Fauci to face Republican questions over Covid pandemic origins – US politics live | Coronavirus
Fauci to face questions from Senate Republicans on pandemic origins
Hello, welcome to the US politics live blog.
Senators are expected to question Anthony Fauci, the former senior director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (Niaid), about whether the Covid-19 virus started as a “lab leak” at a high-profile hearing later today.
Fauci, who served as a key advisor to Donald Trump and Joe Biden on the Covid-19 outbreak, will testify as part of the long-running investigation by Republicans led by Kentucky Senator Rand Paul into the origins of the epidemic.
Fauci will likely be asked a question about whether the Covid-19 virus started as a “lab leak”; virologists claim is unlikely.
Republicans described their work as investigating “the origins of Covid-19 and risky taxpayer-funded life science research,” while scientists called Paul’s investigation “defamation and harassment” of Fauci, who led Niaid for 38 years before retiring. in 2022.
Paul, who chairs the Senate homeland security and governmental affairs committee where Fauci is scheduled to testify, said last week: “For years Americans have been told that something lab-derived is highly unlikely — something that has been completely denied by the people who funded and reviewed this research.”
Fauci, 85, served under seven US presidents and navigated numerous health crises, including HIV, Ebola and the first coronavirus outbreak. Sars-CoV-1. When the Covid-19 pandemic stopped social life in 2020, he became a household name overnight.
The “lab leak” theory has since gained significant traction in Republican circles. As just one example, the White House published a review of the theory in April 2025 that served as justification for cutting funding to the National Institutes of Health (NIH).
Read the full story here:
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important events
Roque Planas
The White House teleprompter operator who reportedly used inside information to place bets on Donald Trump’s Kalshi speeches on the online prediction market is no longer on duty, according to a White House official.
The official, who was not authorized to comment publicly on the personnel matter and spoke on condition of anonymity, said Tuesday that Gabriel Perez “is no longer employed by the federal government.”
The official did not say whether Perez resigned or was fired.
The White House confirmed earlier this month that Perez had been placed on unpaid leave following the incident. ABC News reported He had used his insider knowledge to win more than $100,000 in bets on what the president would say in major speeches, including his State of the Union address earlier this year.
That’s more than half of the $175,000 salary he earned from his teleprompter job. White House personnel records.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt called reports of insider trading “extremely unfortunate and frankly embarrassing.”
Uwa Ede-Osifo
ICE agents assigned to the Los Angeles area last summer referred to people on immigration enforcement with racial slurs, according to newly released court documents.
On July 4, 2025, an unidentified agent wrote: text “By the way, food is being sold everywhere for the 4th festivities in Long Beach,” the chain said, referring to an anti-immigrant slur that the US border patrol had previously warned about.
In a different thread sent on July 2, 2025, an agent wrote: “Some of these people are idiots. Why are you posting about getting wet on social media?”
Other correspondence also included the expressions “Tonks” and “wet”.
The smears were made public in a motion filed Monday in a lawsuit filed by five men against the Trump administration in June 2025, alleging that stop-and-detain practices by ICE agents during Los Angeles raids were unlawful.
The men’s lawyers asked the federal judge to block further detentions based on race or socioeconomic status.
In June 2025, three of the men who filed the lawsuit were arrested while waiting at a bus stop to go to work. Although the fourth plaintiff declared that he was a US citizen, his arm was twisted and he was pushed towards the door while being questioned by masked immigration officers.
Joseph Gideon
Donald Trump hosted back-to-back White House meetings with Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday, as Ukraine sought more firepower for its air defenses and Israel’s prime minister sought to mend his strained relationship with the US president.
Trump described both meetings in positive terms on social media Tuesday evening and remained vague about what was discussed.
“I had a very good meeting!” Trump said he met with Netanyahu. “Of course, many important issues were discussed.” He made a similar statement about his time with Zelenskyy, saying “the meeting went very well!” wrote.
This was Netanyahu’s first visit to the Oval Office since he and Trump launched joint military action against Iran on February 28.
