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DHS eviscerates media for ‘absolute absurdity’ over concern about ‘worst of the worst’ activist judges list

July 29, 2026 5:02pm EDT / Fox News

James Percival said legitimate fact-based critiques of judges and their rulings are ‘fair game in a free society’

By Peter Pinedo Fox News

Jonathan Turley: Left demonizes Supreme Court to ‘gut the court’

Fox News contributor Jonathan Turley claims organized protests outside Supreme Court justices’ homes are part of a political movement to ‘gut the court’ and influence judicial decisions. He criticizes the rhetoric aimed at demonizing judges, citing incidents like the attempted assassination of Justice Kavanaugh and demonstrations with ‘bloody dolls’ at Justice Barrett’s home in June 2022.

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A high-ranking Trump Department of Homeland Security official called out the “liberal media” for what he referred to as the “absolute absurdity” of its response to his series criticizing activist judges.

James Percival, general counsel for the Department of Homeland Security, posted a series on X last week, “Worst of the Worst, District Judge Edition.”

In his posts, Percival pointed to the risks that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents face while enforcing the law, saying some judges are working to “sabotage” those operations and put officers “at risk.”

GOP SENATOR UNVEILS BOASBERG ACT TO STOP ‘ROGUE’ JUDGES FROM HANDPICKING TRUMP CASES

After his posts, Percival said DHS was contacted by a Chicago Sun-Times reporter about whether “a social media post like this risk[s] additional threats” in the context of “ongoing threats to federal judges.”

In response, Percival blasted the outlet in an X post in which he told followers, “Witness the absolute absurdity of the liberal media response to my new series, Worst of the Worst, District Judges.”

ICE agents knock on the door of a residence during a multi-agency targeted enforcement operation in Chicago Jan. 26, 2025.(Bloomberg)

Percival emphasized that “legitimate fact based critiques of judges and their rulings is fair game in a free society.” He also noted that “the media has no issue with it if the judge is conservative.”

Notably, conservative judges, including Supreme Court justices Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett, have been the target of intense criticism from the left and, in some cases, violence. In 2022, Kavanaugh was the target of an assassination plot after an armed California man traveled to his home with a pistol, ammunition, zip ties, pepper spray, duct tape and burglary tools. Further, Barrett testified in a recent congressional hearing that she has had to wear a bulletproof vest in response to threats.

In his Worst of the Worst activist judges series, Percival called out district judges in the sanctuary jurisdictions of Illinois, Massachusetts, Maryland and California.

JUSTICE NEIL GORSUCH BREAKS SILENCE ON VIOLENT THREATS AGAINST JUDICIARY, SUPREME COURT LEAKS

ICE agents stand guard in front of protesters outside the federal immigration center at Delaney Hall in Newark, where ICE is housing detained immigrants, May 26, 2026, in Newark, N.J.(Spencer Platt/Getty Images)

Percival said that, earlier this month, Northern District of Illinois Judge Matthew Kennelly, a Clinton appointee, ordered a nationwide pause on the termination of temporary protected status for migrants from Burma.

Percival wrote that Kennelly ordered the stay “even though these decisions are not subject to judicial review, even though we have been vindicated by the Supreme Court on TPS four times, and even though the Seventh Circuit summarily reversed him on the same issue only days before.

“This is judicial sabotage.”

Percival wrote that Central District of California Judge Hernán Vera, a Biden appointee, recently “entered an order micromanaging DHS’s use of force policy with respect to violent anti-ICE agitators in Los Angeles.”

Percival noted that the judge “described the agitators as ‘protesters’ and ‘legal observers,’ while describing DHS’s actions defending its personnel and property as ‘violent.’”

SUPREME COURT WEIGHS TRUMP EFFORT TO TERMINATE TEMPORARY PROTECTIONS FOR HAITIAN, SYRIAN MIGRANTS

Homeland Security General Counsel James Percival(DHS official portrait)

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Percival noted, “Agitators in Los Angeles have assaulted DHS employees, thrown objects at them, engaged in arson, and even tried to breech [sic] a federal facility.

“Judicial micromanagement of use of force in these contexts puts our officers at risk.”

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In response, Sean Lewis, a spokesperson for the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, told Fox News Digital that “the Code of Conduct calls on federal judges not to comment publicly on pending cases. It also requires them to decide each matter independently, based on the law and the facts — not political pressure, public reaction, partisan interests or fear of criticism.”

Lewis added that “when someone disagrees with a ruling, the appropriate way to challenge it is through the appellate process.”

Fox News Digital reached out to the Chicago Sun-Times and the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California for comment.

Peter Pinedo is a politics writer for Fox News Digital.

Trump unveils another project as polling shows his DC construction is unpopular

2026-07-29T21:04:28.069Z / https://www.cnn.com/2026/07/29/politics/trump-dulles-airport-renovation

It’s been many years since President Donald Trump flew commercial. But on Wednesday, he unveiled major renovations to a key Washington-area airport — his latest effort to shape infrastructure around the nation’s capital.

Trump oversaw proposals for a massive, $22.5 billion project at Dulles International Airport, the Northern Virginia air travel hub with direct flights to more than 50 countries.

