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Inside Maine Democrats’ Search for a New Senate Nominee After Graham Platner’s Exit

14 days agoCenter Left

Democratic candidates are hastily building bare-bones campaigns and forgoing traditional outreach like TV ads in a sprint to appeal to party delegates, rather than Maine voters.

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Fuming MAGA senator hurls curse at Fauci: 'Answer for your crimes'

Raw Story

1 hour ago

Fuming MAGA senator hurls curse at Fauci: 'Answer for your crimes'

Sen. Bernie Moreno (R-OH) erupted Wednesday at Anthony Fauci during an explosive Senate hearing, blurting out an expletive while accusing the former government health official of being guilty of grave “crimes.”Fauci was compelled to testify Wednesday before the Senate Homeland Security Committee to answer questions related to his handling of the COVID-19 pandemic. Last weekend, portions of his personal diary were published, which a number of Republican senators seized on during the hearing.“It was about six years ago today that I decided I'm gonna give up my businesses, sell them all, run for office, run for the United States Senate. Here I am, sitting in front of you six years later saying who the f--- do you think you were for doing that?” a furious Moreno said before angrily waving his finger. “It is a total disgrace what you did to this country. There is no defense of what you did. You may have had a 50-plus year legacy of public service, but it ends in total and complete disgrace.”Moreno then asked Fauci, who throughout the meeting had declined to answer any questions and instead invoked his Fifth Amendment right to remain silent, if he had “the dignity” to apologize to people “he harmed” during the pandemic.Fauci again invoked the Fifth Amendment and declined to answer the question.“It's no secret why you have to hire the biggest dirtbag attorney on the planet because of what you did,” Moreno continued. “I hope you're paying him well, and I hope that one way or the other, somewhere, sometime, you answer for your crimes.”"Who the f**k do you think you were for doing that?"— Sen. @berniemoreno to Anthony Fauci pic.twitter.com/mjsf9vVVh9— Alexander Willis (@ReporterWillis) July 29, 2026

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WATCH: Rand Paul SCHOOLS Richard Blumenthal With an Important Legal Lesson After Dem Senator Whines About Paul Ejecting Fauci’s Attorney From Hearing

The Gateway Pundit

1 hour ago

WATCH: Rand Paul SCHOOLS Richard Blumenthal With an Important Legal Lesson After Dem Senator Whines About Paul Ejecting Fauci’s Attorney From Hearing

Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) has leveled one of the most loathsome Democrat politicians in America after he tried to run interference with Dr. The post WATCH: Rand Paul SCHOOLS Richard Blumenthal With an Important Legal Lesson After Dem Senator Whines About Paul Ejecting Fauci’s Attorney From Hearing appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.

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Democrat Senator Cries Hearing Is Designed To ‘Entrap’ Fauci

The Daily Caller

1 hour ago

Democrat Senator Cries Hearing Is Designed To ‘Entrap’ Fauci

‘unfortunate that you have been put in the position’

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Anthony Fauci refuses to answer questions during US Senate hearing discussing Covid origins

BBC News

1 hour ago

Anthony Fauci refuses to answer questions during US Senate hearing discussing Covid origins

The former top US health official said he feared Republicans could try to trip him up and use his testimony to prosecute him for perjury.

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GOP senator abruptly halts meeting after Trump pick ignores demand to kill slush fund

Alternet.org

1 hour ago

GOP senator abruptly halts meeting after Trump pick ignores demand to kill slush fund

Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) has canceled his meeting with President Donald Trump's candidate for attorney general, Todd Blanche, after the Justice Department made it clear it doesn't have any further information on confirmation that the so-called "slush fund" was officially eliminated as a possibility, reported MS NOW producer Kyle Griffin. During his confirmation hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee, Blanche was questioned about the nearly $1.8 billion "Anti-Weaponization Fund" that could be used to give a kind of restitution to anyone who felt they'd been wronged by the DOJ in the past. This includes Jan. 6 attackers who both confessed and were convicted of crimes related to a violent riot at the U.S. Capitol Building.“Hopefully they now recognize the seriousness of this,” said Cornyn, according to a Politico report. “I haven’t seen a single piece of writing that is responsive to what I’ve requested.”“Maybe they think I’m just going to give up or, you know, go along, but they’re mistaken," he added. Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) said Cornyn must indicate whether he's a "yay or nay" on Blanche by 4 p.m. on Wednesday. According to Politico, Grassley needs to know "if the vote could go forward, putting the Trump administration on a tight timeline if it wants Blanche confirmed before the Senate starts its summer recess next week."Blanche has maintained for the past several months that the fund is "dead" and that it would not be created. The problem, Cornyn said, is that the legal agreement that Blanche and Trump came to about the IRS would still establish the fund. Trump sued the IRS after his personal information was leaked in a data breach along with over 405,000 other people and businesses. When Blanche asserted the fund was "moot," Cornyn asked, "Well, I would refer you to the settlement agreement. Do you happen to have a copy of that in front of you?"Cornyn read the language verbatim from page four of the agreement: "This settlement agreement can be modified, may be modified only upon the written agreement of the parties. Has there been a written agreement of the parties to modify the settlement fund?"Blanche claimed that the fund was not going forward, so there is no modification to the agreement between Trump and the government. "Well, so the settlement agreement remains as it was originally. But I hear what you're saying is it — is the settlement agreement enforceable as a contract by the parties?" he asked.Blanche said that it was and would be considered an "enforceable document."Kathleen Williams, U.S. District Judge for the Southern District of Florida, published a 56-page ruling not only denouncing the case as "an exercise in self-dealing," but also bashing Trump's so-called "settlement" over his IRS lawsuit, a case "that had no viable basis in law or fact." Blanche has continued to refuse to sign a legal document asserting that the slush fund is dead.

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Fauci’s Pardon From Biden Would Not Shield Him From New Offenses

NYT > U.S. > Politics

1 hour ago

Fauci’s Pardon From Biden Would Not Shield Him From New Offenses

Republicans have argued that the pre-emptive pardon Dr. Fauci received from former President Biden ought to preclude him from invoking the Fifth Amendment. But the pardon applies only to what happened before it was issued.

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Rattled Rand Paul makes moves to potentially jail Fauci after heated Senate hearing

Raw Story

2 hours ago

Rattled Rand Paul makes moves to potentially jail Fauci after heated Senate hearing

A visibly rattled Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) announced Wednesday he had scheduled a vote that could see senators hold Anthony Fauci in contempt of Congress, a citation that, if referred to and acted on by the Justice Department, could carry criminal penalties of up to a year's imprisonment and up to $100,000 in fines.The former director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, Fauci was compelled to appear before the Senate Homeland Security Committee Wednesday to testify on his handling of the COVID-19 pandemic. During the roughly three-hour hearing, Fauci repeatedly invoked his Fifth Amendment right to remain silent.Near the end of the hearing, Paul, the chair of the committee, acknowledged that Fauci had received a pardon from former President Joe Biden for conduct between Jan. 1, 2014 and Jan. 19, 2025. Given that Republican senators had also pressed Fauci on his conduct after Jan. 19, 2025, Paul, as the hearing was coming to a close, said he found Fauci's claimed privilege unfounded and explicitly ordered him to answer questions.Again, Fauci pleaded the Fifth.“Because you refuse to answer, citing a privilege that is unsupported because of your pardon, this committee has scheduled a vote next week on a resolution certifying your contempt,” Paul said.Fauci has come under renewed scrutiny in recent days following the publication of thousands of pages from his personal diary, details of which were repeatedly seized on by Republican senators during the hearing.Sen. @RandPaul calls to schedule a vote on a resolution to certify Anthony Fauci's contempt of Congress after the former health official pleaded the Fifth throughout his testimony pic.twitter.com/rIQWFc9rMN— Alexander Willis (@ReporterWillis) July 29, 2026

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BizPac Review

2 hours ago

Democrat senator cries hearing is designed to ‘entrap’ Fauci

Democratic New Hampshire Sen. Maggie Hassan lamented on Wednesday that Dr. Anthony Fauci had to testify before the Senate and claimed that the purpose of the highly […]

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Inside Maine Democrats’ Search for a New Senate Nominee After Graham Platner’s Exit

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Inside Maine Democrats’ Search for a New Senate Nominee After Graham Platner’s Exit

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