CONTEMPT: Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) said he plans to hold a vote to hold Anthony Fauci in contempt of Congress after the former chief White House medical adviser refused to answer questions during his congressional testimony Wednesday.
Fauci invoked his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination 111 times during a feisty hearing before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, alleging Paul called for him to testify hoping he would say something that could be used in a political prosecution.
“Any reasonable person who has followed his unhinged obsession with me would readily come to the same conclusion,” Fauci said.
Paul railed against Fauci during the hearing, warning him of “repercussions” he would face for refusing to answer. One of Fauci’s attorneys was removed from the hearing room as they attempted to defend his client’s decision to invoke the Fifth.
Paul told reporters following the hearing that a contempt vote will be held next week. He argued Fauci may not have been permitted to invoke the Fifth Amendment given the preemptive pardon that he received from former President Biden last year.
“That’ll be a legal question, but the question on contempt will be voted on, and then there’s a question of whether or not the Department of Justice will take that up,” Paul said.
Democrats sought to weigh in at the hearing to defend Fauci, with Sen. Gary Peters (D-Mich.), the panel’s ranking member, accusing Paul of “relitigating the past.”
“One-sided investigations designed to validate predetermined conclusions do not serve the American people, who sent us to actually uncover the truth and solve problems,” Peters said.
Fauci may face another legal challenge, as Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier (R) said after the hearing that he is launching an investigation into him.
▪ The Hill: Five takeaways on Fauci’s hostile Senate hearing.
▪ The Hill: Paul, Trump forge unlikely alliance.
FIRE AND FURY: Trump issued an emphatic response to Iran’s surprise attack on U.S. forces in Jordan, pledging to “beat the f---ing s--- out of them.”
“They’re going to get a beating,” Trump said in an interview with Fox News on Wednesday.
The U.S. followed through Wednesday evening with “heavy” airstrikes against Iran lasting about two hours. The strikes hit dozens of targets inside Iran, including military command centers, missile and drone facilities, coastal surveillance and defense sites and maritime capabilities, U.S. Central Command (Centcom) said.
Centcom said all the missiles fired as part of Iran's attack were shot down Tuesday evening. But it broke a string of a few days of peace between the U.S. and Iran after Trump announced a pause to strikes against Iran last weekend.
The war is quickly spreading across the region, with strikes on Saudi Arabia’s Abqaiq oil processing facility and tankers at a port in Egypt.
The U.S. and Saudi Arabia carried out joint strikes against Iranian-backed militia groups in Iraq in response to the former strikes, while Trump said the U.S. would “be straightening out” the latter, without directly assigning blame.
“In the meantime, we're going to be hitting them very hard because it's our turn to hit them. They know it's coming,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office
▪ The Hill: Iran’s surprise attack blows up fighting pause.
▪ The Hill: Ukraine, Iran wars converge as Trump seeks breakthrough.
▪ The Guardian: Iraq strikes push conflict into ‘uncharted territory.’
DULLES MAKEOVER: Trump and Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy announced a $22.5 billion renovation of Washington Dulles International Airport on Wednesday, the president’s latest major improvement project in the Washington, D.C., area.
The makeover is expected to include an underground system that will connect terminals, eliminating the airport’s need for the widely despised “people movers.” It will not be federally funded and will be covered by airlines, Duffy said.
Trump has criticized Dulles in the past, calling it a “terrible airport” that was “incorrectly designed.”
In the new plans, an underground U-shaped aerotrain will carry passengers to their terminal, and additional moving sidewalks will be placed in the terminals. It will also include 5 million square feet of new space and replace the current C and D concourses.
Trump has complained about how far the parking was from the terminals, which will also no longer be an issue since 32,000 parking spots will be added.
United Airlines CEO Scott Kirby was also at Trump and Duffy’s announcement, as the airport will now be home to the “largest United Polaris lounge in the world.”
▪ The Hill: Federal panel votes to change historic preservation rules.
▪ The Wall Street Journal: A fight over dirt spans two of Trump’s projects.
HOME STRETCH: Progressive Abdul El-Sayed leads moderate Rep. Haley Stevens (D-Mich.) by 15 points in the latest poll of the Michigan Democratic Senate primary with just a few days left before voters head to the polls.
An Emerson College Polling/WLNS/WOODTV survey released Thursday showed El-Sayed, a former Wayne County health director, well ahead of Stevens, 54 percent to 39 percent. Six percent were undecided, while 2 percent said they supported state Sen. Mallory McMorrow, who dropped out of the race earlier this summer.
The poll adds to a mixed picture of the race with the primary campaign winding down.
A Michigan Education survey released Wednesday showed Stevens neck and neck with the presumptive Republican nominee, former Rep. Mike Rogers, while El-Sayed trailed in a hypothetical match-up by double digits.
Electability has been a major issue in the race, as Stevens has argued El-Sayed's nomination would risk handing the race to the GOP. El-Sayed has rejected that argument and said his candidacy would energize the Democratic base.
In neighboring Wisconsin, a similar battle is taking place in the governor’s race, as democratic socialist Francesca Hong holds a comfortable lead in polling for the Democratic nomination, worrying some establishment figures.
▪ The Hill: Americans split on understanding of democratic socialism.
▪ The Hill: Former President Obama endorses Josh Turek for Senate in Iowa.
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