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Published On: Thu, May 7th, 2026

RCP Podcast: Rand Paul Chasing Dr. Fauci, Did Spencer Pratt Move the Needle? Dana Perino on Dating Across the Political Divide

Thursday on the RealClearPolitics podcast, Tom Bevan, Andrew Walworth, and Carl Cannon discuss Sen. Rand Paul’s continuing quest to prosecute Dr. Anthony Fauci over the Covid origins cover-up, President Obama’s comments about “weaponization” of the Justice Department, and a top Virginia state Senate Democrat being raided by the FBI–raising questions about timing. They also talk about how much they enjoyed watching Spencer Pratt’s performance at last night’s Los Angeles mayoral debate. FOX News host and former Bush spokesperson Dana Perino joins the show to discuss her first novel, “Purple State: A Small-Town Romcom.” You can listen to the show live, weekdays at 11:00 a.m. on SiriusXM’s Megyn Kelly Channel 111, and then on Apple, Spotify, YouTube, and here on our website. *** The show opens with Sen. Rand Paul’s continuing quest to hold Dr. Anthony Fauci responsible over his testimony about COVID origins and gain-of-function research, despite a blanket pardon from President Biden. Would it be worth it to try to prosecute him for lying to Congress? “I don’t blame Rand Paul for being upset with Fauci,” Carl Cannon said, given Fauci’s personal attacks on Paul for being apparently correct about the U.S. funding of gain-of-function research in that Wuhan lab. “But the president’s pardon power has no limit.” “I’m with Rand Paul, man. I want the frog march and the leg irons for this guy,” Tom Bevan joked. “You’d be overturning 150 years of American jurisprudence just to get Tony Fauci, and he’d get another book deal out of it and make another million dollars. Tom would still be upset with him, and Rand Paul would not get justice,” Cannon added. *** At minute 8, the panel weighs President Obama’s latest comments about the Trump Justice Department, politicized prosecutions, and whether the attorney general should be “the people’s lawyer” rather than the president’s “consigliere.” Watch: Obama: The Attorney General Is The People’s Lawyer, Not The President’s Consigliere “Obama never corrected it when AG Eric Holder said he was his ‘wingman,'” Tom Bevan said. “Not to mention the fact that Barack Obama was instrumental, along with all these folks – Joe Biden, Susan Rice, Clapper, Comey – in January 2017, basically instigating this entire Russia thing against Trump.” *** At minute 14, the group comments on the FBI raid of the office and cannabis shop of Virginia state Senate Democratic leader Louise Lucas, and questions about whether the timing is intended as retaliation for the state’s redistricting. “She’s one of the most powerful people in the state, because governors can’t serve two terms,” Cannon argued. “So she’s now inherited this–the old racist machine is now a progressive Democratic machine with plenty of African American players, and she’s the key player.” *** At minute 18:30, FOX News host and former Bush White House press secretary Dana Perino joins the show to discuss her first novel, “Purple State: A Small-Town Romcom,” about finding love across the political divide and her years in Washington. “I’ve learned, especially since 2015, to wear my politics lightly,” she said. “When I first moved to New York in 2011, I started a personal policy that I didn’t talk about politics at the dog park. I’m not here to argue. I don’t talk politics on Saturday.” “It doesn’t mean that they change their political stripes,” she said. “But they can realize that they’re cutting themselves off from their fellow humans for no reason.” *** Finally, at minute 38, the group checks out the debate last night for Los Angeles Mayor, where former reality star Spencer Pratt made a big splash. Could he ever become mayor? Watch: Outsider Candidate Spencer Pratt Turns L.A. Mayoral Debate Into Referendum On Crime, Homelessness, Safety Watch: Spencer Pratt To Nithya Raman: I Dare You To Go “Offer Treatment” To Homeless — “You’ll Get Stabbed In The Neck” “I wouldn’t think he can win, but I hope this lasts a while,” Cannon said. “I hope he makes the runoff because he’s saying things that need to be said.” “This is like something out of a movie, he’s speaking truth to power and saying what people think,” he continued. “Can’t be any worse than the one they’ve got,” Bevan quipped. “This all started because he lost his home. His parents lost their home. He’d grown up in the Palisades. They would not have this problem named Spencer Pratt if it were not for the incompetence and failure of government at the city, state, and local levels during that fire.” *** Don’t miss a single episode of the RealClearPolitics daily radio show – subscribe at Apple, Spotify, or wherever you listen to podcasts.
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