“This is very exciting to me as a builder — somebody that builds lots of big, nice projects before I got here, and we’re doing some of the best in the world right now,” Trump said in the Oval Office Wednesday, seated before a large model of the newly imagined airport that covered his desk. He gestured enthusiastically at renderings of the plans that sources say he personally reviewed and approved, using a laser pointer to highlight new parking areas closer to the main terminal.

Throughout his second term, the president has often used the Oval Office to debut proposals for building and repairing — not just at the White House, but across the city and surrounding region.

He’s tried to renovate the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, build a new triumphal arch and National Garden of American Heroes, restore fountains across town and slapped his name — with limited enduring success — on prominent institutions. And while some of those projects may be more popular than others among DC residents, a 58% majority of Americans say they feel dissatisfied or angry about his construction projects in DC, according to a new CNN poll released Wednesday.

“You know, it’s a great thrill,” Trump said Wednesday when asked why he’s so focused on transforming the Washington, DC, area.

Dulles has been on Trump’s mind for months.

“Whether you’re a Republican or Democrat, you don’t want to go and be subjected to this airport,” Trump said in the Oval Office, echoing his comments from a December Cabinet meeting that Dulles is a “terrible” airport.

Operational for 60 years, Dulles regularly appears on lists of the worst airports, largely due to one of its most unusual features: the so-called people movers, more formally known as “mobile lounges,” which are used to ferry passengers between gates and planes.

The phased renovation plan, which was first reported by CBS News, will be implemented over eight to 10 years and eliminate the people movers for good, according to multiple sources familiar with the project.

Funding is coming through the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority and airlines. “It’s going to be bonded for $22.5 billion. United is going to partake in part of the payment, but the airlines who participate in the project are going to pay for it,” Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said in the Oval Office on Wednesday.

Trump, however, suggested there could still be a role for Congress to play.

“It’s largely financed, and yeah, we need some approvals from Congress probably. But generally speaking, it’s been very bipartisan,” he said.

The project is expected to bolster parking and check-in facilities, modernize concourses — including United’s C and D concourses, which were built as a temporary facility in 1985 — create a new tunnel that will eliminate the need for the people movers and add new concessions and lounges, according to United.

The airport’s Eero Saarinen-designed main terminal is expected to be preserved, according to a White House official.

Duffy on Wednesday called the airport renovations the “cherry on top” of Trump’s efforts to “make DC safe and beautiful.”

“We we had multiple architects come in and present to the president, and we are blessed that not only does he give his time to really important matters, but he gave his building skill to take the best of all the designs and come up with this concept,” he added.

For the president, a former real estate developer, construction across the Washington area isn’t just a side project — he believes it’s the foundation of his legacy.

“I’m a really good builder. The thing I do best in life is build,” Trump told reporters on a May tour of the 90,000-square-foot White House ballroom construction project.

His efforts started with gilding the Oval Office, a design choice that crept into the Roosevelt Room.

The Rose Garden has been paved with stone and reconfigured in the image of his Mar-a-Lago patio. The tongue-in-cheek “Presidential Walk of Fame,” with biographies of his predecessors written in Trump’s voice, has been installed along the West Colonnade, plus new granite pavers. Giant new flagpoles and a helipad have been added to the lawn. And the Palm Room flooring and the storied Lincoln Bedroom bathroom have been redone in marble.

Nearby, Trump’s building new sidewalks for Lafayette Square, overseeing a new visitors’ center complex, and pushing a coat of white “magic paint” for the neighboring Eisenhower Executive Office Building.

His ambitions haven’t been limited to the White House. Across town, the Kennedy Center, where Trump is chairman of the board, is expected to undergo a sweeping renovation, even after the board was forced to remove his name to comply with a federal judge’s order. The president is also overseeing plans to place a massive arch atop a traffic circle. Sculptures along the National Mall have been newly re-embellished with gold, and his Reflecting Pool renovation — to the tune of $14 million — has become a key, albeit deeply controversial, pet project.

Trump has also floated the idea of a pedestrian promenade connecting the Lincoln Memorial to the Potomac River and has resurrected a plan for a “Garden of American Heroes,” which was proposed during his first term and scrapped by the Biden administration. Nearby, he’s forging ahead with plans to turn the East Potomac Park public golf course into a championship course.

While Trump has spent more time reflecting on his legacy during his second term, and sources say he sees many projects as part of that, the new CNN poll suggests voters may be more skeptical of Trump’s local focus. A record-high 73% of US adults said he hasn’t paid enough attention to the country’s most important problems.

CNN’s Alexandra Skores contributed to this report.

US strikes $58.6 billion Patriot missile deal amid rising stockpile concerns

2026-07-29T22:24:51.095Z / Reuters

WASHINGTON, July 29 (Reuters) – The U.S. Army awarded Lockheed Martin
LMT.N
a contract worth up to $58.6 billion to produce Patriot interceptor missiles, the Pentagon ​said on Wednesday, as conflicts in Iran and Ukraine strain U.S. weapons stockpiles.

The U.S. ‌has supplied large quantities of weapons to allies while also using munitions in its own military operations in Iran, raising concerns about inventories of key air defense and precision-guided weapons.

The Reuters Iran Briefing newsletter keeps you informed with the latest developments and analysis of the Iran war. Sign up here.

