Fauci Pleads Fifth, Gain-of-Function Funding Banned, Grocery Prices Soar — 7/30/26

Fauci pleads the Fifth, and gain-of-function funding has been banned. I'm Josh Mercer with your Morning LOOPcast. Anthony Fauci invoked the Fifth Amendment almost a hundred times yesterday, refusing to answer a single question about COVID, gain-of-function research, or his newly exposed diary entries. Republican Senator Rand Paul warned that obstructing Congress has consequences. He also ordered Fauci's attorney, David Shirtle, removed after repeated disruptions and scheduled an August 5th contempt vote. The Trump administration has formally banned federal support for dangerous gain-of-function research in the United States and abroad.

The new policy also requires independent review of other high-risk research and restricts funding to institutions without adequate safety standards. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. put it simply, taxpayers shouldn't fund experiments that could put them at risk. After COVID, that's the bare minimum. Grocery prices have climbed 33% since the beginning of 2019. The biggest jump in half a century. In the previous seven and a half years, prices rose just 6.4%. Ground beef alone is up 79%. Today is the Feast of St.

Peter Chrysologus, a 5th century bishop and doctor of the church. Go to zeal.co for the rest of today's loop, and while you're at it, subscribe to get the loop in your inbox every morning. Again, that's zeal.co.