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Anthony S. Fauci, the former government official who helped lead the nation’s coronavirus response, is set to again face Sen. Rand Paul (R-Kentucky), who has spent years accusing Fauci of playing a role in the virus’s creation. Paul, the chairman of the Senate’s government oversight committee, announced Thursday morning that Fauci will testify on Wednesday after being subpoenaed. Paul has been investigating the potential origins of the outbreak. Fauci, who last testified in front of Congress in June 2024, has repeatedly denied accusations from Paul and other Republicans as “preposterous.” The 85-year-old former National Institutes of Health (NIH) official left...

Dr. Anthony Fauci will testify next Wednesday in front of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee after being subpoenaed, panel Chair Rand Paul (R-Ky.) said Thursday. Paul has been laser-focused on Fauci, the nation’s former top infectious diseases doctor, for allegedly covering up the U.S.’s involvement in risky viral research in a Chinese lab that the Kentucky senator says created the virus that caused the COVID-19 pandemic. “I expect he will not tell the truth,” Paul said in a Fox Business interview Thursday. “I don’t expect him to be honest, he hasn’t been honest in the last six...

Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), who has voted repeatedly for resolutions to withdraw U.S. troops from the military conflict with Iran, told reporters Wednesday that the United States is “worse off” than it was before President Trump launched the war in late February. “I think the Iran war has not been a success. I’ve been opposed to the Iran war from the beginning. I think by any objective measure we’re worse off than we were before the war,” Paul said on Capitol Hill. “If you look at the militarization of the Strait of Hormuz, that’s never happened before,” he said. “There’s...

Military aid vote shows the double standard and the real agenda. Last year, a bipartisan group of members of Congress introduced H.Res.776: a resolution expressing concern about the persecution of Coptic Christians under Egypt’s Islamic regime. The resolution has only picked up 8 cosponsors and has yet to make it out of committee. By contrast, 103 House Democrats voted in favor of the Massie amendment to cut aid to Israel out of H. R. 8595 which also apportions $1.4 billion to Egypt and $1.6 billion to Jordan. Meanwhile an amendment to zero out the $1.4 billion in military aid to...

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., was accused of putting on an accent during a Memphis rally last week, with critics on social media comparing her to former Vice President Kamala Harris. Ocasio-Cortez was speaking at a campaign rally in Memphis on Friday for progressive U.S. House candidate Justin Pearson, who currently serves as a Tennessee state representative. "We cannot afford to leave Tennessee behind," she said. "We cannot afford to leave Kentucky behind, Alabama behind, Mississippi behind, Georgia behind, South Carolina behind. There is no country where we are split apart." "About a month or two ago, we were in Montgomery,...

Trump’s speech didn’t make the case, while sowing voting distrust. President Trump broke into prime-time TV on Thursday night to talk to the nation about election security, but it must have been a letdown for anybody expecting a thrilling plot twist in Mr. Trump’s long yarn about his 2020 defeat. Instead he made a sales pitch for a bill that can’t pass, using doubts it wouldn’t address. Mr. Trump released documents that he said show vulnerabilities in U.S. election systems, and some of them are real, though they run the gamut. He said voter files on millions of people, including...

The combination of anti-Semitism and violence on the left deamands attention. It is a toxic brew. Democrat Washington Rep. Adam Smith provides a recent example in connection with his vote against aid to Israel this week. Matthew Shea reports at Jewish Insider (links in original): Rep. Adam Smith (D-WA), the top Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee, indicated he voted to cut off military aid to Israel in part because of sustained personal threats against his family and his staff, part of what he described as a violent and relentless campaign of intimidation by far-left anti-Israel activists. Smith voted...

Republican Sen. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky on Sunday announced, after weeks of speculation, that he had a fall last month that landed him in the hospital. “My doctors have confirmed that I didn’t break any bones or suffer a concussion. I didn’t have a heart attack or a stroke. I don’t have any tumors or hemorrhages. But I was briefly unconscious and was taken to the hospital. While receiving excellent care over the past several weeks, I’ve also had to deal with a mild case of pneumonia,” he said in a statement. McConnell also provided a photo showing him smiling...

Mitch McConnell releases a statement saying that a fall led to his hospitalization. The attending physician confirmed that he sustained only minor injuries after a comprehensive evaluation was done and he is now in a rehabilitation centre. He also developed pneumonia, which was treated with antibiotics

Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear is asking Mitch McConnell, the senior senator from his state, for an update on his health and whether he believes he can continue to serve in the role. Beshear, a Democrat, sent a letter to McConnell’s office on Wednesday urging the senator to be “transparent” as “Kentuckians have grown increasingly concerned about the current state of your health and wellbeing, and ability to hold office in the United States Senate.” Beshear’s letter comes 24 days after the 84-year-old Kentucky Republican was first hospitalized following a medical emergency that his office has declined to elaborate on. Since...