The Lockheed award converts a previous one-year deal worth $4.7 ​billion awarded in April into a seven-year draft agreement, creating a multiyear procurement plan ​for the interceptors from fiscal 2026 through 2032, the Army said.

Pentagon negotiators are ⁠pressing contractors to move much faster, with tentative production agreements struck earlier this year at the center of ​efforts to increase missile output. The administration of President Donald Trump has also steadily increased pressure on ​defense contractors to prioritize production over shareholder payouts. Trump signed an executive order in January to identify contractors deemed to be underperforming on government contracts while continuing to distribute profits to shareholders.

Industry executives have welcomed the production agreements, but said ​Congress must first appropriate funding before companies can invest more heavily in components and production capacity.

Exact ​terms and delivery dates for many Pentagon munitions deals are still under negotiation.

A similar framework deal had been struck ‌with ⁠Raytheon’s parent company RTX
RTX.N
to boost production of Tomahawk cruise missiles from the current rate of about 60 per year for the U.S. to eventually 1,000 units annually.

Lockheed, a Bethesda, Maryland-based defense contractor, said the funding would allow it to follow through on a promise to triple PAC-3 MSE production capacity ​by the end of ​2030 and increase jobs ⁠at its Camden, Arkansas, plant by 50%, to about 1,850 from 1,200. Lockheed previously announced Patriot PAC-3 missile interceptor production would go to 2,000 units ​annually.

Lockheed Martin said it is investing $8 billion to $9 billion through 2030 to ​modernize more than ⁠20 U.S. facilities, including new munitions centers in Alabama and Arkansas.

PAC-3 MSE is a hit-to-kill interceptor used within the Patriot air defense system to counter ballistic missiles, cruise missiles and aircraft.

The Center for Strategic and ⁠International ​Studies, a Washington-based think tank, estimated this week that the ​U.S. military has fewer than 1,000 Patriot interceptors on hand and fewer than 250 THAAD interceptors — two key air defense systems. Both have ​seen recent heavy use in the Middle East.

Reporting by Mike Stone in Washington; editing by Chris Sanders

Dr. Deborah Birx says Fauci hearing shows there’s still “persistent anger” over government’s handling of COVID

July 29, 2026 / 7:46 PM EDT / CBS News

The former White House coordinator of the COVID Task Force says the contentious Senate hearing that put Dr. Anthony Fauci and his diary under scrutiny shows there is still “persistent anger” over the government’s handling of the pandemic.

In an interview on CBS News’ “The Takeout,” Dr. Deborah Birx said she thought Democratic Sen. John Fetterman, who was Pennsylvania’s lieutenant governor during the pandemic, “got it the most right for all of us.” He wondered, she said, “Did I get the balance right between saving lives and preserving people’s livelihoods?”

“That is a very deep question, and I think what you heard today is still persistent anger over that question not being answered adequately for most Americans,” Birx told CBS News chief Washington correspondent Major Garrett.

“We’ve got to get to that answer, and we have to have a better way forward than this,” Birx said.

And Fauci, she said, is probably at the center of questions about this because he served during both the Trump and Biden administrations, and people on the left and right still harbor deep disagreements about how each side addressed COVID.

Six years after the pandemic, one of the enduring questions is whether the coronavirus originated in an animal in a wet market in Wuhan, China, or emerged from a lab there. Senators asked Fauci repeatedly about this Wednesday, but he invoked the Fifth Amendment in response to all questions during the hearing.

Republican Sen. Rand Paul, who heads the Senate Homeland Security Committee, subpoenaed Fauci to appear before the committee as part of the panel’s investigation into the origins of the coronavirus.

Paul backs the theory that the virus emerged from a laboratory in Wuhan, China, rather than spilling over from animals to humans naturally in a wet market in that city, and he has long accused Fauci and other top health officials of downplaying the possibility of a lab leak and misleading the public.

Fauci has denied that he rejected or downplayed the lab leak theory, insisting that he always kept an open mind about the origins of the coronavirus, though he has asserted at times that the evidence suggests a natural spillover was more likely.

Fauci said during his opening statement Wednesday that he planned to assert the Fifth Amendment, arguing that Paul has an “obvious obsession with calling for my prosecution” and has made “slanderous comments” about him. He then invoked the Fifth Amendment for several hours as Paul and other Republicans criticized him and Democrats defended him.

Birx didn’t express an opinion, but she did say that it’s an important question because “we do need additional guardrails” and “additional policy around these issues.”

“We all know that there have been lab accidents,” she said, adding, “I’m hoping that going forward, we really look at these and have good policies that protect the lab workers, that protect the American public, and really get us ready with trust with the American people.”

She also told Garrett, “All of us need to be quite honest with ourselves,” not only about how information about the coronavirus evolved, but also how countermeasures “should have also evolved.”

Birx pointed out that early in the pandemic, “We didn’t have enough testing out there. We couldn’t stop the spread in any way. Hospitals were being overrun. We didn’t have a supply chain that matched the need.” The first few months “were a crisis,” she said.

Then, additional therapies like monoclonal antibodies and remdesivir enabled the government to “pull back on some of the mitigation,” Birx said.

“But because it was an election year, there were states that persisted in their very tight mitigations, and others that showed us a way that you could open K-12 and higher ed,” Birx said. Tests “really prevented spread,” she said.

