: Sen. Lindsey Graham.

Just hours before the meeting, Blumenthal, a Democrat, and Graham, a Republican, had met quietly with Zelensky at Blair House, just steps from the White House, to prepare the Ukrainian president for his high-stakes sit-down. No matter what happened in the Oval Office, Graham warned, Zelensky needed to remain composed, conciliatory and calm.

That is not what happened.

As the Ukrainians were asked to depart the White House, Graham went to the mics and reprimanded Zelensky, saying the Ukrainian president “either needs to resign and send somebody over we can do business with, or he needs to change.”

But behind the scenes, Blumenthal said Graham, the senior senator from South Carolina, was already thinking about how to repair the damage and get a relationship he’d spent years helping build between Zelensky and Trump back on track.

“He just never gave up on this cause,” Blumenthal said.

In the weeks since Graham’s death, Republicans have confronted the reality that there will be no replacing Graham when it comes to foreign policy or as a conduit to Trump. And that has left many in the GOP grappling with the direction of their party’s foreign policy, with hawkish voices now far less common and a critical link between the White House and Capitol Hill gone.

Graham’s own hawkish views – shaped by his late mentor Sen. John McCain – and his close relationship with the president meant he was perhaps the last Republican interventionist able to permeate Trump’s non-interventionist, “America first” platform.

“It’s not about Graham’s views. It’s about that Trump-Graham chemistry,” Sen. Thom Tillis, a Republican from North Carolina, said. “I think that is a unique chemistry and not one that will likely be repeated.”

In more than a dozen interviews, lawmakers said Graham acted as his own State Department, international attaché and, often, US ambassador to whatever country he happened to land in that weekend, all while enjoying a direct line to the president. Sen. Mark Kelly, a Democrat from Arizona, said Graham traveled so often that he once saw his senate colleague unfurl a sleeping bag on the floor of a military aircraft.

“You could tell he knew what he was doing,” Kelly said.

Graham did not take many breaks – instead converting congressional recesses into opportunities to meet with foreign leaders. That meant his death was marked by just as many remembrances from global heads of state as it was by condolences from colleagues. Graham had spent his final days in Ukraine, hours before his death.

For likeminded Republicans, Graham’s position in Trump’s inner-circle was key.

“I think he served as a counterbalance as some of the other people around the president that don’t share that view. So, I think that’s going to be the biggest loss for my perspective from a policy standpoint,” GOP Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick, who worked with Graham on Ukraine matters, told CNN.

Graham and the president weren’t always so close.

Graham bitterly campaigned against Trump in the 2016 presidential primary, saying the party should tell Trump to “go to hell,” and calling him the “most flawed nominee in the history of the Republican Party.” But when Trump won, Graham transformed into a strategic ally for the president on cable news, the golf course and Capitol Hill.

In return for his loyalty, Graham was able to inject his own influence on one of the issues that mattered most to him – foreign policy.

“He was the linchpin in so many conversations and so many moments,” said GOP Sen. Katie Britt of Alabama. “I mean, his relationship with the president, with Democrats, with Leader Thune, with the conference as a whole, and then you add on that his relationship with world leaders. There’s just nobody like him, and he’s irreplaceable.”

Graham lobbied the president to act on Iran at a time when many in Trump’s inner circle were wary that military intervention would push the US into an open-ended quagmire. Even as support waned, he continued to push the president to keep up his aggressive posture.

“I don’t trust Iran when it comes to enrichment, when it comes to the 900 pounds of highly enriched uranium, it needs to be in our control. Those are the bottom lines of the president. The Strait of Hormuz needs to be open without any future interference by Iran,” Graham told reporters in April, defending Trump’s post on Truth Social threatening to end the Iranian civilization. “I’m afraid they’re going to drag it out, and I would urge the president to stick to the deadline, and if they can’t reach a deal acceptable to him, then he should finish the job.”

Graham, who visited Ukraine 10 times since the 2022 Russian invasion, also used his relationship with Trump to lobby on another top priority: ending the war there.

GOP Rep. Don Bacon, who has sharply criticized Trump over Ukraine policy, suggested that Graham’s behind-the-scenes advocacy for the US to help Ukraine played a critical role in steering the president.

“I always called him the Trump whisperer,” Bacon said.

Sen. Elizabeth Warren, a Democrat who once took a 10-hour train ride with Graham to get to Ukraine, said Graham was an expert on the conflict. She said he was able to walk her through the streets of Kyiv block by block, noting which buildings had been bombed and when.

“The Ukrainians had lined up all of the Russian burned out tanks in the center of the main road so that everyone walked past them and saw the humiliation of the Russians who thought they were going to waltz in to Ukraine and own it in a handful of weeks. Lindsey was delighted by every burnt out tank,” Warren recalled.

Fifteen months before his death, Graham and Blumenthal introduced an ambitious sanctions package that Graham declared would be a “sledgehammer” aimed at the Russian economy and President Vladimir Putin. The goal was to sanction members of the Russian government and its oligarchy, paired with blistering tariffs of at least 500% targeted at almost any nation that imported Russian oil and natural gas.

While the bill ultimately gained more than 80 bipartisan co-sponsors in the Senate, it stalled for over a year as the White House signaled the package did not have its support. Senate Majority Leader John Thune was clear: there would be no vote on the Senate floor until the administration signed off.

