Fauci covers his mouth

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Jul 29, 2026 View in browser   By Irie Sentner Presented by  BULLETIN: “Divided Fed holds interest rates steady, but three members voted to hike,” by CNBC’s Jeff Cox: “The post-meeting statement noted that the three dissenters ‘preferred to raise the target range for the federal funds rate by 1/4 percentage point at this meeting.’ The no votes presented an early challenge to Chairman Kevin Warsh, whose refusal to provide clear road signs on where monetary policy is headed led to an unusually high level of uncertainty heading into the meeting.” THE CATCH-UP Anthony Fauci is sworn in to testify before the Senate Homeland Security Committee on Capitol Hill on July 29, 2026. Fauci repeatedly invoked his Fifth Amendment right to not answer questions. | Francis Chung/POLITICO Anthony Fauci is still making Republicans very, very mad. The face of America’s Covid-19 response was due to square off today with Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.). Paul has consistently antagonized Fauci over his Covid-era stewardship, and the two have sparred for years. Paul demanded Fauci face the Senate Homeland Security Committee he chairs over allegations the doctor was part of a coverup to conceal the origins of Covid-19 and had funded research in China that could have caused the outbreak. Fauci denies those allegations. Today’s hearing was expected to produce an intense back-and-forth between the dais and the witness table. “The sole reason [Paul] is calling me before this committee is to get me to say something — anything — that could vindicate his repeated public pledges that I end up, in his words, ‘behind bars,’” Fauci said in his opening statement, adding that the senator had an “unhinged obsession” with him. Then Fauci hit the brakes. “Although it pains me to do so because of the respect I have for the legislative branch of government and my decadeslong record of cooperating with Congress,” Fauci said, “under the advice of my attorneys, I will invoke my right under the Fifth Amendment of the Constitution to refrain from answering your questions.” For more than three hours, Senate Republicans hammered Fauci, for whom President Donald Trump and his supporters have blamed for uncomfortable and unpopular aspects of the pandemic. And for more than three hours, Fauci refused to respond. He pleaded the Fifth to questions about what day of the week it was, the color of his tie, and what the Fifth Amendment even says. A message from Anthropic: Helping a Boston restaurant owner support his team Running a restaurant means financial pressure and moving parts. At Shy Bird, owner Eli Feldman uses Claude to help solve problems from kitchen organization to manager coaching, so he can give more to the people who make the restaurant run. Learn more.   The dramatic hearing brought back to the forefront a host of pandemic-era topics that many Americans have tried to move on from, and it marked a new peak in the cat-and-mouse-like saga between Fauci and Republicans, who have cast him as a bogeyman — the perfect, suited example of an overeducated Washington bureaucrat hawking masks and school closures. Earlier this week, Paul made public Fauci’s pandemic-era diaries. And on the campaign trail, Trump suggested Fauci could be prosecuted — prompting former President Joe Biden to issue him a preemptive pardon on his final day in office. “Fauci was largely taken out of play, and then along came Sleepy Joe Biden, who made Fauci a ‘King!’” Trump wrote this morning on Truth Social ahead of the hearing, adding that he had called Biden to tell him Fauci was “no good,” but Biden “went on to give Fauci vast destructive power.” Republican senators took Fauci’s silence as an opportunity to go all in. “Who the fuck do you think you were?” Sen. Bernie Moreno (R-Ohio) exclaimed in a heated moment his team quickly clipped and posted. “It is a total disgrace what you did to this country.” Paul threatened that Fauci would face “repercussions to your refusal to testify today,” claiming that he was obstructing a congressional investigation. Paul later scheduled a committee vote for Aug. 5 on a resolution declaring Fauci in contempt of Congress. Legally, the situation is tricky. Republicans argue that because of Biden’s pardon, Fauci cannot claim fear of prosecution. But “Fauci could theoretically face state or local prosecution, as well as federal prosecution for making any false statements to the panel,” POLITICO’s Simon Levien, Josh Gerstein and Kyle Cheney note. When one of Fauci’s attorneys, David Schertler, piped up to defend him, Paul called for security to throw him out of the room. “This is the way Anthony Fauci wants to be remembered, for a lawyer not listening to the rules,” Paul said. Asked after the hearing to respond to Fauci’s claims that he had an “unhinged obsession” with him, Paul told reporters that all the questions were “very, very serious.” “I heard very few questions today that I would say were unhinged or politically motivated,” he added. Good Wednesday afternoon. This is Irie Sentner. Thanks for reading this particularly profane edition of Playbook PM. Get in touch. 5 THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW 1. VOTE-A-DRAMA: A vote on an Iran war powers resolution sponsored by Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) is likely to be punted to tomorrow, after Gillibrand issued a release saying the vote would be held this afternoon, Playbook’s Ali Bianco reports. The prospect of a delay is due to “attendance issues,” per a source familiar. Multiple senators — including Tim Scott (R-S.C.) and Darline Graham (R-S.C.) — were expected to attend the funeral in South Carolina today for the late Sen. Lindsey Graham. And with Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) still out for ongoing health concerns, the three absences will eat into the majority’s numbers. No Senate votes have officially been scheduled yet. Reminder: The last war powers vote in the Senate was rejected by a 49-47 vote, with Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) voting with Democrats and Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.) joining with Republicans. 