She called for a dialogue to figure out “how are we going to do this next time?” Birx said she wants to figure out, how will the U.S. prevent spread, keep schools open, keep businesses open?

“There’s a way to do it,” she said. “And then we have that roadmap, but we need to get that down in real concrete terms, and have both the right and the left agree that that’s the best way forward.”

Garrett also asked Birx about Fauci’s diaries and the idea that he appeared “captivated by his rising international fame.”

She told him, “Well, have you been to his office, you can see that he has a lot of photos of his dealing with high-level influencers and presidents. That is something that means something to him.” But she added, “I don’t think that that clouded his judgment on what he was trying to do for the American people. We all are human, and I hope we step back and allow Dr. Fauci that humanness, at the same time, holding Dr. Fauci, myself and others accountable to really make this a better response next time.”

Dr. Deborah Birx on combative Fauci hearing
https://www.cbsnews.com/video/deborah-birx-combative-fauci-hearing-have-to-have-better-way-forward/

Dr. Deborah Birx on combative Fauci hearing: “We have to have a better way forward than this”

(05:29)

美联储维持利率不变 联储局主席沃什誓言抗通胀“绝不动摇”

2026年7月30日 07:56 / 联合早报

美联储主席沃什周三在华盛顿特区美联储总部举行的新闻发布会上强调，美联储绝不会动摇实现通胀率回归2%目标的决心。 （法新社）

美国联邦储备局周三宣布维持利率不变。面对依然顽固的物价压力，这一决定可能加剧市场对新任美联储主席沃什能否兑现将通胀率降至2%承诺的质疑。

在周三（7月29日）结束的货币政策会议上，美联储如期将基准利率维持在3.5%至3.75%区间。然而，负责货币政策决策的联邦公开市场委员会（FOMC）内部显现分歧，12名成员中有三人在当天的投票中反对维持利率不变的决定，他们主张加息25个基点。

沃什于5月接掌美联储，他曾指出，对通胀连续五年多高于2%目标“零容忍”。截至上月，在中东局势推高全球能源与食品价格、以及人工智能（AI）数据中心建设等投资强劲拉动需求的双重作用下，通胀呈现重新加速之势。

美联储周三在结束为期两天的政策会议后发表的简短声明中指出：“相较委员会2%的目标，通胀率依然处于高位。”此次声明逐字沿用了6月17日声明中对经济状况的评估内容。

美联储指出，当前经济活动正以“稳健步伐扩张”，并重申了6月的表述，即就业增长“与劳动力增长保持同步，失业率变化不大”。

在政策决议公布后的新闻发布会上，沃什说：“我们已开启新的篇章，我们也深知，通胀率高于目标水平长达五年多的局面，不可能在短短九周内或仅凭一个月物价的温和回落就能扭转。本届美联储绝不会动摇推动通胀回归2%目标的决心。”

Hawley trolls Fauci’s blanket Fifth Amendment claims exposing ‘contempt for this body’

2026-07-29T13:59:08-04:00 / Fox News

Hawley and Moreno pressed the former NIAID director after arguing his pardon nullifies self-incrimination rights

By Charles Creitz Fox News

Published July 29, 2026 1:59pm EDT

Sen. Josh Hawley clashes with Fauci over Fifth Amendment, ‘self-dealing’ allegations

Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo, confronts Dr. Anthony Fauci, arguing he has no Fifth Amendment rights due to a pardon.

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Former NIAID Director Anthony Fauci’s refusal to answer questions from Congress extended to simple facts, including the day of the week and the color of the tie he was wearing.

Fauci, 85, invoked his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination about as many times as his years alive on Earth, despite Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee Chairman Rand Paul, R-Ky., and Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., asserting that he did not have that right given his current legal status.

Hawley cited a Supreme Court case from 1896, where President Benjamin Harrison’s appointee, Justice Henry Brown, ruled that a witness granted statutory immunity from prosecution could nonetheless be compelled to testify because his immunity displaced pleading the Fifth.

FAUCI PLEADS FIFTH WITH ‘ZERO LEGAL JUSTIFICATION’ AS CRITICS ERUPT AND DEMAND CONTEMPT CHARGES

Video

In that case, an auditor for a Pittsburgh railroad unsuccessfully challenged a contempt charge for refusing to answer grand jury questions.

Hawley turned to Fauci and tested his repeated Fifth Amendment invocations throughout the hearing, quipping, “Doc, let’s try something.”

“What day of the week is it today?” Hawley asked Wednesday.

Fauci replied with his boilerplate invocation of the Fifth Amendment.

“What color tie are you wearing?” Hawley asked.

Fauci declined to answer, again invoking the Fifth Amendment.

‘PRIVILEGED’ HUNTER BIDEN, SPARED BY DAD’S PARDON, BLASTS TRUMP’S CLEMENCY POWER

“Let’s just get one thing straight. You don’t have any rights under the Fifth Amendment because you’ve been pardoned, as you very well know,” he said, invoking the 1896 Brown v. Walker case.

Video

Hawley, who is also an attorney, added that the legal reality was likely why Fauci’s remaining attorneys were “shifting nervously” behind him.

A top Fauci attorney, David Schertler, had previously been ejected by Paul after refusing to take his assigned seat and remain quiet.

“This isn’t about the law. This is about contempt, contempt for this body and contempt for the American people,” Hawley said.