And if it was the president’s sign-off they needed, no senator was better positioned to get it than Graham.

“His understanding of the president, but also his seeming ability to influence him, again, made him a unique figure here,” Blumenthal said. “The combination of his alacrity in reaching across to Democrats, but also his continuing ties to Trump, were part of his unique role.”

There were moments during that year when Graham released statements promising they were close, but an official endorsement from the White House didn’t follow.

“He was often as frustrated with the president as any of us, you know,” Blumenthal said of Graham. “But he accepted it with good humor – not necessarily, maybe accepted is the wrong word, but he never abandoned the cause of the Russia sanctions bill because he knew it was the right thing, and he was totally dedicated to getting it done.”

On Friday, July 10, Graham wrapped up what would be his final international trip in Ukraine. He announced that he and his Senate colleagues had finally secured the White House’s endorsement of a sanctions package.

“We reached agreement with the White House on a version of the Russia sanctions bill that they will support,” Graham said as he stood before tanks in the streets of Kyiv. “It means it is gonna become law.”

A day later, Graham died.

Colleagues looked to pick up his work as they paid tribute to his memory.

“I’ve known this man for 32 years, and I’m willing to say this: this is Lindsey Graham’s greatest achievement,” Senate Armed Services Chairman Roger Wicker said of the Russian sanctions bill at a press conference just days later.

Britt, the Alabama senator, shouldered some of the responsibility as senators released the painstakingly negotiated text of the new package.

The updated text dropped the tariff levels to a maximum of 100%, as determined by US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer. It targeted the top five importers of Russian oil and natural gas, with exceptions for nations that were taking steps to lessen their dependence on Russian energy.

“He taught me so much. Look, he was so gracious in allowing me to have a seat at the table, many times of which it would have taken me years to get there on my own,” Britt recalled of Graham.

The package still faces hurdles. Not every senator is on board yet. Some Democrats are raising concerns with handing the administration more tariff authority. And the Senate only has a few more weeks in session ahead of the November midterms as they face a looming government funding deadline.

But Thune and the bill’s cosponsors say they are committed to passing the package, which they plan to name after Graham.

‘A unique personality’ and a slew of bipartisan friendships

If you ask a member of Congress about Lindsey Graham, they will probably tell you two things: He had an uncanny ability to disarm just about any situation, and you could never be sure where his antics were headed.

That was the case in early 2015 when a bipartisan delegation of senators traveled to Jordan, Israel and Saudi Arabia to talk to as many stakeholders as they could about the Obama administration’s negotiations on the JCPOA, a nuclear deal with Iran that Trump later abandoned.

Sen. Tim Kaine, a Democrat from Virginia, said that on the last day of the congressional delegation trip, the senators arrived in Tel Aviv at the Mossad, the Israeli intelligence agency, to meet with its then-head, Tamir Pardo. Kaine said the lawmakers were escorted to a conference room that had “a full bar with every drink you could get,” an espresso machine, soft drinks and alcohol.

“It’s a very serious meeting on a very serious topic. And when we walk in, Lindsey is kind of in the lead, and Pardo goes, ‘Good to see you, Senator Graham. Can we get you anything to drink?” Kaine recalled. “And Lindsey just goes, ‘You’re the effing Mossad. You should know what I want to drink.’”

Kaine said the group was a bit taken aback by Graham’s response and nervous it was about to backfire.

“There’s this kind of embarrassed pause, like, you know, why is Lindsey starting the meeting off this way?” Kaine said.

Then, Kaine said, one of Pardo’s lieutenants chimed in, “Coke Zero, sir.”

It was this kind of brash-yet-disarming charm that senators said Graham deployed all the time.

Bacon recalled meeting Graham while serving as a colonel in Baghdad in the early 2000’s, and said he appreciated that Graham – who served in the Air Force Reserves – wore his uniform when visiting with troops.

“I appreciated a senator getting in the reserves and going to the war zone. I mean, I felt like that it’s really leading by example, he could have taken the easy way out, but no, he went to Iraq for a couple weeks at a time, I was grateful,” Bacon said.

“Lindsey had a unique personality,” Oklahoma Sen. James Lankford said. “He’d say something funny or for him off color, and he would change the whole attitude of the meeting.”

Texas Sen. Ted Cruz said this was key to his relationship with the president. “He was beloved in the United States Senate, and he was beloved by Donald Trump. I got to say, the relationship Lindsey Graham and Donald Trump had — I’ve never seen anything like it. It was extraordinary. They would disagree nine times and still be laughing and loving each other and working together on a dozen other issues.”

Blumenthal agreed that Graham’s wit was central to his work. “I differed with Lindsey Graham deeply and profoundly on major issues, but part of his personal role was to bridge differences, or at least work around them.”

Democratic Sen. Chris Coons, who frequently joined congressional delegations abroad with Graham, said he could see “a couple of first and second term senators” in the Republican conference who could try to compensate for the loss of Graham. “But the amount of time and effort Senator Graham put into traveling overseas and building relationships and working with Democratic senators, that’s going to be hard to replace. Very hard to replace.”

Sen. Kelly argued it couldn’t just be one person: “It would have to be two.”

