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).