“But I think I know why you’re doing it. It’s because you don’t want to answer questions. It’s because you did all kinds of terrible things. It’s because during the pandemic, you got rich… while people were dying.”

WATCH: FAUCI ATTORNEY EJECTED FROM SENATE HEARING AFTER CHAOTIC EXCHANGE: ‘YOU ARE NOT RECOGNIZED!’

Dr. Anthony Fauci testifies before the House Oversight and Accountability Committee Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic at the Rayburn House Office Building in Washington, D.C., on June 3, 2024. The hearing covers findings from a 15-month Republican-led probe into Fauci and the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic.(Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

Sen. Bernie Moreno, R-Ohio, followed Hawley with similar questions that Fauci refused to answer.

Moreno said Fauci should know what the Fifth Amendment is if he wanted to invoke it dozens of times.

When he asked Fauci to recite the Fifth Amendment, Fauci invoked his Fifth Amendment right.

“No, I’m just asking you what it says,” Moreno repeated.

“On the advice of counsel, I respectfully decline to answer based upon my rights under the Fifth Amendment to the Constitution,” Fauci said once more.

Moreno then gave a copy of the Constitution to an aide and instructed him to bring it to Fauci to read.

That attempt also prompted the same repeated response from the octogenarian immunologist.

“So you’re invoking a right that you don’t know who wrote it or what it says? Is that correct?” Moreno quipped.

Fauci again invoked his Fifth Amendment right after declining to recite the amendment when asked.

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The attorney for former NIH Director Anthony Fauci (R), David Schertler (L), is removed from the hearing room at the direction of committee chairman Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) during a hearing before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee July 29, 2026 in Washington, DC. Fauci declined to answer questions from the oommittee asserting his fifth amendment right during the hearing.(Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)

Fox News anchor Harris Faulkner later discussed the legal implications of Fauci’s repeated Fifth Amendment invocations.

She cited President Joe Biden’s blanket, retroactive pardon against Fauci, saying that he is “protected from any offenses against the United States he may have taken part in.”

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Faulkner said the pardon does not cover state criminal prosecutions, future crimes or congressional investigations.

“It does not protect him from prosecution from perjury if he lies under oath after receiving the pardon,” she said.

Rand Paul seeks contempt charges after Fauci invokes Fifth Amendment more than 100 times

The Senate committee vote to compel Fauci’s testimony is expected as early as next week

July 29, 2026 12:01pm EDT / Fox News

By Adam Pack , Alex Miller

Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo, confronts Dr. Anthony Fauci, arguing he has no Fifth Amendment rights due to a pardon.

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Dr. Anthony Fauci, the former National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) Director, left Wednesday’s congressional grilling without answering lawmakers’ questions, but Republicans are escalating their fight to compel his testimony.

Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., announced Wednesday that he will seek contempt charges against Fauci after he invoked his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination more than 100 times during the blockbuster hearing.

“We’re going to have a vote next week on contempt. I think there’s another legal question that the courts may have to decide upon,” Paul said. “And that is whether or not a presidential pardon offers you complete immunity.”

Chairman Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., speaks during a Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs confirmation hearing on Jan. 15, 2025, in Washington, D.C.(Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)

WATCH: FAUCI ATTORNEY EJECTED FROM SENATE HEARING AFTER CHAOTIC EXCHANGE: ‘YOU ARE NOT RECOGNIZED!’

The move capped off a years-long feud between Paul and Fauci after the senator accused Fauci of lying to Congress about the origins of COVID-19 and funding gain-of-function research in China that he alleged fueled the virus’ outbreak.

Paul has previously issued criminal referrals against Fauci and suggested he should face criminal prosecution over alleged false statements to Congress.

Fauci has repeatedly denied Paul’s allegations and said he did not do anything wrong.

Paul, the top Republican on the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, subpoenaed Fauci to testify Wednesday about the origins of COVID-19 after he declined to appear voluntarily.

Fauci repeatedly pleaded the Fifth, arguing Paul had an “obsession” with seeking his arrest and released more than 1,000 pages of his “personal diary” over the weekend in an effort to embarrass and intimidate him, according to his opening statement.

https://www.foxnews.com/video/6402412944112

Fauci’s refusal to answer any questions came as a surprise to Paul and his staff, who believed the ex-COVID-19 czar would not invoke his Fifth Amendment rights.

So confident, a source familiar told Fox News Digital, that several questions were prepared ahead of time, and members of the committee were told to come prepared for Fauci’s rebuttals.

Some Republicans on the panel have argued that the sweeping pardon former President Joe Biden granted Fauci would not shield him from contempt sanctions because any alleged misconduct would have occurred after the pardon was issued.

The unprecedented pardon covers any federal offenses the ex-COVID-19 czar may have committed between Jan. 1, 2014, and Jan. 20, 2025 regarding his leadership over the NIAID and helming the nation’s COVID-19 response, among other government service.

“You don’t have any rights under the Fifth Amendment because you’ve been pardoned,” Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., said during the fiery hearing. “You know that. Your lawyer is sitting behind you now, shifting nervously in their chairs. They know it. This isn’t about the Constitution. This isn’t about the law.”

“This is about contempt, contempt for this body and contempt for the American people,” he continued.

Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., said he was not surprised Fauci exercised his Fifth Amendment rights.

