WASHINGTON – The grilling of Anthony Fauci consumed Washingtonians this week as Republicans on the Senate Homeland Security Committee accused the infectious disease expert of causing the COVID-19 pandemic and even of enriching himself from American deaths.
The three-hour hearing Wednesday showed the width of the partisan divide over Fauci, who spent decades as the nation’s top infectious disease expert at the National Institutes of Health, advising both Democratic and Republican presidents alike.
That bipartisanship ended with President Donald Trump who, in his first term as the pandemic raged, downplayed the danger facing the nation, often contradicting Fauci and even threatening to have him fired.
Perhaps in part because Fauci has become a pariah among MAGA voters, Republicans on the panel attacked him as a narcissist who benefited from COVID-19.
Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., called Fauci “a megalomaniac and a liar” and accused him of secretly profiting from his public service by applying for “cash prizes totaling over a million dollars.”
In 2021, the Israel-based Dan David Foundation awarded Dr. Fauci $1 million for “defending science,” an award that was widely reported at the time.
Fauci invoked his 5th Amendment rights more than 100 times, which infuriated many Republicans on the panel.
Some argued that Fauci was not entitled to that protection since former President Joe Biden had granted him a preemptive pardon, fearing the Trump administration and congressional Republicans would launch “an unjustified and politically motivated prosecution.”
And it wasn’t only Senate Republicans who took aim at Fauci this week.
“QUICK REMINDER: Fauci got paid just under 5 million dollars for his book selling his lies about COVID. Today, he pleaded the fifth, REFUSING to give Americans the truth,” Rep. Tom Emmer, R-6th District, said in a post on X. “He got rich while American schools, businesses and lives got shut down. What a joke!”
Meanwhile, Democrats on the panel defended and praised Fauci.
Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., said government scientists like Fauci save lives. “Today, we are demeaning and degrading their lifesaving service,” Blumenthal added.
The end of the contentious hearing will not end the attacks on Fauci.
Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., the chairman of the Senate Homeland Security Committee, said his panel would vote next week on whether to hold Fauci in contempt of Congress, saying the scientist was not entitled to Fifth Amendment protection.
Minnesota Dems react to cyberattacks on water systems
Democratic Sen. Amy Klobuchar, who is running for governor, is demanding more information about allegations that Iran was behind the hacking of about 30 water systems in Minnesota on Sunday and Monday.
“I’ve requested a briefing from the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency on the ongoing investigation and the potential involvement of foreign actors,” Klobuchar said in a statement. “I’m also in communication with state officials to help make sure they have the resources they need. Protecting our critical infrastructure and the safety of Minnesotans remains a top priority.”
Minnesota IT Services said state officials had yet to identify who was behind the attacks. There were no reports that residents had been impacted by the attacks, though one city asked residents to conserve water for a couple hours while they tried to determine what was wrong.
The FBI is investigating and has not publicly identified a suspect, according to the Associated Press. But the FBI, Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency and other agencies warned in an advisory last week that Iranian hackers have been targeting water and wastewater systems and the operational controls other critical infrastructure sectors.
Rep. Betty McCollum, D-4th District, the top Democrat on the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense, said the state needs more resources to stop cyberattacks from hostile powers.
“This incident demonstrates that Minnesota’s municipalities, businesses, and residents must be prepared not only to ward off cybersecurity threats from cybercriminals, but also from terrorist organizations and nation-states,” McCollum said in a statement.
She also said the attacks “show the urgent need for the federal government to advance critical cybersecurity measures to protect small businesses, large enterprises, and local governments by providing state-of-the-art defensive measures to defend against malicious attacks by bad actors who intend to sow chaos and extract ransom.”
McCollum said she would “continue to aggressively pursue funding and resources to support defensive measures for Minnesota’s businesses and municipalities.”
Trump may cut Blanche loose, for now
Not all Senate Republicans were in lockstep with Trump this week.
The president said he might pull the nomination of Todd Blanche, his former personal lawyer who is now serving as acting attorney general, because at least two GOP senators have conditioned their support for the candidate to become the nation’s top lawyer.
Sens. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., and John Cornyn, R-Texas, are demanding that Blanche put in writing a promise to scuttle a deal Trump reached with the IRS in a $10 billion lawsuit against the agency filed after a contractor leaked the president’s tax information to The New York Times in 2020.
That agreement gave Trump and his family’s businesses immunity from tax audits and created a nearly $1.8 billion “anti-weaponization” fund that could reimburse the president because he says he was targeted by the Justice Department.
Cornyn and Tillis want the Justice Department to give them written guarantees that the “anti-weaponization” fund is completely dismantled and the tax immunity is narrowed so it would not protect Trump from future investigations into his tax filings.
Apparently unwilling to make those concessions, Trump in a post on Truth Social on Thursday indicated he’s considering pulling Blanche’s nomination until next year when both Tillis and Cornyn will be out of office. Tillis decided last year against running for reelection after a series of attacks by Trump and threats from the president to back a primary challenger.
Cornyn lost a primary this year after Trump backed his primary challenger.
Trump’s threat to pull Blanche’s nomination is problematic. There is no guarantee that Republicans will control the U.S. Senate after the midterms.
And pulling the nomination would not be a good look. It would represent Trump’s willingness to protect a deal that enriches himself over having a Senate-confirmed nominee to head the Justice Department.
Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, also said she is concerned about that agreement between Trump and the IRS.
In other news:
▪️Metro reporter Trevor Mitchell wrote that local officials, propped up by $2 million in federal grants, are working to improve a railroad crossing in Minneapolis’ Camden neighborhood where the trains are so slow that kids are late to school and emergency vehicles are dangerously delayed.
▪️In the hot race to replace U.S. Rep. Angie Craig in the 2nd District, three Democrats are grappling with aligning themselves with Craig, a moderate who has kept that swing district “blue,” or with newly energized progressives in the state.
▪️Before the New York Times reported that Iran might be the culprit, reporter Claire Carlson discovered there have been recent cyberattacks on control valves and pumps on more than 30 community drinking water systems in the state, even as water quality was not affected.
▪️Greater Minnesota reporter Brian Arola, in his work covering data centers, found that while opponents of these developments are trying to turn the court of public opinion against them, it’s lawsuits that are increasingly affecting their trajectory.
▪️State government reporter Matt Blake reported on the Democrats’ cash advantage in legislative races, including in five of six hotly contested races that could determine control of the Legislature.
This and that
A reader posed an interesting question this week:
“Angie Craig was just endorsed by Ms. Walz, the governor’s wife. How will this impact the race between Flanagan and Craig?” the reader asked. “I have not seen anything on electronic media nor print media yet.”
Well, my first reaction is that Congresswoman Craig probably sought the endorsement because it could help her with female voters, especially those in the suburbs who increasingly make a difference in close elections. But the question certainly merits a deeper dive.
Please keep your comments, and any questions, coming. I’ll try my best to respond.
The post D.C. Memo: Fauci pleads the Fifth appeared first on MinnPost.
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