日本九州熊本地震 台积电厂房紧急疏散

2026年7月28日 17:32 / 联合早报

日本九州周一下午发生地震，全球最大晶片厂台积电在熊本县的厂房进行员工紧急疏散。 （彭博社档案照片）

日本九州熊本县星期二（7月28日）下午发生7.1级地震。台湾晶片大厂台积电在熊本县设有一座工厂，且第二个设施正在兴建中。

共同社报道，台积电表示，目前正在了解熊本厂房的情况。另据台湾媒体报道，台积电厂房达到疏散标准，以人员安全为优先考量，按紧急应变程序进行人员室内和室外疏散及清点。

除了台积电，索尼集团也在九州设有厂房，用于生产影像传感器；东京威力科创（Tokyo Electron）也在九州地区设有晶片器材和尖端封装器材生产设施。

西班牙山火救灾取得进展 居民计划返回家园

2026年7月28日 17:36 / 联合早报

7月28日，西班牙瓦伦西亚东北55公里处的拉瓦尔德乌克西奥（La Vall d’Uxio）发生山火。 （法新社）

西班牙内政部长格兰德-马拉斯卡星期二（7月28日）说，经过一个“积极的夜晚”，消防人员在扑灭马德里西部肆虐的山火方面取得了进展。这场山火已迫使数万人撤离。

路透社报道，上周，西班牙政府宣布进入国家紧急状态。当时，马德里大区、阿维拉省、托莱多以及瓦伦西亚多地同时发生山火，规模之大在西班牙历史上十分罕见。

马拉斯卡在接受西班牙公共电视台采访时说：“这是一个相对积极的夜晚，这得益于所有公共应急部门付出的巨大努力。”

“我们正处于关键时刻。”

由于气象学家警告称，预计从星期三（29日）开始，气温升高、湿度下降和风力增强，可能使控制火势的工作更加困难，消防员仍处于高度戒备状态。

马德里自治区主席阿尤索说，山火形势正在逐步好转，“今天我们可以更加乐观，并开始计划让居民安全返回几个市镇。”

根据内政部的数据，已有6万3000人被疏散，其中近一半来自马德里大区。托莱多的4000多人星期一（27日）已获准返回家园。

马拉斯卡说，近期的山火已烧毁7万7000公顷土地。这意味着今年以来，西班牙累计被山火烧毁的土地面积已达17万5000公顷，是去年同期的六倍。

西班牙山火救灾取得进展 居民计划返回家园

2026年7月28日 17:36 / 联合早报

7月28日，西班牙瓦伦西亚东北55公里处的拉瓦尔德乌克西奥（La Vall d’Uxio）发生山火。 （法新社）

西班牙内政部长格兰德-马拉斯卡星期二（7月28日）说，经过一个“积极的夜晚”，消防人员在扑灭马德里西部肆虐的山火方面取得了进展。这场山火已迫使数万人撤离。

路透社报道，上周，西班牙政府宣布进入国家紧急状态。当时，马德里大区、阿维拉省、托莱多以及瓦伦西亚多地同时发生山火，规模之大在西班牙历史上十分罕见。

马拉斯卡在接受西班牙公共电视台采访时说：“这是一个相对积极的夜晚，这得益于所有公共应急部门付出的巨大努力。”

“我们正处于关键时刻。”

由于气象学家警告称，预计从星期三（29日）开始，气温升高、湿度下降和风力增强，可能使控制火势的工作更加困难，消防员仍处于高度戒备状态。

马德里自治区主席阿尤索说，山火形势正在逐步好转，“今天我们可以更加乐观，并开始计划让居民安全返回几个市镇。”

根据内政部的数据，已有6万3000人被疏散，其中近一半来自马德里大区。托莱多的4000多人星期一（27日）已获准返回家园。

马拉斯卡说，近期的山火已烧毁7万7000公顷土地。这意味着今年以来，西班牙累计被山火烧毁的土地面积已达17万5000公顷，是去年同期的六倍。

Republican and Democratic coalitions put to the test in unusual elections on Tuesday

July 28, 2026 5:00am EDT / Fox News

David Scott’s death opened a blue-district vacancy while Gov Larry Rhoden faces outsider Toby Doeden for the GOP nod

By Charles Creitz, Fox News

Polls close in key Georgia gubernatorial primary

Fox News anchor Bill Hemmer reports on Georgia’s 2026 gubernatorial primary and Trump-backed candidate Ed Gallrein’s defeat of Thomas Massie in Kentucky on ‘Jesse Watters Primetime.’

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Two races in politically disparate parts of the country set the stage for one of the most unusual split-screen election days of the year on Tuesday.

Rep. David Scott’s death in April at age 80 created a vacancy in a heavily blue district encompassing the southern and eastern Atlanta suburbs of Stockbridge, Conyers and Snellville.

With the general election ballot already decided, Tuesday’s contest will determine who will finish out Scott’s term. Scott was notably related by marriage to Braves slugger Hank Aaron.

Across the country in South Dakota, Republicans vying for the Mount Rushmore State’s safely red governor’s seat have created the state’s first gubernatorial runoff between incumbent Gov. Larry Rhoden and self-made millionaire bitcoin investor Toby Doeden.