Netanyahu’s relationship with Trump has been complicated in recent weeks by pressure to continue fighting Iran and Hezbollah in Lebanon as Trump pursues a diplomatic opening with Tehran.
Tensions between the two increased as the war dragged on inconclusively, with Trump calling the Israeli prime minister “crazy” and declaring, “If it weren’t for me, there would be no Israel.”
Both men face pressure at home, with Netanyahu in a tough re-election fight and Trump under pressure to end an unpopular war that is driving up prices ahead of November’s midterm elections.
Scientists rush to Anthony Fauci’s defense ahead of unusual hearing; This was the second time the longtime scientist at the National Institutes of Health appeared before Congress to discuss the origins of the pandemic since leaving the government in 2022.
While the Covid-19 pandemic introduced him to millions of Americans, he briefed the nation on numerous epidemics for decades, including HIV, Ebola and the anthrax attacks in 2001, while advising seven presidents.
More than 150 infectious disease experts and other scientists wrote in a public letter that “no credible evidence has been produced to support these absurd accusations” and that they “call on our elected representatives in Congress to stop these witch hunts.”
“The accusations against Dr Fauci are baseless, suggesting that he covered up the origins of Covid, bribed or persuaded other scientists to participate in the cover-up, that Niaid-funded research fueled the outbreak, that he personally holds patents on the virus, and that he worked with intelligence agencies to conceal the true story of the outbreak,” the letter said.
“No credible evidence has been presented to support these absurd accusations.”
The letter stated that the allegations and accusations against Fauci led to “five years of harassment and threats of violence against Dr. Fauci and his family.”
Fauci to face questions from Senate Republicans on pandemic origins
Hello, welcome to the US politics live blog.
Senators are expected to question Anthony Fauci, the former senior director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (Niaid), about whether the Covid-19 virus started as a “lab leak” at a high-profile hearing later today.
Fauci, who served as a key advisor to Donald Trump and Joe Biden on the Covid-19 outbreak, will testify as part of the long-running investigation by Republicans led by Kentucky Senator Rand Paul into the origins of the epidemic.
Fauci will likely be asked a question about whether the Covid-19 virus started as a “lab leak”; virologists claim is unlikely.
Republicans described their work as investigating “the origins of Covid-19 and risky taxpayer-funded life science research,” while scientists called Paul’s investigation “defamation and harassment” of Fauci, who led Niaid for 38 years before retiring. in 2022.
Paul, who chairs the Senate homeland security and governmental affairs committee where Fauci is scheduled to testify, said last week: “For years Americans have been told that something lab-derived is highly unlikely — something that has been completely denied by the people who funded and reviewed this research.”
Fauci, 85, served under seven US presidents and navigated numerous health crises, including HIV, Ebola and the first coronavirus outbreak. Sars-CoV-1. When the Covid-19 pandemic stopped social life in 2020, he became a household name overnight.
The “lab leak” theory has since gained significant traction in Republican circles. As just one example, the White House published a review of the theory in April 2025 that served as justification for cutting funding to the National Institutes of Health (NIH).
Read the full story here:
In other developments:
-
Donald Trump i met Volodymyr ZelenskyyUkrainian president and Benjamin NetanyahuIsraeli prime minister before giving eulogy at funeral Lindsey Graham.
-
US Senate votes to confirm Jay Clayton As director of national intelligence, he appointed Donald Trump to the post despite his lack of prior experience in intelligence and concerns that he would be “the wingman of Trump’s election conspiracy.”
-
With Zelenskyy The U.S. Senate, watching from the Senate gallery, voted 86 to 12.Lindsey O Graham Russia and Iran Sanctions Act”.
-
Democratic senators said they would work to eliminate the broad tariff authority that the sanctions bill would give Trump.
-
Zelenskyy told Fox News on Tuesday that Trump had once again agreed to allow Ukraine to produce its own Patriot air defense missiles to defend against Russian ballistic missile attacks.
