Screenshot via ABC/Snapstream On Thursday, the major broadcast networks used their flagship morning news shows to throw a pity party for one of the dearly beloved overlords, former public health official Dr. Tony Fauci, bemoaning the “deep, partisan divisions” illustrated in the behavior of Republicans in discussing the COVID-19 pandemic and “a sign of the times” someone like Fauci could be ridiculed.ABC’s Good Morning America featured co-host and former Clinton official George Stephanopoulos, who decried what took place Wednesday morning in a Senate Homeland Security Committee hearing as “a sign of the times” that a hearing starring Fauci could turn out “as partisan as it gets.” WATCH: ABC’s George Stephanopoulos complained on Thursday’s ‘Good Morning America’ that the Senate hearing with Fauci was “a sign of the times” that something starring a person like Fauci could turn out to be “as partisan as it gets.”Obviously, correspondent Jay O’Brien agreed… pic.twitter.com/U1nWRdWRmo— Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) July 30, 2026 Obviously, correspondent Jay O’Brien agreed: “It was. And now, after that hearing, the chair of that committee, Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky, says he wants to move to hold Dr. Fauci in contempt of Congress after Fauci pled the Fifth more than 100 times in that fiery hearing yesterday.”O’Brien also made sure to parrot Fauci’s framing of Paul while putting no weight on what Paul and the other Republican senators alleged:Fauci said he did so as a way of protecting himself because he accused Paul of having, in his words, a — a “unhinged obsession” with putting him in prison. Paul has said that because Fauci has this preemptive pardon from President Biden that covers Fauci’s time in government, he may not be allowed to exercise his constitutional right to plead the Fifth. But Paul acknowledged to me that’s an untested legal theory that the courts are going to have to settle.Over on NBC, Today kept the emotions on the front burner.“Senate showdown. Republicans threatening to hold Dr. Anthony Fauci in contempt after his heated appearance on Capitol Hill...Fauci invoking the Fifth Amendment more than 100 times and refusing to answer any questions...Now, what’s next for the nation’s former top health official? We’ll have the very latest,” said co-host Craig Melvin in a tease.Fill-in co-host Hallie Jackson categorized what took place as a “heated hearing” that resulted in “Republicans...threatening to hold him in contempt of Congress.” Thurday's 'Today' featured NBC arguing the Fauci hearing "was supposed to be part of an investigation into the origins of COVID-19, and the government’s response, but instead," the GOP's behavior "highlighted the deep, partisan divisions that still exist over the pandemic" pic.twitter.com/EfWxI67ppL— Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) July 30, 2026 White House correspondent Monica Alba blamed the GOP for her framing of the hearing: This hearing was supposed to be part of an investigation into the origins of COVID-19, and the government’s response, but instead, it highlighted the deep, partisan divisions that still exist over the pandemic years later. This morning, Dr. Anthony Fauci facing a new threat: a potential contempt of Congress vote after refusing more than 100 times to answer questions Wednesday during a contentious Senate hearing.Alba repeatedly harped on the personal animus between Fauci and Paul as opposed to, say, the focus on the funding of Chinese labs, schools being closed for as long as they were, or Fauci and his staff soliciting awards for him while on the clock (click “expand”):ALBA: The former director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, calling the Republican chairman Senator Rand Paul “unhinged.”FAUCI: The sole reason he is calling me before this committee is to get me to say something, anything that could vindicate his repeated public pledges that I end up in his words “behind bars.”ALBA: Senator Paul, who’s accused Fauci of what he calls a COVID cover-up, saying his committee will vote next week on whether Fauci violated the law.PAUL [on FNC’s The Will Cain Show, 07/29/26]: If that resolution passes our committee, which it will, that it could simply be referred directly to the Department of Justice.ALBA: During the nearly three-hour hearing, Republicans repeatedly slamming Fauci, who was a key member of the White House COVID Task Force for both the Trump and Biden administrations.MORENO: It is a total disgrace what you did to this country.HAWLEY [TO FAUCI]: What color’s the carpet in front of you?FAUCI: On the advice of counsel, I respectfully decline to answer.HAWLEY: You could sit for In Style magazine, but you can’t answer questions for the American people. Alba also Trumpwashed the segment by scoffing that Trump has dismissed those who plead the Fifth even though he “later invoked the Fifth Amendment himself more than 400 times in a civil case in New York.”In addition to touting the belief from Fauci’s lawyers he’s in the clear, she passed along the left’s conclusion as fact: “Committee Democrats, suggesting Fauci, who by his own count has testified before Congress more than 200 times during his decades in public health, made the right call.”Over on CBS Mornings, co-host Nate Burleson followed suit in the framing as Fauci defending himself against a GOP that had come off the proverbial chain: “Republican senators say Dr. Anthony Fauci could be held in contempt after a fiery hearing on Capitol Hill. The leader of the government response to the COVID pandemic refused to answer questions from senators yesterday.”Congressional correspondent Caitlin Huey-Burns didn’t lead with the accusations from Republicans about Fauci’s power-tripping or unrepentance but rather the Fifth Amendment count and boasting that “when his attorney tried to speak, the chairman of the committee had him kicked out of the room.”As was the case with NBC, Huey-Burns chose not to explain the why as Paul removed Fauci’s attorney because he sat at the witness table despite explicit instructions not to. Thursday's 'CBS Mornings' didn’t lead with the accusations from Senate Republicans about Fauci’s power-tripping or unrepentance, but rather the Fifth Amendment count, that it was a "fiery hearing," and that Paul had Fauci's attorney booted pic.twitter.com/af9W3zySGw— Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) July 30, 2026 Huey-Burns vaguely asserted, “Republican after Republican on the Senate Homeland Security Committee unleashed on Dr. Anthony Fauci Tuesday as he declined to answer any of their questions” under threat of prosecution (but despite a pardon from now-former President Biden).“Senator Paul has long accused Fauci of lying to suppress the theory the virus leaked from a lab in Wuhan, China, a lab Paul says received U.S. government funding for research to make viruses more transmissible,” she added before conceding a Justice Department referral for wrongdoing by Fauci “would have to overcome a lot of hurdles.”To see the relevant transcripts from July 30, click here (for ABC), here (for CBS), and here (for NBC).

