Trump praises Paul as DC spotlight shines on Fauci hearings

Administration Trump praises Paul as DC spotlight shines on Fauci hearings Comments: by Julia Manchester - 07/29/26 10:42 AM ET Comments: Link copied by Julia Manchester - 07/29/26 10:42 AM ET Comments: Link copied

President Trump praised Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) ahead of his contentious Senate hearing featuring former chief White House medical adviser Dr. Anthony Fauci on Wednesday.

“THE MASSIE MASSACRE in the Great Commonwealth of Kentucky has had a really great impact on Senator Rand Paul who will be running in two years. He’s been terrific, lately!” Trump wrote in a TruthSocial post on Tuesday evening, referring to Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.), who lost his GOP primary after Trump endorsed his opponent.

The post came hours before Paul was set to grill Fauci in a Senate Homeland Security Committee hearing, which the senator chairs. Paul has repeatedly hammered Fauci over his handling of the coronavirus pandemic.

The former White House advisor repeatedly pleaded the 5th in the hearing, refusing to answer any questions. Paul and other Republican lawmakers have repeatedly said Fauci should be prosecuted, with Rep. James Comer (R-Ky.) warning on Tuesday that former President Biden’s pardon of the longtime health official would not cover his testimony on Wednesday.

Ahead of Fauci’s testimony, Paul released pages from Fauci’s personal journal, kept during the pandemic. Fauci criticized Trump’s pandemic response in the journal, at one point referring to Trump as an “idiot.”

When asked about the journal entries on Tuesday, Trump said “he grew tired” of Fauci.

“He wanted to close everything down. I allowed it to be up to the governors,” Trump said, adding that “many of the Republican governors didn’t want to close.”

While Trump and Paul used to frequently clash, most recently over the war in Iran, the two have heaped praise on each other in recent months.

Earlier this year, Paul led a $70 billion immigration enforcement funding bill, and in June attended the signing ceremony at the White House. Paul also recently changed his vote on an Iran War Powers Resolution that would have limited Trump’s power to wage the conflict from “yes” to “present.”

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