TRUMP’S GOP CLOUT FACES ARIZONA TEST WITH HOUSE MAJORITY, GOVERNOR’S RACE AT STAKE

South Dakota Gov. Larry Rhoden, left; the late Rep. David Scott, D-Ga., right.(Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images; Bill Clark/Getty Images)

Rhoden originally took the reins in Pierre after President Donald Trump chose former Gov. Kristi Noem to be Homeland Security secretary in his second term. He was unable to garner enough support in the June primary to secure the nomination outright in his first statewide election as governor.

South Dakota’s runoff is expected to be a classic establishment-versus-outsider race, with Rhoden heavily favored in the polls but Doeden hoping for a Sioux Falls-fueled upset.

Minnehaha County, home to Sioux Falls, is a key county to watch Tuesday after helping propel Doeden to a first-place finish in the June primary.

WATCH: LAWMAKERS REVEAL WHERE THEY STAND ON CONGRESSIONAL TERM LIMITS AFTER RECENT HEALTH SCARES

South Dakota Gov. Larry Rhoden speaks with the press during Education Secretary Linda McMahon’s “Returning Education to the States” tour on April 8, 2026, at McCrossan Boys Ranch in Sioux Falls, S.D.(Samantha Laurey / Argus Leader / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images)

Pennington County, on the state’s western side, will also be closely watched after contributing to Doeden’s top finish in June.

In contrast to what is expected in Scott’s district in November, Republicans are heavily favored because South Dakota has not elected a Democratic governor since the 1970s.

Then-Gov. Richard Kneip served nearly two terms before President Jimmy Carter nominated him as ambassador to Singapore. Gov. Harvey Wollman completed the final six months of Kneip’s term, and is the state’s last Democrat to hold the office.

EX-NFL LINEBACKER POISED TO RETURN TO CONGRESS AFTER TEXAS RUNOFF WIN WITH JASMINE CROCKETT ENDORSEMENT

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Shifting back to the Deep South, Georgia Democrats are expected to hold Scott’s seat in the fall by a wide margin.

Efforts to replace Scott grew in recent months, particularly among the party’s progressive wing, as the 12-term, often-combative lawmaker drew increasing frustration from Democrats.

FROM LOCKER ROOMS TO CONGRESS, JAY FEELY THE LATEST ATHLETE SEEKING TO TAKE LESSONS ON LEADERSHIP TO CAPITOL HILL

A sign welcomes travelers to the Peach State at the I-20 East Welcome Center near Tallapoosa, Georgia, on October 3, 2022.(Charlie Creitz)

Last year, Scott made waves in Washington media when he shouted expletives at a Politico photographer as he was wheeled through the Capitol by staff.

“Who gave you the right to take my picture, a–hole,” Scott shouted at photographer Francis Chung in late 2025.

That demeanor was similar to what led Everton Blair to launch his primary bid against Scott, in what his campaign page calls a “voice for a new generation.”

Blair previously told Fox News Digital it was a run-in with Scott at a Gwinnett County town hall, where the lawmaker gave insufficient answers to questions and then reportedly became confrontational, that led him to explore a bid.

Blair had said he would “love to just hear a little bit more of the congressional and legislative strategy, congressman, that you have for this administration, particularly as it pertains to safeguarding federal funds,” according to Semafor, when Scott replied “hold on,” before becoming agitated:

“I don’t know who sent y’all, but we got these folks here who are providing answers. And I’m doing this. That’s what I’m doing,” Scott said, according to the outlet.

Blair responded by launching a primary bid, while remarking to Fox News Digital at the time that two other elderly Democratic members had recently died in office “at a time when every vote counts.”

The wave of millennial candidates seeking to replace aging Democrats was at the time dubbed the “Biden effect” — Democratic lawmakers retiring or facing potential primary challenges following the octogenarian Delawarean’s disastrous debate performance, which led to his decision to step aside for Kamala Harris in the 2024 presidential election.

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“Change can’t wait, and Democrats need a new bench of leaders who are committed to solving real problems for working people,” Blair said in a previous press release.

Meanwhile, Scott’s daughter is hoping to replace her late father in Congress, remarking that she wants to continue his legacy.

“That is my thing, is to finish out his year strongly, make sure that this money gets down to the district, and just make sure the 13th district is taken care of, constituency-wise, and making sure the projects go into finalization,” she told the Georgia Recorder, while adding she would retain her father’s staff locally and at the Capitol for added stability.

“[W]hen he first got into politics, I wasn’t even born, so I ran for some type of office or campaign every two years of my life, so this is just my norm, I’m just picking up where we left off with him,” she told the outlet.

A third candidate, former Mississippi judge Carlos Moore, also criticized Rep. Scott’s tenure, telling the Mississippi Free Press he wants to be a “leader who actually shows up.”

Moore had been suspended from the bench for one year in 2024 after a bar tribunal found he mishandled a wrongful death settlement, according to the outlet.

When asked by the press about the infraction, he pointed to Trump’s 34-count indictment in New York. He also pledged, if elected, to be a leader who understands “how to defend our democracy and Constitution” from the president.

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The winner of Tuesday’s special elections will serve only until January.

Georgia state Rep. Jasmine Clark, D-Tucker, won the Democratic nomination for the full term earlier this year and is heavily favored against Republican Air Force veteran Jonathan Chavez in November. Trump lost the district by about 43 points in 2024.

Trump to eulogize Lindsey Graham at funeral in Washington today

July 28, 2026 / 6:00 AM EDT / CBS News
By Kaia Hubbard

Washington — President Trump will deliver the eulogy at the funeral for Sen. Lindsey Graham, and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy are expected to attend the service at the National Cathedral in Washington, D.C., Tuesday.