“I certainly understand why, on the advice of counsel, you’re not answering any questions,” Johnson said during the hearing. “Because I think it’d be almost impossible for you to answer the questions truthfully. Without really demonstrating what you did, your culpability.”

After Fauci’s lawyer, David Schertler, a prominent criminal defense attorney, attempted to speak without being recognized, Paul directed Capitol Police to eject him from the hearing room.

Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., announced Wednesday that he will seek contempt charges against Dr. Anthony Fauci, the former National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) Director.(Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

READ THE DIARIES: DOCUMENTS UNVEIL FAUCI’S THOUGHTS ON THE LAB-LEAK DEBATE, MASK DOUBTS AND TESTING FAILURES

The planned committee vote is likely to be along party lines as several Democrats on the panel came to Fauci’s defense on Wednesday.

If approved by the committee, the contempt resolution would head to the full Senate, where Democrats could filibuster it. The resolution would need 60 votes to advance, requiring at least some Democratic support.

Democrats on the panel accused Paul of leading a partisan oversight investigation that cut them out, including failing to share documents before Republicans publicly released them.

“This hearing appears to be a culmination of months of biased and selected efforts by the majority, under the guise of a committee investigation, to basically legitimize a predetermined conclusion that was reached years ago,” Sen. Gary Peters, D-Mich., said during his opening statement.

The lead Democrat also accused Paul of “relitigating the past” instead of holding the annual threats hearing or an oversight hearing on the Department of Homeland Security’s budget request for the upcoming fiscal year.

https://www.foxnews.com/video/6402407154112

Paul fired back that Peters’ claim that the committee blocked the minority from accessing records is “categorically false” and claimed the probe was the “most transparent investigation” in history.

“We actually created a website, and we put all of the information on the website. It continues to operate,” Paul added. “The reason it hasn’t been accessed is no Democrat ever signed up for it.”

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Sen. Maggie Hassan, D-N.H., also spoke at the hearing, arguing the forum was “designed to entrap” Fauci.

She and other Democrats were not able to ask any questions after Fauci repeatedly pleaded the Fifth.

House progressives revive Green New Deal for public schools as Dem civil war empowers far left

July 29, 2026 2:20pm EDT / Fox News

Jayapal’s bill echoes Jamaal Bowman’s 2021 package seeking hundreds of billions for clean energy upgrades and curriculum changes

By Elizabeth Elkind Fox News

Published July 29, 2026 2:20pm EDT | Updated July 29, 2026 2:59pm EDT

DSA targets NYC public schools to implement radical curriculum changes

The New York Post reveals the Democratic Socialists of America are plotting a radical takeover of New York City public schools. Fox News Digital columnist David Marcus explains DSA’s objective to educate children in a ‘democratic socialist frame,’ teaching the ‘Godfathers of Communism’ Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels.

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The environmental and social justice movement behind the Green New Deal is back at the forefront of Democrats’ agenda, this time targeting America’s education system.

A group of House progressives led by Rep. Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash., introduced a bill this week to “establish a Green New Deal for public schools.”

Details of the bill are not immediately available, and Jayapal’s office did not respond to a Fox News Digital request for more details.

FAR-LEFT ACTIVIST CONFERENCE AT TEACHERS UNION HQ RAISES CLASSROOM CONCERNS

Rep. Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash., speaks during a House Budget Committee hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., April 15, 2026.(Al Drago/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

But a similar bill introduced five years ago by controversial ex-Rep. Jamaal Bowman, D-N.Y., entailed investing hundreds of billions of dollars into grants for public schools to make clean energy upgrades while also promoting curriculum changes focused on social and environmental equity.

Grants under that 2021 legislation would have also been aimed at “development of place-based and experiential education and community-driven curricula, with a focus on curricula that affirm and explore the underlying principles of the Green New Deal, including the significance of and the connections between racial, economic, and environmental and climate justice.”

Grant funding would also be marked for “diversifying the workforce” and “expanding social service programming.”

Rep. Jamaal Bowman, D-N.Y., during a campaign stop at the Edenwald Houses housing project in the Eastchester neighborhood of the Bronx borough of New York on June 25, 2024.(Bing Guan/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

CONTROVERSIAL TEACHER TRAINING TARGETS PARENTAL AUTHORITY AS OPPRESSION, EDUCATION EXPERT WARNS

Pushing a “Green New Deal for schools” is also a focus of the far-left political organization The Sunrise Movement, which is dedicated to electing progressive lawmakers and counts fighting Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) among its non-climate-focused goals.

Rep. Tim Walberg, R-Mich., chairman of the House Committee on Education and the Workforce, panned the legislation when reached by Fox News Digital.

Chairman Tim Walberg, R-Mich., speaks during a House Workforce and Education Committee hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., June 5, 2025.(Oliver Contreras/AFP via Getty Images)

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“The best way to prepare the next generation is by strengthening core academics, not expanding ideological programs. Parents and taxpayers have every right to expect schools to stay focused on education,” Walberg said.

The resurgence of a Green New Deal push by progressives comes amid a growing civil war within the Democratic Party.

Self-proclaimed democratic socialists and candidates affiliated with them are challenging — and in some cases defeating — establishment Democrats in primaries across the country.