Several Republicans said they spoke with Senator Mitch McConnell this week, who remains hospitalized after being admitted on June 14. The comments from Senate Majority Leader Thune, Senate Majority Whip John Barrasso, and Republican strategist Scott Jennings are the first to shed any light on McConnell’s condition since his hospitalization last month. McConnell’s office has so far only released very limited information, which has fueled speculation about his diagnosis and condition online. Jennings described a 20-minute call with the 84-year-old Kentucky Republican in which he said they discussed several key political issues.

Beijing — As Sen. Mitch McConnell remains hospitalized, his wife, former U.S. Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao, has reportedly been making public appearances overseas. On June 12, just two days before the senator was admitted to the hospital, Shanghai Jia Tong University said Chao made a stop there, marking her 12th visit in 45 years. During the visit, Chao and her father were said to have donated several historical photos to the university's Ruth Mulan Chu Chao Memorial Hall, which is named in honor of her mother.

Conservative activist Laura Loomer and journalist Desiree Townsend both claimed Monday that Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY) has been declared “brain dead,” citing unnamed sources.Loomer wrote on X that, according to a senior source she said was close to the White House, McConnell had been declared brain dead and was not expected to recover.“High level source close to the White House tells me Mitch McConnell is officially brain dead. He’s not coming back,” Loomer posted.

Sen. Mitch McConnell remains hospitalized, his office said in a statement Thursday — without offering details about a recent medical episode that has renewed concern about the health of the former Republican majority leader. McConnell “continues his recovery in the hospital” and “continues to improve,” his office said. “Senator McConnell appreciates the outpouring of support he’s receiving while he continues his recovery in the hospital,” the statement said. “The Senator continues to improve, and is working closely with his staff on Kentucky and Senate matters while the Senate is out of session.” The statement did not explain why he was...

Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) was found “unconscious” and may have suffered a heart attack at his DC residence before being rushed to a local hospital last month, according to a District Fire and EMS dispatch call made public Wednesday. The June 14 call referenced medical personnel in an ALS, or Advanced Life Support, ambulance being sent to the home shortly before 9 a.m. and mentioned there was “CPR in progress” for a “cardiac arrest.” Punchbowl News first reported on the EMS radio traffic.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. — It's been more than two weeks since Sen. Mitch McConnell was admitted to the hospital, and there's still few details surrounding his condition or why he's there. A spokesperson for McConnell's office told WLKY Sunday night that there are "no updates at this time" regarding the senator's condition. The office reiterated its same message from last week saying, "Senator McConnell is still working closely with staff on Senate business and Kentucky matters as he continues his recovery." The spokesperson added that McConnell will not be voting this week, but that is not unusual because the Senate is...

The public has received few details surrounding Sen. Mitch McConnell’s health condition after he was admitted into the hospital two weeks ago. A spokesperson for McConnell’s office did not have any updated information regarding the Kentucky senator’s health to share as of Monday. McConnell, 84, was hospitalized June 14, but his staff did not give details about his condition at the time, other than to say he was receiving “excellent care.” During the Republican Party of Kentucky’s Lincoln Day Dinner in Lexington June 20, Rep. Andy Barr told reporters after the event that he’d exchanged text messages with McConnell, saying...

Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) vowed that “Anthony Fauci will answer to the American people” in an X post as he ramps up his investigation into the former top health official’s role in the federal response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Paul, who chairs the Senate Homeland Security Committee, said his investigation into COVID-19 origins has been blocked in the past but is now moving forward with broader access to records. Paul suggested that newly reviewed evidence and a subpoena for testimony will force answers to long-running questions about the pandemic and government-funded research.

At a press conference earlier this month, a reporter told Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear that people in Boyd and Greenup counties had been "caught off guard" by a deal local officials unveiled to bring a very large data center to the area. A number of Boyd County residents had packed a town hall the day before to lambast county judge-executives and other local leaders in part over concerns about what a proposed hyperscale data center could mean for electricity bills and the local environment. Beshear in response said he was not going to let a data center come into the...

Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) expressed his intention Thursday to subpoena Dr. Anthony Fauci over allegations that he covered up his role in the COVID-19 pandemic. Will we finally see justice served? Paul spoke to a small gathering hosted by Young America’s Foundation about his push to expose the extent to which Fauci lied to the public and Congress during and after the onset of the pandemic. “I’ve been working with [Fauci] to bring him in [to testify] voluntarily,” Paul said. “He agreed to come in, and now when it finally gets to the date, he’s saying he’s not coming in,...