{"id":98596,"date":"2026-07-30T11:42:25","date_gmt":"2026-07-30T11:42:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/fallsurfing.net\/firstnews\/rcp-podcast-fauci-pleads-the-fifth-tracking-biden-bucks-dems-rewrite-2028-primary-map\/"},"modified":"2026-07-30T11:42:25","modified_gmt":"2026-07-30T11:42:25","slug":"rcp-podcast-fauci-pleads-the-fifth-tracking-biden-bucks-dems-rewrite-2028-primary-map","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fallsurfing.net\/firstnews\/rcp-podcast-fauci-pleads-the-fifth-tracking-biden-bucks-dems-rewrite-2028-primary-map\/","title":{"rendered":"RCP Podcast: Fauci Pleads the Fifth, Tracking “Biden Bucks,” Dems Rewrite 2028 Primary Map"},"content":{"rendered":"

Wednesday on the RealClearPolitics podcast, Andrew Walworth, Carl Cannon, and RCP contributor Richard Porter discuss Dr. Anthony Fauci asserting his Fifth Amendment rights more than 100 times at a Senate hearing on the origins of the pandemic. RealClearInvestigations senior reporter James Varney joins the group to discuss his latest article on the Trump administration’s effort to reverse the massive amount of money spent on green energy and climate grants during the final weeks of the Biden administration: Biden Bucks: Climate Change Funds a Bonanza for State Outfits”<\/a> Plus, Walworth and Cannon look at the developing 2028 presidential primary fields in both parties. Listen live weekdays at 11:00 a.m. Eastern on SiriusXM’s Megyn Kelly Channel 111, or on Apple<\/a>, Spotify<\/a>, YouTube<\/a>, or other platforms. Plus, some 2028 presidential speculation on both sides of the aisle. How will the new Democratic primary schedule help or hurt certain candidates? Are there any Republicans other than VP Vance and Secretary of State Rubio in the running? <\/p>\n

00:00<\/a> – Opening: Is Fauci Going to Jail? <\/b> Walworth, Cannon, and Richard Porter discuss Dr. Anthony Fauci’s refusal to testify at Sen. Rand Paul’s hearing on the origins of COVID-19, invoking his Fifth Amendment rights more than 100 times. Opening Statement: Dr. Fauci Frames Fifth Amendment Plea as Protection From Political Prosecution, “Unhinged Obsession”<\/a><\/b> Full Hearing: Dr. Fauci Invokes Fifth Amendment Dozens Of Times During Senate Hearing on COVID-19<\/a><\/b> “I think we’re seeing Fauci become the whipping boy for a lot of bad judgments by a lot of people in government,” Richard Porter said. “Which is why he was so eager to get a pardon in the last few days of the Biden administration.” Watch: Sen. Rand Paul: “Let The Record State Dr. Fauci Refused To Answer Whether There’s A Red Folder In Front Of Him Based On His Fifth Amendment Right”<\/a><\/b> About Fauci’s refusal to answer even mundane questions, Porter explained: “As a general rule, what criminal defense lawyers will advise their clients is that if you start testifying to anything, then you’ve waived that privilege of not providing any information… They’re dealing with precedent around these issues, and by highlighting this, it just makes Fauci look worse.” Watch: Sen. Bernie Moreno Berates Dr. Fauci: Who Did You Think You Were?<\/a><\/b> “Moreno blamed Fauci directly for a family in Ohio that got arrested, outside watching a football game. Moreno says it’s what propelled him into politics. My guess is his ego propelled him into politics,” Carl Cannon said. “He called Fauci a ‘grandstanding narcissist’ while grandstanding in a narcissistic way — but that’s an aside.” “He seems to have become a scapegoat for all the excesses of federal and local government during COVID,” Cannon said. *** 19:42<\/a> – Tracking Down Billions in “Biden Bucks”<\/b> RealClearInvestigations senior reporter James Varney joins the show to break down his latest article on the Trump administration’s effort to track the massive amount of money spent and handed out to state agencies in California, New York, Colorado, and more during the final weeks of the Biden administration. He explains limited oversight, vague goals, and lawsuits challenging the Trump administration’s attempt to stop the funding as examples of Washington’s broader inability to track federal spending. Read: Biden Bucks: Climate Change Funds a Bonanza for State Outfits”<\/a><\/b> “An EPA worker said it was like they were throwing gold bars off the deck of the Titanic, trying to ensure that all their green-energy stuff would be locked in when Trump took office,” Varney said. “These were state agencies that regularly got grants for a couple million dollars or a few million dollars. All of a sudden, it’s $ 630 million on Dec. 12, 2024?” “COVID just created a gigantic fountain of money, way more than we needed, for them to play with,” he said. “We talked to a bunch of budget experts about this, and they basically told us that this has become so gargantuan and there’s so much money that nobody can really keep track of it.” *** 37:37<\/a> – Who Does Democrats’ 2028 Primary Calendar Help?<\/b> The group considers how a proposed Democratic primary calendar beginning in South Carolina could reshape the 2028 race. Are they reducing the impact of traditional retail campaigning in Iowa and New Hampshire? Does it give black, Hispanic, and union voters a larger early say while making it more difficult-but not impossible-for an insurgent socialist candidate to break through? Read: “Who Will Democrats Nominate in 2028? The Scales Just Tilted”<\/a> – The American Conservative<\/b> RCP Average: 2028 Democratic Presidential Nomination<\/a><\/b> The new schedule leaves Iowa behind, starting with South Carolina on Jan. 22, 2028, followed by Nevada, and then New Hampshire. Next come New Mexico, Michigan, and Virginia before Super Tuesday on March 7. “If you’ve got to compete in Michigan and Virginia, you’re talking about top-10 media markets. You need real bucks to play in those places,” Walworth explained. “It makes it harder for a Pete Buttigieg or someone who does a lot of retail politics, and ends up winning Iowa or New Hampshire. That isn’t going to happen again.” *** 45:40<\/a> – Can Anyone Challenge Rubio or Vance?<\/b> The episode ends with the Republican 2028 presidential field. Could Ted Cruz, Josh Hawley or Rand Paul disrupt an expected Vance-Rubio contest? Read: “Why Cruz, Hawley, and Paul Have Reasons To Run in 2028” <\/a> – Luke Nicastro, TAC<\/b> RCP Average: 2028 Republican Presidential Nomination<\/a><\/b> <\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Listen to RealClearPolitics weekdays at 11 a.m. Eastern on SiriusXM’s Megyn Kelly Channel 111, or on Apple<\/a>, Spotify<\/a>, YouTube<\/a>, or other platforms. Subscribe for more RealClearPolitics analysis, interviews, and political commentary.
\nRealClearPolitics Videos<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Wednesday on the RealClearPolitics podcast, Andrew Walworth, Carl Cannon, and RCP contributor Richard Porter discuss Dr. Anthony Fauci asserting his Fifth Amendment rights more than 100 times at a Senate hearing on the origins of the pandemic. RealClearInvestigations senior reporter James Varney joins the group to discuss his latest article on the Trump administration’s effort […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":98597,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[23753,6290,5047,5840,16944,1170,7654,14433,7082,27475,16674],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/fallsurfing.net\/firstnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/98596"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/fallsurfing.net\/firstnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/fallsurfing.net\/firstnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fallsurfing.net\/firstnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fallsurfing.net\/firstnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=98596"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/fallsurfing.net\/firstnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/98596\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fallsurfing.net\/firstnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/98597"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/fallsurfing.net\/firstnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=98596"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fallsurfing.net\/firstnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=98596"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fallsurfing.net\/firstnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=98596"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}