Graham, a four-term senator known for his close relationship to the president and his hawkishness on foreign policy, was a key player in a number of major bipartisan agreements before his death on July 11. He had just returned from a trip to Ukraine, where he visited Zelenskyy and told him of plans for new U.S. sanctions and tariffs against Russia.

A medical examiner determined Graham’s cause of death was an aortic dissection due to arteriosclerotic cardiovascular disease. He was 71.

The services will begin with an arrival ceremony at the U.S. Capitol on Tuesday, where Graham’s remains will be carried by an Armed Forces Body Bearer team to honor his Air Force service, followed by a U.S. Capitol Police memorial guard in a nod to his tenure in the Senate. The ceremony in the Capitol Rotunda will be closed to the public.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune of South Dakota said upon announcing the special ceremony in the Rotunda that “it seems fitting for his friends and colleagues to give back to him through this special Capitol honor.”

“For so many of us in the Senate and the House, myself included, Lindsey was more than a colleague, he was a friend,” Thune said in a statement. “From the military to state politics to decades of representing South Carolinians in Congress, Lindsey dedicated his life to giving back through public service.”

After the ceremony in the Rotunda, funeral services will be held at 2 p.m. at Washington National Cathedral, where President Trump and others will pay tribute to the late senator.

blob:https://www.cbsnews.com/c6d59a39-a0f4-4542-8a95-39f2254a06df

Tuesday’s funeral in the nation’s capital will be followed by services in South Carolina on Wednesday morning, beginning with a procession at the South Carolina State House around 10:45 a.m.

During the funeral procession, Graham’s remains will be carried by members of the South Carolina State Guard, with a presentation of law enforcement and an F-16 flyover. The procession will conclude at the First Baptist Church of Columbia, where a funeral service will be held, followed by a private family burial in Pickens, South Carolina.

Sen. Darline Graham, who was appointed to serve out the remainder of her brother’s term, expressed her gratitude in a statement to “all those who have come together to help honor and remember Lindsey.”

Data shows some veterans wait months to see a therapist for the first time. The VA secretary has his own numbers

2026-07-28T10:00:25.694Z / CNN

For decades after serving in the US Air Force, Dennis suffered from sporadic back pain, which he believes stemmed from frequently moving heavy equipment during overseas tours.

But when the pain became chronic about two years ago, his mental health also began to suffer – especially as he had to limit his activities, including sports. His anxiety only grew after it took him a few months to schedule an appointment with a psychologist at his local Veterans Affairs facility.

“It was just really tough to get in,” said Dennis, who asked CNN not to use his last name to protect his privacy. “With these wait times, it’s like, ‘Crap.’ Disappointing is the best word to describe it.”

Dennis’ experience appears to be commonplace, according to data the VA publicly posts on its Access to Care website. The site provides extensive wait time information by specialty – including mental health – at VA facilities across the country.

But just how long veterans seeking mental healthcare for the first time actually have to wait to see a provider is anything but clear. The data posted on the Access to Care website paints a very different picture than the one VA Secretary Doug Collins has laid out publicly and for lawmakers on Capitol Hill.

Improving veterans’ access to mental health services has long been a concern for the VA through multiple administrations, especially as many veterans suffer from anxiety, depression and other conditions once they end their military service. In the Trump administration, some veterans have continued to complain to their Congress members and some advocacy groups about long waits to see a mental health provider.

So CNN delved into the data. We crunched the numbers for nearly all of July and found that veterans across the nation frequently have to wait weeks – or even months – for initial mental health appointments at their local medical centers.

Our analysis shows typical wait times at 541 VA facilities, or two-thirds of those that reported data during that period, exceeded the agency’s own target of 20 days to get an initial mental health appointment. CNN tracked the daily average wait times at more than 800 locations across the US.

At a handful of VA facilities, waits stretched nearly five or more months. Another 22 facilities reported wait times of more than three months.

These findings echoed a similar analysis by Common Defense, a progressive veterans’ advocacy group, that also found that a majority of VA facilities missed the agency’s 20-day target in May and June. The group and Vet Voice Foundation, another organization that’s been critical of President Donald Trump’s VA, have fielded complaints about wait times from veterans.

But the VA flat-out denies there’s a problem.

VA Secretary Collins says it only takes 15 days, on average, to see a provider for a first-time mental health appointment.

Asked for more information behind the 15-day figure, the agency told CNN in a statement that it is the wait time for new patients in a “combined” mental health category.

That includes not just individual therapy appointments posted on the VA’s Access to Care site but also dozens of other kinds of appointments such as group sessions and residential treatment. The VA would not provide the underlying data or details about its methodology.

The VA contends that studies analyzing its public data would be incorrect and incomplete for several reasons, including that a few patients with long wait times skew the average and that it doesn’t reflect when appointments are sometimes moved earlier.

The site tells users that wait times can fluctuate greatly – even day by day – and that the best way to know when the next appointment is available is to call their local facility or use the online appointment tool. The agency also noted that new patients make up roughly 10% of total mental health appointments – and that wait times for established patients are generally shorter.

But for many veterans and their advocates, something doesn’t add up. Critics say Collins is cherry-picking data and that the varying figures and methodologies create confusion.

