Good Wednesday evening. In this edition: Fauci invokes the Fifth at contentious hearing; Fed holds rates steady despite inflation concerns; and Trump vows to hit Iran "very hard" as war expands.
Plus, Blanche, Dulles and Maxwell.
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COVID-19
Dr. Anthony Fauci repeatedly invoked his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination, refusing to answer questions throughout a three-hour Senate hearing on the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The surprise decision led to a partisan exercise in which Republicans hammered the former National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) director over his response to the pandemic, while Democrats criticized the Trump administration's handling of science and public health.
Dr. Fauci, who retired in 2022, said he was refusing to answer the committee's questions due to Chair Rand Paul's (R-KY) "obvious obsession" with calling for his prosecution, his "repeated slanderous comments" about him, and the Kentucky Republican's decision to publicly release portions of his personal journal.
"The only conclusion I can reach is that the sole reason he 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,'" he told senators in a brief opening statement.
"Any reasonable person who has followed his unhinged obsession with me would readily come to the same conclusion."
Sen. Paul has repeatedly accused Dr. Fauci of helping fund "gain-of-function" research in Wuhan, China, then misleading Congress about the government's involvement — allegations Dr. Fauci has vehemently denied.
"The decision to fund dangerous gain-of-function research in Wuhan, China, will likely go down in history as perhaps one of the worst public health decisions," Sen. Paul said. "Frankly, the American people deserve an apology."
Throughout the hearing, senators continued pressing Dr. Fauci on the pandemic, the Wuhan lab and his actions during the public health crisis.
Each time, Dr. Fauci gave essentially the same response: "On the advice of counsel, I respectfully decline to answer based upon my rights under the Fifth Amendment to the Constitution."
Sen. Gary Peters (D-MI), the committee's ranking member, accused Republicans of conducting a politically motivated investigation with a predetermined outcome.
"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," he said.
The hearing grew increasingly contentious, highlighted by Sen. Bernie Moreno (R-OH) hurling an expletive at Dr. Fauci after accusing him of being responsible for a woman being arrested in 2020 for refusing to wear a mask at a middle school football game.
"Here I am sitting in front of you six years later, saying, who the fuck do you think you were for doing that?" he said, drawing a connection between Dr. Fauci's advocacy for masks at the start of the pandemic and the school's policy.
Sen. Paul also ordered one of Dr. Fauci's attorneys, David Schertler, removed from the committee room after he attempted to speak when the chairman warned Dr. Fauci there would be "repercussions" for invoking the Fifth.
The Federal Reserve held interest rates steady, leaving its benchmark rate unchanged despite growing pressure to take a firmer approach to bringing inflation back to the central bank's longstanding 2% target.
The move leaves the target range for the federal funds rate at 3.5% to 3.75%, where it has been since December following three consecutive rate cuts.
The Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) voted 9–3 to keep rates unchanged, with the three dissenters, all regional bank presidents, favoring a 25-basis-point rate hike to address inflation, which has now run above the central bank's target for more than five years.
The meeting, the second led by new Federal Reserve Chair Kevin Warsh, marked the first time since September 2016 that three policymakers dissented with the same view of where rates should be.
The outcome of the vote had been uncertain heading into the two-day policy meeting, with investors giving it roughly a one-in-three chance of a 25-basis-point rate hike.
In a press conference, Mr. Warsh said the economy has shown "impressive resilience," citing economic growth, job gains and a stable unemployment rate, but reiterated that the committee remained focused on restoring price stability.
"For some households, businesses and market professionals, five years of high inflation have left a mistaken impression that's hard to shake that the Fed's implicit inflation target was somehow above 2%," he said.
"Let me reiterate: there is no soft inflation target. There is no soft implicit target, not on this committee's watch. There's only a target, and it's 2%."
President Trump attributed the Fed's decision to politics, saying his new chairman wanted rates to be lowered but was constrained by a "political" board.