Former COVID czar Dr. Anthony Fauci pleaded The Fifth 111 times at Wednesday’s Congressional hearing – but, that’s not what promised to do when the prospect of oversight of his handling of the epidemic first surfaced.At Wednesday’s Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs hearing, the former face and head of the federal government’s response to the deadly COVID-19 epidemic refused to answer even a single question about his past actions, claims and health-safety recommendations.But, as he was leaving office in late 2022, Fauci repeatedly and unequivocally proclaimed that he would welcome any congressional inquiry because he had nothing to hide.“If there are oversight hearings, I absolutely will cooperate fully and testify before the Congress, if asked,” Fauci promised in a White House press conference:“We can defend and explain and stand by everything that we say. So, I have nothing to hide.” “I absolutely will cooperate fully and testify before the Congress… I have nothing to hide.”What changed? pic.twitter.com/bs7HcYcH6Y— Natalie Winters (@nataliegwinters) July 29, 2026 Fauci made a similar claim in an interview with CNN, adding that he would testify even if the proceedings were hostile:“I am very happy to testify before any congressional oversight committee. I have nothing to hide. I can explain and validate everything that I’ve done.”….“So, you know, it’s going to be inconvenient if they actually are out there, essentially threatening to make my life miserable, but I’m going to do what I need to do, and that is cooperate fully, because we have nothing to hide at all.” Fauci in 2022: “I am very happy to testify before any congressional oversight committee. I have nothing to hide. I can explain and validate everything that I’ve done. I’m going to do what I need to do, and that is cooperate fully, because we have nothing to hide at all.” pic.twitter.com/vRYKHnLkPr— Natalie Winters (@nataliegwinters) July 29, 2026 “I believe oversight is a very important part of government structure and I welcome it and it can be productive,” Fauci declared in another interview:“So, sure, I would be happy to cooperate, so long as we make it something that is a dignified oversight, which it should be, and not just bringing up ridiculous things and attacking my character.” THEN: “I welcome oversight… I would be happy to cooperate.”NOW: Fauci pleaded the Fifth more than 100 times under congressional questioning. pic.twitter.com/9zYGJIgWfQ— Natalie Winters (@nataliegwinters) July 29, 2026Ironically, while Fauci refused to answer any and all questions at Wednesday’s hearing, he previously touted the importance of providing “correct information” in order to dispel false claims. “The way you counter misinformation and disinformation is to do whatever you can as often as you can to provide correct information,” Fauci said in his last White House press briefing.

Former CBS anchor Katie Couric joined Merit America co-founder Connor Diemand-Yauman on his Is This Working?! podcast on Thursday, where she recalled her 2008 interview with GOP vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin. Couric admitted to working with her producer Brian Goldsmith, who is now a Democratic candidate for California State Senate, to construct the questions in a “very artful way” to expose her.Couric explained her motivations, “So, I think there was just this moment, and she was sort of this—people were fascinated, and she was so magnetic, but nobody knew if there was any there there. So, I think I was the first interview that really exposed her lack of substance and understanding of critical issues.” An insular Democratic-media world. A tidbit from Katie Couric on the Is This Working?! podcast posted Wednesday. Brian Goldsmith, who worked with her at CBS News in 2008 to make sure the questions she posed to Sarah Palin “were constructed in a very artful way” to expose Palin’s… pic.twitter.com/hPhAKzxqD8— Brent Baker

POLL: What was the worst media quote of the week? (Vote below)NOMINEES:  Watch the Worst Media Quotes @Acosta, Phillip Kennicott, and @jonstewart below. 

Monday’s PBS News Hour snuck in liberal ideology under the guise of its benign-sounding “arts and culture series” Canvas. The online heading: “Documentary explores why U.S. mothers lack support systems found in other countries.” It’s still all Reagan’s fault.Co-anchor Amna Nawaz: The debate over a modern motherhood is often framed as a choice between career and family. A new documentary film called "No Country For Mothers" dives deep into the so-called mommy wars, unpacking the systems that exploit and perpetuate those divides and what it would take to end them….After a clip from the tendentiously titled documentary, supposedly summarizing the “mommy war,” Nawaz talked to the filmmakers.PBS News Hour's Amna Nawaz hosts a deeply ideological segment: "A new documentary film called 'No Country For Mothers' dives deep into the so-called mommy wars, unpacking the systems that exploit and perpetuate those divides and what it would take to end them." pic.twitter.com/g8NYF4T9i8— Clay Waters