“This creates a significant gap between what the secretary tells Congress and the public and what veterans say they’re actually living through,” a House Democratic staffer who works on veterans’ issues told CNN, on the condition that they remain anonymous.

Moreover, critics say it’s hard to square Collins’ rosy picture with what the agency’s watchdog deems is an ongoing “severe” shortage of mental health providers in the VA system – which can make it all the more difficult for veterans in need to get timely care.

For Dennis, trying to get an appointment was frustrating, though he’s happy with his psychologist at the VA.

His initial screening scheduled for earlier this year was canceled by the provider at the last minute as he was on his way to the appointment. Ultimately, he wasn’t screened until several months later. It then took about another month for him to meet with a psychologist for the first time.

“It takes quite a bit of reflection and courage to admit you need help,” Dennis said. “By the appointment being delayed, I couldn’t be helped sooner. My mental state probably declined a little bit more.”

The demand for care is great. Just over 2 million veterans received mental health services – either through individual or group therapy from a professional – within the VA in fiscal year 2024, according to an October report from the agency.

And more than 17 veterans a day died by suicide in 2023, on average.

“These folks go through some of the most dangerous and damaging experiences that anybody can be sent to,” said Alex Rich, data director for Common Defense. “So when they finally come forward and ask for help, to have these kinds of wait times put in front of them is just incredibly depressing and difficult to explain.”

An important caveat is that under the VA’s policy, veterans having emergency mental health crises can be seen the same day at an agency facility, an emergency room or a private provider.

Also, if the wait time for a mental health appointment at a veteran’s local facility is longer than 20 days, he or she is automatically eligible to go to a private provider. But several studies have found that veterans have better experiences at VA facilities, and advocates of the system have raised red flags about privatizing veterans’ medical care.

The longstanding wait debate

Lengthy wait times for appointments are a feature of the US healthcare system that many Americans have experienced, but the issue is a lightning rod for the VA.

The focus on the VA stems in part from the fact that, unlike most private health systems, the agency continuously measures and publishes appointment wait times.

“Nobody else does this,” Collins noted during a Senate hearing in May.

Collins insisted at the hearing that wait times for initial mental health appointments during the second Trump administration have declined.

From January to April, the VA says wait times for new patients seeking the broader array of mental health appointments dropped agencywide by 2.8 days to an average of about 15 days, which is within the agency’s target window.

According to the data on the VA’s Access to Care website, however, the typical wait time for just individual therapy appointments in July was more than 27, according to CNN’s analysis. (Because CNN only had access to VA’s public data, we looked at the median wait time nationwide, which means half of the daily average wait times reported by facilities during the period were longer and half were shorter.)

Democrats say Collins and his aides have not provided the underlying data they used to arrive at their numbers despite repeated requests. They have lambasted the secretary over the issue.

Sen. Patty Murray said during the May hearing that she heard from veterans in her home state that wait times could be up to 90 days for behavioral health care, which includes treatment for mental illness and substance abuse. The Washington state Democrat called that “unacceptable.”

Congressional staffers told CNN that during the Biden administration, lawmakers would often get briefings on VA wait times, which would come in the form of spreadsheets and slide presentations. That changed toward the end of the Biden era, they said.

“We don’t get those anymore,” one staffer said. “We’ve been begging them.”

Mounting frustration and anxiety

Ruth, a Marine veteran who has been treated for PTSD and depression at a VA facility in the eastern US, had been seeing a psychiatrist she liked every two months.

But one day earlier this year – shortly before a scheduled appointment – she was told the doctor had left the VA, and she would have to reschedule. She said she could not get on a new provider’s calendar for another two months, forcing her to go about four months without care and leaving her on edge, worried that no one was monitoring her and that the new doctor might not be a good fit.

“If I’d had a mental health crisis, I’d have been in bad shape,” said Ruth, who asked CNN to use a pseudonym to protect her privacy. “Who is getting these magical 15-day appointments?”

What’s more, her new provider is a man. She would prefer to be seen by a female doctor but was told the facility didn’t know when it could accommodate that request.

Martha Kinney also said her experience was frustrating. A 28-year veteran of the Army and Army Reserve, Kinney said she applied for mental health services at the VA’s Central Western Massachusetts facility in Leeds in late July last year, seeking help to deal with anxiety issues tied to her service. Several months went by with no word from the VA, she said.

Then in late May of this year, Kinney reached out to the VA to follow up. The person who did her initial screening called her to apologize, telling her there was no record of her intake and that the notes from her July 2025 evaluation had not been entered into the system, according to Kinney.

“It really irritates me,” Kinney told CNN. “It angers me that we don’t have a better system.”

She was finally able to set an appointment for mid-June. What bothers her is that there are other veterans “with far greater needs than me,” who could be going through the same frustrations, she said.

“That’s unconscionable,” Kinney said.

Neither VA’s headquarters nor the Massachusetts facility responded to requests for comment on Kinney’s story.

The VA has been contending with a shortage of mental health professionals for at least the last several years. Psychology was the clinical occupation most frequently reported to be in severe shortage, with 57% of facilities designating it as such in fiscal year 2025, according to the agency’s Office of Inspector General report from August.

Psychiatry was second with severe shortages reported at 55% of facilities. Both have been among the top 5 areas with the highest clinical shortage levels since fiscal year 2018, the report found.