Elizabeth Elkind is a politics reporter for Fox News Digital leading coverage of the House of Representatives. Previous digital bylines seen at Daily Mail and CBS News.

Follow on Twitter at @liz_elkind and send tips to elizabeth.elkind@fox.com

Senator’s F-bomb bashing of Fauci rocks Internet: ‘High-heat fastball!’

July 29, 2026 3:46pm EDT / Fox News

Sen. Bernie Moreno asked Fauci to apologize to Americans harmed by mask mandates and school closures

By Elaine Mallon

GOP Senator torches Fauci: ‘Who the F—k do you think you were?’

Sen. Bernie Moreno teared into Anthony Fauci for his COVID-19 policies, accusing Fauci of being interested in meeting with celebrities than administering to the American people.

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Sen. Bernie Moreno, R-Ohio, tore into Dr. Anthony Fauci, who served as President Joe Biden’s chief medical advisor and was a key government spokesman during the COVID-19 pandemic, dropping an F-bomb during Wednesday’s congressional hearing.

Fauci was issued a subpoena by Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., as part of a congressional investigation into the origins of COVID-19 and the federal government’s response to the pandemic. Paul, who chairs the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, and his Republican colleagues have long accused Fauci of misleading Congress and the American people about the origins of the virus, federal funding for research at the Wuhan Institute of Virology in the Chinese city where the virus first emerged and the nature of so-called gain-of-function research, which alters pathogens to study how they may become more transmissible or dangerous.

“Here I am sitting in front of you six years later saying, who the f–k do you think you were for doing that?” Moreno said. “It is a total disgrace what you did to this country.”

FAUCI PRIVATELY TOOK CREDIT FOR COVID-19 LOCKDOWNS DESPITE PUBLIC DENIAL, NEWLY EXPOSED DIARY ENTRIES REVEAL

A split image shows Bernie Moreno and Anthony Fauci.(Allison Robbert / AP)

Moreno’s remarks came after he argued the government’s COVID-19 guidance, including mask mandates, social distancing recommendations and school closures, harmed Americans. He said “moronic” politicians’ implementation of Fauci’s guidance led to arrests, recounting the story of an Ohio mother who was arrested for not wearing a mask during an outdoor high school football game.

“When that story broke, I said to myself, I cannot stand idly on the side and watch this happen,” Moreno said. “It was about six years ago today that I decided I’m going to give up my businesses, sell them all, run for office, run for the United States Senate.”

Moreno then asked Fauci whether he would apologize to the American people, prompting Fauci to invoke the Fifth Amendment. Throughout the hearing, Fauci invoked the Fifth Amendment more than 100 times rather than answer lawmakers’ questions.

RAND PAUL SEEKS CONTEMPT CHARGES AFTER FAUCI INVOKES FIFTH AMENDMENT MORE THAN 100 TIMES

Fauci served as chief medical adviser to President Donald Trump during the COVID-19 pandemic before later continuing in the role under President Joe Biden.(Win McNamee/Getty Images)

At the beginning of his allotted time, Moreno called on audience members to stand if they had questioned the government’s COVID-19 guidelines and were made to feel “like less than a human being” or suffered consequences for failing to comply, such as being fired from their jobs or refusing the vaccine. Moreno’s request prompted audience members sitting behind Fauci to stand. Moreno asked Fauci to turn around and face them, but he refused.

Moreno accused Fauci of being more interested in rubbing elbows with celebrities such as Kim Kardashian, referring to a Zoom call Fauci participated in with her and more than a dozen other celebrities, than serving as a public health official.

Moreno’s fiery exchange with Fauci quickly drew praise from conservative commentators and Trump administration officials on social media.

“Fauci should go to jail. Full stop,” Fox News contributor Joe Concha wrote on X.

White House Communications Director Stephen Cheung praised Moreno’s line of questioning.

“Senator @BernieMoreno throwing a high-heat fastball!”

Former NIH Director Anthony Fauci testifies before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee in Washington, D.C., on July 29, 2026. Fauci was expected to be questioned about his diary entries during his handling of the COVID-19 pandemic.(Getty Images)

Jace Yarbrough, a Republican congressional candidate in Texas’ 32nd District and an Air Force veteran, thanked Moreno for confronting Fauci and described what he said was pressure placed on service members who declined the COVID-19 vaccine.

“I am one of the service members who refused the COVID shot,” Yarbrough wrote on X. “Many were removed from service, lost their livelihoods, or received career-ending reprimands simply for declining the shot.”

“Thank you @berniemoreno for taking this man to task and standing up for those who were targeted by his regime.”

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Philip Letsou, Moreno’s chief of staff, also reacted to the exchange, writing on X, “Never seen a moment quite like this in Congress.”

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“We have no comment on anything Senator Moreno had to say other than he is completely wrong,” David Schertler, Fauci’s attorney, said in an email to Fox News Digital.

Elaine Mallon is a writer for Fox News Digital and Fox Business covering national politics.

