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Former NIAID director Anthony Fauci invoked the Fifth Amendment repeatedly Wednesday when Sen. Rand Paul pressed him on COVID-19's origins. Simultaneously, The Daily Caller published diary excerpts showing Fauci privately fumed when the CIA briefed him on Wuhan lab-leak intelligence he had publicly dismissed for years.
The Federal Reserve held its benchmark rate at 3.50–3.75% Wednesday, but three voting members dissented in favor of a quarter-point increase. Consumer confidence slid to 90.8 in July — its third straight monthly drop — as inflation holds at 3.5% year-over-year.
A new Fox News poll finds President Trump's approval on handling Iran at just 34%, with three-quarters of voters rating the economy negatively and a third reporting serious financial hardship. Oil prices surged nearly 7% Wednesday on renewed airstrikes, adding fresh pressure on household budgets.
President Trump announced a sweeping two-year, $22 billion renovation of Washington Dulles International Airport, replacing concourses C and D and installing a new horseshoe rail system. Airlines including United will fund the entire project with no federal appropriations required, per the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority.
American and Saudi forces hit Iran-backed militia targets in Iraq Wednesday as the conflict continued to widen. Trump expressed surprise at intelligence showing China is shipping 400 rocket launchers to Iran via Pakistan, despite personal assurances from President Xi — and the US immediately sanctioned eight oil tankers and ten entities, six of them China-based.
Russia has effectively shut down Ukraine's primary grain export port at Odesa in retaliation for Ukrainian strikes on Russian merchant vessels, halting operations by major grain firms. Russia and Ukraine together account for over 22% of global wheat exports, putting Afghanistan, Yemen, Somalia, and Sudan at the highest famine risk.
The Federalist ran a sharp analysis Wednesday arguing that establishment Republicans and Never-Trumpers are deliberately exploiting the Iran conflict to drive a wedge between Trump's base and the GOP ahead of midterms. The piece warns that elite anti-Trump figures see the war as an extinction-level opportunity to dismantle the grassroots conservative movement.
Teleoperated humanoid robots successfully completed two laparoscopic gallbladder surgeries on pigs — the first time general-purpose machines have operated in a live surgical environment. Researchers say the breakthrough opens the door to remote surgery in rural clinics, with human trials considered a near-term next step.
NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman confirmed Wednesday the agency possesses imagery of unidentified aerial phenomena it cannot explain, stating plainly: "We don't know what it is." The disclosure came as the House Science Committee advanced the NASA Reauthorization Act of 2026, which also funds the Artemis Moon-to-Mars program.
Seattle Police Chief Shon Barnes was traveling in Dallas when a gunman killed three and wounded four at the Bite of Seattle food festival Wednesday. When a reporter asked about his frequent out-of-city travel — including most weekends at his family's Chicago home — Barnes shot back, "I wish I had a crystal ball and we could schedule gun violence," before ending the exchange.