"Kevin's fantastic, but he's got a board," he told reporters after the Fed's announcement. "He's a brilliant guy, smart. I know he'd love to see lower interest rates, but he's got a board and it's a political board and they want to keep rates up. But we fight through rates."
The president has long called for the central bank to lower rates, which would make borrowing cheaper but could also exacerbate inflation.
There are signs inflation is beginning to move closer to the Fed's target, though the latest readings were taken before the Iran war resumed.
Inflation declined in June, with the consumer price index (CPI) falling 0.4% for the month, bringing the annual inflation rate to 3.5%. It was the biggest monthly decline in headline inflation since April 2020.
President Trump said the U.S. would hit Iran "very hard" as the war escalates following a dayslong lull in the fighting.
"We're going to be hitting them very hard, because it's our turn to hit them," he said in response to Iran targeting U.S. military forces in the Middle East on Tuesday night.
U.S. Central Commandsaid it thwarted an "attempted surprise attack" by Iran's Revolutionary Guard, which it said launched multiple ballistic missiles at U.S. forces in the region. The military said all of the missiles were "successfully intercepted."
After a roughly three-day pause following weeks of fighting, the conflict has intensified again, drawing more countries into the war.
U.S. and Saudi forces conducted joint strikes Tuesday targeting an Iran backed paramilitary group operating in Iraq, which the U.S. said were carried out in retaliation for more than 30 aerial drone attacks by Iranian proxy groups over the previous 72 hours.
The Jordanian military also said Wednesday that it had shot down five missiles that Iran's Revolutionary Guard said were fired in retaliation.
Egypt was also struck for the first time in the war, with two ships, including a U.S.-owned gas storage tanker, catching fire after an explosion at a shipping hub.
Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX), who recently lost his reelection bid to a Trump-backed challenger, said he's "not prepared" to support Todd Blanche's nomination to be attorney general, throwing Thursday's critical Judiciary Committee vote into question. The senator has been calling on the Justice Department to rework President Trump's settlement with the IRS to permanently scrap the proposed $1.8 billion "anti-weaponization" fund that was widely panned on Capitol Hill. Mr. Blanche did not appear for a planned Wednesday meeting with the Texas Republican on Capitol Hill. A Justice Department official said the department shared a "written proposal" with Sen. Cornyn's staff on Tuesday, but the senator said he has yet to see "a single piece of writing that is responsive to what I've requested." The committee is scheduled to vote Thursday, and Mr. Blanche cannot afford to lose a single Republican vote. Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC), who also serves on the committee, has made similar demands.
President Trumpannounced a sweeping $22.5 billion plan to renovate Washington Dulles International Airport, including building new terminals and eliminating the airport's "people movers," the mobile lounges that have shuttled travelers to and from the main terminal for decades. He said the airport will instead add a new U-shaped passenger train, a central pedestrian tunnel, additional moving walkways and new concourses. "It's time to ensure that the United States has the greatest airports anywhere in the world, and we're starting right here with the capital city," he told reporters in the Oval Office behind a model of the Dulles redesign.
The Senateunanimously approved a non-binding resolution expressing the sense of the chamber that Ghislaine Maxwell should not be granted a presidential pardon or any other form of clemency for her crimes with Jeffrey Epstein relating to the sexual exploitation and abuse of minors. The resolution was brought by Sen. Jacky Rosen (D-NV), who said it was necessary to prevent President Trump from pardoning Ms. Maxwell in exchange for clearing his name. The president, who was once close with Mr. Epstein, has denied any wrongdoing related to him but has repeatedly refused to rule out a pardon for Ms. Maxwell. "It's frankly horrifying that Trump would entertain the idea of clemency for even a second for a convicted sex trafficker," Sen. Rosen said on the Senate floor.
For your radar…
C-SPAN airs the audio recordings between former President Biden and his memoir ghostwriter on Wednesday night. Listen on C-SPAN2 at 9:05pm ET.
The Senate Judiciary Committee is slated to vote Thursday on Todd Blanche's nomination to be attorney general. Watch LIVE on C-SPAN3 at 9am ET.
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