At the same time, demand for care is soaring. The number of veterans who received mental health care directly from the VA jumped 78% between fiscal years 2009 and 2024, according to a separate agency report from October. The VA expects inpatient and outpatient mental health care to grow by another 38% between fiscal years 2023 and 2033.

“The rapid growth over the past decade in the number of Veterans seeking mental health treatment in VHA has posed staffing challenges,” the report said.

Meanwhile, the VA slashed more than 2,300 unfilled mental health-related positions as part of a larger downsizing between November and January. That included the elimination of 425 unfilled psychologist slots, according to VA data shared with the House Veterans Affairs Committee earlier this year.

And tens of thousands of VA staffers resigned, took buyouts or accepted early retirement and other incentives amid the Trump administration’s revamping of the federal government, which includes a hiring freeze that limits the number of replacements who can be brought on.

The VA said in a statement to CNN that VA healthcare facilities have continued to hire for any jobs they need to fill.

“Over decades, the Veterans Health Administration created positions based on their needs at the time. Those needs have changed over the years,” the VA said. “In 2025, we told VHA leaders to keep all of positions they need and eliminate any unfilled positions that they don’t need.”

But Rich, from Common Defense, said he’s baffled that the VA would cut mental health positions at such a time of understaffing and need.

“I can’t, for the life of me, understand why Secretary Collins, or anybody else, would try to nickel and dime those veterans’ care,” he said.

Methodology | CNN retrieved average wait time data reported on the Veterans Affairs’ Access to Care website daily from July 1 through July 26, 2026, by facility. Of 958 VA facilities, 802 reported average wait times for individual mental health appointments for new patients at least once during that period.

Thousands of children, sponsors arrested by ICE after tips from US child migrant agency

2026-07-28 10:02:14 / Reuters

ORR shared more than 460,000 leads with ICE since January 2025, internal data showed
Migrant children now spending an average of nearly 200 days in ORR custody
Care of migrant children previously walled off from immigration enforcement

July 28 (Reuters) – Aurora’s 6-year-old daughter arrived at the U.S. border alone and spent more than half a year in a child migrant shelter while her mother, who was already in the country, worked to get her out.

The two were finally reunited in late March.

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“We were overjoyed,” said Aurora, 24, who like others in this story spoke on the ​condition they be identified only by their first names.

Days later, however, mother and daughter were detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement and sent to a family detention center in Texas, records show.

They are among more than 12,000 people arrested ‌by U.S. immigration authorities following tips from the Office of Refugee Resettlement during President Donald Trump’s second term, according to internal government data reviewed exclusively by Reuters.

ORR was created in 1980 to resettle refugees fleeing war and persecution. Since the early 2000s, the agency has also been charged with housing unaccompanied migrant children arriving at the U.S.-Mexico border, like Aurora’s daughter.

The care of these children has historically been walled off from immigration enforcement. A 2008 law sought to ensure they were placed in the least restrictive setting and released from detention as soon as safely possible, regardless of their sponsors’ legal status.

That meant migrant families could be reunited without fear of being targeted by ​ICE, even if they were in the country illegally.

The Trump administration has taken a drastically different approach. Since January 2025, the data shows, ORR has shared more than 460,000 “leads” with ICE about unaccompanied children, their sponsors — usually parents or other relatives — and additional ​household members, leaving them vulnerable to detention and deportation.

While Reuters and others have reported on the growing cooperation between ORR and ICE, this story is the first to reveal the scale of the information shared for ⁠immigration enforcement.

Interviews with migrant families, legal advocates and current and former U.S. officials illustrate the far-reaching implications of this policy shift and its human toll.

Jen Smyers, who served as deputy director of ORR during the Biden administration, said safeguards against data sharing with ICE have been “completely reversed.”

“They are ​weaponizing a child welfare program for the purposes of more deportations,” she said.

In a statement to Reuters, ORR said it “plays no role in the apprehension of children,” referring questions about immigration enforcement to the Department of Homeland Security, ICE’s parent agency.

In response to questions from Reuters, DHS said that ​during Trump’s second term “ORR has provided ICE Homeland Security Investigations with potential investigative leads,” as part of an effort to locate unaccompanied children who were placed with “unvetted sponsors,” including some with criminal records.

‘ALL I DO IS WORK’

Aurora entered the United States illegally two years ago in search of work and safety.

She left her daughter with family in their rural Mexican village, fearing she was too young for the dangerous desert crossing.

Aurora found a job as a house cleaner in Mississippi. Last August, she said, a relative brought her daughter to the border and left her to surrender to immigration agents, a common strategy among families seeking reunification.

Officials transferred the girl to ​a migrant children’s shelter and Aurora began the vetting process to get her out.

Over the course of six months, she provided the agency with reams of documentation, including a DNA test. She had no criminal record, documents show.

Under Trump, the screening process for sponsors now includes a number ​of extra steps, including requiring fingerprints of all household members. As a consequence, the amount of time unaccompanied children spend in custody has increased from an average of 30 days in fiscal year 2024 to 194 days in June 2026, according to ORR figures.

ORR declined to comment on specific cases but said its ‌increased vetting is meant ⁠to shield children from harm.

The day before being reunited with her daughter, Aurora said, immigration agents visited her at home, asked about the girl, and told her to report to an ICE office the following week.