2. MORE DRAMA ON THE HILL: “Republicans start pondering another debt limit hike as midterms loom,” by POLITICO’s Jordain Carney and Jennifer Scholtes: “To head off high-stakes negotiations with Democrats, White House officials have privately floated raising the nation’s $41.1 trillion borrowing limit in the party-line spending package many Republicans want to enact before the November midterm elections … The move could save Trump much angst if Republicans lose control of either chamber in the upcoming election, since any Democratic majority would demand concessions in a bipartisan negotiation to prevent an unprecedented default on the national debt, which currently sits at nearly $39.7 trillion.” Brave new world: Senate Commerce Chair Ted Cruz told POLITICO’s Kelsey Brugger he’s again postponing a highly anticipated markup of AI bills planned for next week because senators couldn’t strike a deal on the legislation in time. Instead, Cruz said the panel will only take up bills focused on kids’ online safety.   A message from Anthropic: Helping a Boston restaurant owner support his team Running a restaurant comes with pressure. At Shy Bird, Claude helps Eli Feldman do more for his team. Learn more.   3. CARTE BLANCHE: Todd Blanche’s nomination to shed his acting capacity as AG and take on the job in full is hanging by a thread in the Senate, after he no-showed a scheduled meeting today with John Cornyn, who subsequently told reporters he’s still “not prepared” to support Blanche’s confirmation, POLITICO’s Chris Marquette reports. The latest turn of the screw comes less than 24 hours before the Senate Judiciary Committee is set to vote on Blanche’s nomination. Cornyn said Judiciary Chair Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) told him he needed to know by 4 p.m. today if tomorrow’s vote could go forward. 4. RECON PRESSURE RISES: Nearly two dozen Republican governors — including Texas’ Greg Abbott and Florida’s Ron DeSantis, who lead the two largest GOP states — are backing Trump’s push for another party-line reconciliation bill, upping the pressure on Senate Majority Leader John Thune to move quickly on the funding measure, POLITICO’s Jordain Carney scoops. OMB Director Russ Vought and OLA Director James Braid are on the Hill today to meet with Senate Republicans during a closed-door lunch. 5. STRIKING LANGUAGE: The latest round of saber-rattling over Iran from Trump came this morning, when he told Fox News’ Trey Yingst that the U.S. is “going to beat the f---ing s--t out of them” in response to an Iranian missile barrage that was intercepted by U.S. forces overnight. Trump added that “we’ll be hitting them hard” and “they’re going to get a beating.” The striking and unsubtle threat came after days of relative calm in the region.   Rahm Emanuel makes his 2028 pitch over pizza In the latest episode of On the Road with Jonathan Martin, Rahm Emanuel sits down at a Chicago pizzeria to talk about his political future, why Democrats need to win back the center and what he sees as a turning point for American politics. Watch now.     TALK OF THE TOWN PRESS SHOP MOVES — The White House press shop is getting a shakeup as deputy press secretary Abigail Jackson prepares to depart next week for OnMessage Public Strategies. Taylor Rogers is being promoted from assistant press secretary to deputy press secretary, according to a White House official. And Lauren Bowman Bis, currently assistant secretary for public affairs at DHS, is moving to the White House to replace Jackson and will inherit her portfolio, which includes DHS and DOJ. NEVER ENOUGH — The Interior Department is asking Congress for $10 million more to pay National Park Service costs associated with the Freedom 250 events held on the National Mall earlier this month, WaPo’s Dan Diamond reports. “Given the elevated security threats against high-profile events in Washington, D.C. …an elevated security posture was needed to ensure the safety of the public at these events. This funding would help address the expenditures associated with the elevated security posture,” the department wrote in an email to WaPo. JUST MARRIED — Marjorie Taylor Greene and former Real America's Voice White House correspondent Brian Glenn got married last night in Las Vegas, Greene announced today on X.   Stay ahead of the decisions shaping your work POLITICO Pro gives policy professionals the news, analysis and tools they need to track developments, understand what’s changing and act with confidence. From Congress to state capitals, Pro helps you navigate the business of government with clarity. Learn more.     HUMAN RESOURCES — “The High-School Dropout Hiring Diplomats for Trump’s State Department,” by Bloomberg’s Jeff Green: “Andrew Crapuchettes, the founder of a boutique Idaho firm that specializes in headhunting conservative employees, was surfing LinkedIn when an unsolicited message appeared from an unlikely employer: the US State Department.” SPORTS BLINK — The Nats hosted a “Canada-U.S. Friendship Day” last night with the Toronto Blue Jays. Canadian Ambassador to the U.S. Mark Wiseman threw out the first pitch, and Canadian Trade Minister Dominic LeBlanc was also in attendance — despite the countries’ ongoing trade war. OUT AND ABOUT — The Center for AI Safety’s Varun Khrovi and Microsoft’s Mike Yeh and Gerry Petrella hosted a dinner at Fiola last night focused on AI safety, competition and innovation. Widehall’s Steve Clemons moderated the discussion, which featured opening provocations from Sen. Jim Banks (R-Ind.) and the White House Office of the National Cyber Director’s Lara Smith. SPOTTED: Joel Gardner, James Cangialosi, Ryan White, Evan Ashy, Karthik Raja, James Shinn, Kate Charlet, Michael Reed, Alan Davidson, Matt Hayden, Rodney Davis, Richard Vague, Brad Carson and Anna Johnson. — SPOTTED at FTP’s Summer Social last night at its offices: Rose Minor, Badiki Ebenja, Bobby Puckett, Nikki Guilford, Cindy Rayo, Derek Campbell, Izzy Marshall, Sanjana Puskoor, Rob Mathias, Peter O’Keefe, Rick Murphy, Rachel Miller, Richard Lukas and Sam LaPaille. TRANSITIONS — Annie Wartanian Reisinger is joining Morrison Foerster as a partner in its national security group. She most recently worked for the Treasury Department’s Office of the General Counsel and the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States. … Adele Hixon-Day is now VP for development at The Leadership Conference for Civil and Human Rights. She most recently worked at EMILY’s List and is a Smithsonian alum. Did someone forward this email to you? Sign up here. Send Playbookers tips to playbook@politico.com or text us on Signal here. 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