Resurfaced video of resident rejecting Fauci’s door-to-door vaccine sales pitch goes viral

Sen Rand Paul subpoenaed Fauci to answer questions about COVID-19 after his private diary was put on blast

July 29, 2026 1:20pm EDT / Fox News

By Ashley J. DiMella

FLASHBACK: Fauci and Mayor Bowser go door-to-door to push vaccine, residents ask key questions

Dr. Anthony Fauci and Washington, DC Mayor Muriel Bowser visited Anacostia neighborhood in 2021 to “battle vaccine hesitancy” and get the boot from residents. (Credit: PBS – March 1, 2023)

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A resurfaced video of Dr. Anthony Fauci’s 2021 door-to-door COVID-19 vaccine campaign is gaining renewed attention amid his contentious testimony before Congress on the federal handling of the pandemic.

The clip shows Fauci, then White House health advisor, and Washington, D.C., Mayor Muriel Bowser visiting residents in the city’s Anacostia neighborhood to encourage them to get vaccinations. But the footage shows several skeptical residents challenging Fauci over the vaccines’ rapid development, long-term safety and the government’s messaging — exchanges that have become a flashpoint in the debate over the federal response.

And now that Fauci’s diary has been published and includes seemingly contradictory public statements versus private musings, his entire involvement has come under the microscope of his biggest critics.

“The people in America are not settled with the information that’s been given to us right now. So I’m not gonna be lining up taking a shot on a vaccination, for something that wasn’t clear in the first place, and then you all create a shot in miraculous time. It takes years to create,” said a Washington, D.C. resident in the video shot by PBS in response to Fauci’s vaccine push campaign.

DID THE BIDEN ADMINISTRATION PURPOSEFULLY IGNORE COVID VACCINE SIDE EFFECTS?

Dr. Anthony Fauci, former director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, arrives to testify before the House Oversight and Accountability Committee Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic at the Rayburn House Office Building on June 3, 2024, in Washington, D.C. The subcommittee is holding a hearing on findings from a 15-month Republican-led probe of Fauci and the COVID-19 pandemic’s origins.(Getty Images)

Fauci and Bowser, who is leaving office at the conclusion of her current term, encouraged residents in the “historic African American neighborhood” of D.C. to get the vaccine, seemingly attempting to persuade skeptical residents and using Fauci as an expert to sway them.

“[If] thousands of people, like you, don’t get vaccinated, you’re going to let this virus continue to percolate in this country and in this world,” urged Bowser, standing alongside the nation’s top voice on the coronavirus at the time.

That resident pushed back, continuing to question the very swift timeline of the vaccine’s development and roll out. They compared it to the flu and expressed skepticism over why the government was incentivizing residents to get the jab.

FAUCI PRIVATELY TOOK CREDIT FOR COVID-19 LOCKDOWNS DESPITE PUBLIC DENIAL, NEWLY EXPOSED DIARY ENTRIES REVEAL

In this Dec. 22, 2020, file photo, Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, speaks before receiving his first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine at the National Institutes of Health, in Bethesda, Md.(AP Photo/Patrick Semansky, Pool, File)

“Because when you start talking about paying people to get vaccinated, when you start talking about incentivizing things to get people vaccinated, there’s something else going on with that. Something else. It’s something else,” said the resident.

Critics on social media swiftly responded to the resurfaced clip.

“They’re terrified of a free-thinking black man. God bless this man,” wrote “The Riley Gaines Show” podcast Riley Gaines on X.

“Earlier this day, Fauci learned he had a blood clot in his lung. Yet he still beat on black people’s doors, telling them to get the COVID shots. And these (mad) scientists wonder why black Americans are leery of vaccines? Maybe they don’t want to be Tuskegee test rats again,” wrote Article III Project founder Mike Davis.

EXCLUSIVE: BIDEN PARDON WON’T SHIELD FAUCI IF HE LIES TO CONGRESS, COMER SAYS

WATCH LIVE: Anthony Fauci returns to Capitol Hill for high-stakes Senate hearing
https://www..com/video/6402399178112

“Never forget this brave American citizen that turned down getting a Covid vaccine and called out Fauci right to his face on camera,” wrote one user on X.

“What an absolute legend this guy… telling that narcissistic, deranged liar and his acolytes to GFT with their sh*tccine,” wrote Bitcoin miner Javier Hermonsa.

Fauci and Bowser both did not respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment on the video making its rounds on social media ahead of the retired medical advisor’s appearance in Congress on Wednesday.

Fauci was subpoenaed by Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee Chairman Sen. Rand Paul to answer questions primarily about the U.S. government’s handling of COVID-19 and the origins of the virus.

Fauci served as chief medical adviser to President Donald Trump during the COVID-19 pandemic before later continuing in the role under President Joe Biden.(Win McNamee/Getty Images)

Ahead of the hearing Wednesday morning, President Donald Trump blasted Fauci on Truth Social.

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“I Inherited Fauci, who was there since the 1980’s, but with each passing day, relied less and less on him. He made too many bad calls,” wrote Trump in part.

“Fauci was largely taken out of play, and then along came Sleepy Joe Biden, who made Fauci a ‘King!’ I called Biden to tell him Fauci was no good, either didn’t have a clue, or was dishonest. The call was well received, but sadly, not acted on. Biden went on to give Fauci vast destructive power,” he added.

During the hearing, Fauci repeatedly refused to answer substantive questions, invoking the Fifth Amendment against questions from lawmakers at least 111 times during the hearing.

Paul said the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs will hold a vote next week to “certify” Fauci’s contempt of Congress.

Ashley J. DiMella reports on politics for Fox News Digital.