At that appointment, Aurora recounted, agents “asked me if I had any problems in the U.S. and I said ‘no, because I haven’t done anything wrong. All I do is work.’”

She and her daughter were detained at the appointment, records show, and sent to a family detention center in Dilley, Texas.

They were there for three weeks. Upon their release, Aurora was fitted with an ankle monitor and instructed to report for regular check-ins pending the outcome of her immigration court case, records show. DHS confirmed details of Aurora’s detention and release, saying she had admitted to being “illegally smuggled across the border.”

While she was inside, her landlord in Mississippi evicted her and threw out her belongings. So mother and ​daughter headed to California, where a friend offered to put them up.

Aurora ​says she fears they will soon be deported.

At night sometimes, her ⁠daughter “gets up and cries, thinking she is still detained,” her mother said.

SPONSORS SWEPT UP

Aurora and her daughter are at least together. Other families have been separated again.

Marleny and her youngest son fled violence in Guatemala in 2023. They crossed the U.S. border illegally and settled in Texas, where she cleaned construction sites.

Her older son, Victor, stayed with family back home. When his uncle was killed, he too decided to make the journey north ​and turned himself in to U.S. border agents.

After four months in ORR custody, Victor was released in late April, the night before his 18th birthday, records show. The family had a party to celebrate.

“I ​was so happy,” Marleny said. “I didn’t know ⁠then what God had in store for me.”

To get Victor out, she provided ORR with extensive documentation for both her and her partner, she said, including tax records and fingerprints. Because they had no criminal record — they were “clean clean clean,” she said — she had no qualms about sharing the information.

Two months after Victor was released, though, ICE agents arrested Marleny and her partner at gunpoint as they were getting in their car to go to work.

In response to questions, DHS told Reuters that ICE was executing a criminal search warrant on Marleny’s “roommate” – an apparent reference to her partner. DHS did not answer follow-up questions about ⁠the nature of the ​alleged crime or how they had located him.

Seeing the guns was traumatic, Marleny said, reminding her of the violence she left behind in Guatemala.

A neighbor who witnessed the ​arrest alerted Victor, who was in the family’s apartment with his 6-year-old brother. In tears, he called a legal assistant at the Galveston-Houston Immigrant Representation Project.

“We’ve seen so many sponsors arrested and collateral arrests with them,” said Alexa Sendukas, a managing attorney with GHIRP.

Victor is now caring for his little brother alone. He was due in court after his mother ​was arrested, but said he forgot to show up in the chaos that followed.

Now facing a deportation order, he hopes to find a lawyer to reopen his immigration case.

“I need to keep moving forward,” he said.

Reporting by Kristina Cooke in San Francisco; Editing by Jesse Mesner-Hage and Deepa Babington

中东战争敲响能源安全警钟 澳洲拟建60多年来首座炼油厂

2026年7月28日 17:40 / 联合早报

图为民众在悉尼一处加油站为汽车添油。 （路透社）

（珀斯/悉尼综合电）澳大利亚总理阿尔巴尼斯说，澳洲将考虑兴建60多年来的首座新炼油厂。近期中东战争导致海外燃料供应收紧，凸显了提升能源安全的紧迫性。

阿尔巴尼斯星期二（7月28日）在西澳州皮尔巴拉地区（Pilbara）的卡拉萨市（Karratha）宣布，联邦政府将与西澳州政府共同拨款400万澳元（约360万新元），用于兴建炼油厂的可行性研究。

如果计划确定可行，新炼油厂将选址卡拉萨，并由工业化学品生产商Perdaman集团建设。这将是澳洲自1965年以来首个投入运营的石油加工设施。

阿尔巴尼斯指出，建造新炼油厂有助于提升澳洲在燃料供应方面的韧性与自主能力。他说：“中东战争……正在冲击澳洲和世界各地。增强国家韧性的好处之一是，它能使澳洲不那么容易受到世界各地事件的影响。”

澳洲的炼油厂大多建于1950至1960年代，由于运营成本高昂，加上大型炼油厂在亚洲各地涌现，其中大部分炼油厂在过去30年间陆续关闭。

2000年，澳洲全国有八座炼油厂，但如今仅剩两座仍在运作，它们分别位于昆士兰州和维多利亚州。

澳洲约80%的燃料需求依赖进口。今年2月底，美国和以色列对伊朗发起军事行动后，中东石油出口因霍尔木兹海峡被封锁而受阻，给全球石油市场带来巨大冲击。

澳洲国库部在近日给国库部长查默斯的简报中警告，中东战争给澳洲带来的经济风险正在增加，全球石油市场抵御供应冲击的缓冲空间也减少了。

阿尔巴尼斯办公室在一份声明中说，如果建成，新炼油厂将创造数千个工作岗位，并加强澳洲能源安全，特别是在确保西澳地区社区的柴油供应方面。

能源部长鲍恩说：“在海外冲突凸显能源供应链脆弱性的当下，投资提升本土自主炼油能力，是保障我们能源安全的明智之举。”

不过，由于澳洲原油产量有限，任何新建炼油厂仍须依赖进口原油。

目前，Perdaman集团也正在卡拉萨建造一座化肥厂。新化肥厂预计于2027年中启用，每年可生产多达230万吨化肥，从而降低澳洲农业部门对进口的依赖。