Snapstream Dr. Anthony Fauci’s newly released journals have cast light onto the glory-seeking nature of his response to the COVID pandemic, and in response the Senate brought him to testify for his lies and possible perjury. With a major chunk of their credibility tied to their defense of pandemic practices, the media has been quick to portray the hearing as a show trial and political prosecution. This Thursday’s CNN News Central featured co-host Sara Sidner covering the scandal with such a narrative.Sidner’s coverage began with clips of senators calling out Fauci and trying to hold him to account, but she was just lamenting how he was treated:SENATOR BERNIE MORENO (R-OH): Here I am sitting in front of you six years later saying, who the [bleep] do you think you were for doing that?[Cuts back to live]SIDNER: Yes, he was cursed at. Sidner was much more concerned with some harsh language than the bombshell information uncovered in the Fauci journals released earlier this week.She would then bring up a pearl-clutching statement by TMZ owner Harvey Levin:HARVEY LEVIN: We are in a Senator Joseph McCarthy climate, where there is such fear that people have and legitimate fear that they'll end up in prison for what they say, no matter what it is, if they are on the wrong side of somebody in Congress or the administration that they have been silenced. And that's where we are right now. We are in Senator Joseph McCarthy territory.[Cuts back to live]SIDNER: Are you surprised to hear that from someone who has been fairly friendly with the Trump administration, especially in the early years, in the 2016, 17, 18, and 20? I mean, he just called the senators, the Republican senators, using McCarthyism.The liberals never acknowledge at this very late that Senator McCarthy's accusation of communist spies inside the federal government was true, so not everyone accused was innocent. Their natural assumption is that Fauci is a saint who has never lied or fudged on the science. While Fauci's horrific conduct during the pandemic gets exposed, CNN is more concerned with Republicans' mean words :( Outrageous that they'd rather cover this than the actual news about Fauci. And then on top of that they have the gall to call it "McCarthyist!" pic.twitter.com/6xJQ9PZSiM— James Waterman (@jwatermaniv) July 30, 2026 Sidner claimed that Levin “has been fairly friendly with the Trump administration,” despite Levin having been a major critic of Trump and the conservative movement for years. Misleading their audience into believing Levin to be a credible Trump commentator, CNN legitimized his cries of McCarthyism.CNN White House correspondent Zolan Kanno-Youngs replied to Sidner’s question, portraying Fauci as a victim of a “long-held feud” and Republicans as aggressive and “threatening”:But this was the latest step in a long-held feud between the chairman of a congressional committee, in Rand Paul, and a public health official, in Dr. Fauci. And the hearing that we saw yesterday, both him pleading the fifth over and over again, and the members, you know, using that kind of harsh language, you know, threatening as well. It just speaks to how polarized and divisive not just our politics have become, but also our policy-making, including policy-making that used to be void or at least immune to some of this politics.In a hypocritical twist, Kanno-Youngs lamented the polarization with American politics while at the same time polarizing his coverage of the events to make his favored side look better. Again, he treats political polarization as an unfortunate curse, as if CNN and the leftist media hadn’t been a key factor in polarization in America.The transcript is below. Click "expand" to view.CNN News CentralJuly 30, 202608:37:21 a.m. Eastern(...)SARA SIDNER: I do want to ask you about the hearing on Dr. Anthony Fauci and how he handled the pandemic. Republicans were on the attack, and they really went after him kind of on a deeply personal, angry level. Let's listen to what they said, just a smidge:[Cuts to video]SENATOR JOSH HAWLEY (R-MO): If you don't want to answer questions, it's because you did all kinds of terrible things. It's because during the pandemic, you got rich, didn't you?[Cuts to another video]SENATOR RICK SCOTT (R-FL): Your legacy will not be as a man that saved America from COVID, but as a man who destroyed the public trust in America's public health institutions in exchange for five minutes of fame.[Cuts to another video]SENATOR BERNIE MORENO (R-OH): It was about six years ago today that I decided: “I'm going to 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 [bleep] do you think you were for doing that?[Cuts back to live]SIDNER: Yes, he was cursed at. And then you have this interesting twist from TMZ's Harvey Levin, who says - he doesn't normally weigh in like this when it comes to a political event, really, or a political hearing - but here's what he says about Fauci and what he thought he saw during that hearing:[Cuts to video]HARVEY LEVIN: We are in a Senator Joseph McCarthy climate, where there is such fear that people have and legitimate fear that they'll end up in prison for what they say, no matter what it is, if they are on the wrong side of somebody in Congress or the administration that they have been silenced. And that's where we are right now. We are in Senator Joseph McCarthy territory.[Cuts back to live]SIDNER: Are you surprised to hear that from someone who has been fairly friendly with the Trump administration, especially in the early years, in the 2016, 17, 18, and 20? I mean, he just called the senators, the Republican senators, using McCarthyism.ZOLAN KANNO-YOUNGS: Yes. Yeah. Yeah. It is surprising, right? When you are hearing TMZ, which obviously is known more for sort of some of the-SIDNER: Entertainment…KANNO-YOUNGS: -entertainment, celebrity, sensational, news, although they're also on the hill now too. So they are getting involved in sort of the political coverage, but it is surprising when you hear someone like that weigh in on this. I mean, all of this just speaks to how polarized our- not just politics, actually, has become, but this is now we're talking about public health and public health officials as well. Yes, we did have the release by the Trump-led HHS, we did have the release of Fauci's pandemic diaries, where he did muse about the origins of COVID and also the fame he was getting; that fueled this. But this was the latest step in a long-held feud between the chairman of a congressional committee, in Rand Paul, and a public health official, in Dr. Fauci. And the hearing that we saw yesterday, both him pleading the fifth over and over again, and the members, you know, using that kind of harsh language, you know, threatening as well. It just speaks to how polarized and divisive not just our politics have become, but also our policy-making, including policy-making that used to be void or at least immune to some of this politics.SIDNER: And to be fair, Americans do have questions about the pandemic. There are some questions that should be answered and studied and looked at and shared. But wow, I mean, a lot of people saw that and seeing Harvey Levin react that way, I- it stood out.KANNO-YOUNGS: Yeah. And I don't know. Yes, you're totally right. There are valid questions about COVID, about how public health officials handled it. I don't think that Americans are expecting to get those answers from a congressional hearing anytime soon, especially given where our politics is leaning.SIDNER: Not any more. Zolan, thank you so much for coming in. Have a great weekend.