The Daily Brief — August 6, 2026
Trump targets birthright citizenship again, Fauci referred for prosecution, new flu shot
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Trump Signs New Birthright Citizenship Orders
President Trump signed two executive orders attempting to narrow who qualifies for automatic US citizenship at birth, his second attempt after the Supreme Court struck down his first order on the issue. On his first day in office last year, Trump tried to end birthright citizenship for children born in the US to undocumented and temporary immigrants. But the Supreme Court reaffirmed in June that those children are citizens at birth.
Of the orders signed today, one states that the children of people the administration classifies as “alien enemies,” members of foreign terrorist groups, and people who lobby or act on behalf of foreign governments are ineligible for automatic citizenship. The administration says the order is in accordance with longstanding exceptions to birthright citizenship that the Supreme Court has already recognized. Also ineligible under the first order are the children of mothers who engage in “birth tourism” — paying to travel to the US for the purpose of giving birth here.
The second order focuses specifically on birth tourism and directs the secretary of state and the Department of Homeland Security secretary to set out regulations and guidance to target the birth tourism industry and stop the practice. The administration argues birth tourism is already unlawful under existing fraud rules.
Senate Panel Refers Fauci for Prosecution
Republican senators on the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee voted to hold Dr. Anthony Fauci in contempt of Congress and referred him to the Justice Department for potential prosecution. Criminal contempt carries a potential prison sentence of up to a year.
The committee voted 8–5 along party lines after Fauci invoked his Fifth Amendment right more than 100 times during a hearing last week on his handling of the Covid pandemic. Committee Chairman Rand Paul and Fauci have feuded for years over the pandemic’s origins: Paul believes the virus leaked from a Chinese lab, while Fauci maintains that a natural origin is more likely.
Paul is sending the referral straight to the Justice Department instead of seeking a vote by the full Senate before doing so, a break from precedent that avoids the chamber’s usual 60-vote threshold. Even with a congressional referral, the ultimate decision of whether to prosecute Fauci would lie with the Justice Department, which in turn would still need to convince a grand jury to indict him. Fauci, 85, received a preemptive pardon from President Biden in 2025 to guard against “unjustified and politically motivated prosecutions.”
Fauci’s lawyer, David Schertler, called the contempt referral “a crude political stunt” and urged the Senate to reject what he called Paul’s “meritless and politically motivated contempt resolution.”
FDA Approves mRNA Flu Shot
The FDA has approved Moderna’s new flu vaccine for adults 50 and older, making it the first influenza shot in the US using the same mRNA technology that was used to create the Covid-19 vaccines.
The technology teaches the body’s cells to produce a harmless piece of the flu virus, training the immune system to recognize and fight it. Moderna said that in a study of 40,000 people, those who received the new vaccine, mFlusiva, had 27% fewer cases of flu than those who got a standard flu shot.
Moderna expects doses to be available to select retailers ahead of the fall flu season. The flu still kills tens of thousands of Americans a year, with older adults facing the highest risk of severe illness.
Sen. McConnell Discharged
Sen. Mitch McConnell was discharged from a rehabilitation facility today, nearly two months after a fall at his Washington home left him briefly unconscious and hospitalized.
The 84-year-old Kentucky Republican said in a statement that he’ll continue recovering at home while the Senate takes its scheduled August recess. He said he’ll keep engaging with staff and colleagues “on important Senate business,” though his office gave no timeline for his return to the Capitol. McConnell, who was also treated for pneumonia during his hospitalization, has missed Senate floor votes since his hospitalization. His long absence fueled conspiracy theories online and led to public demands for proof of life.
McConnell’s current term ends in January, and he is not running for reelection.
New CDC Director
The Senate confirmed Dr. Erica Schwartz as CDC director yesterday, giving the agency its first Senate-confirmed leader in nearly a year.
Schwartz was confirmed 51–44, with nearly all Republicans voting in favor and one Democrat joining them. The physician previously served as deputy surgeon general and as the Coast Guard’s chief medical officer. She’s the first Black woman to lead the CDC, and unlike some earlier contenders considered for the job she isn’t a vaccine skeptic. She has testified that mRNA technology is “safe and effective“ and said she’s “been vaccinating people throughout my entire career.”
Her confirmation stalled after senators pressed her on whether she’d stay independent if Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. pushed actions unsupported by science. She pledged to “never betray the science” but repeatedly declined to dissent from specific actions Kennedy has taken.
The agency has seen several acting leaders since Trump returned to office.
Newsbreak
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Trump Moves to Block BBC Over Records
A federal court has granted President Trump’s request to temporarily block the BBC from obtaining detailed financial records tied to his businesses. The document request is part of Trump’s $10 billion defamation suit against the broadcaster.
Trump sued the BBC in December, claiming a 2024 documentary edited footage of his Jan. 6, 2021, speech to make it look like he told supporters to march on the Capitol, cutting the part where he called for peaceful protest. The BBC has apologized for the edit but says the defamation claim has no merit. Two of its top executives resigned over the episode.
The BBC sought the records through discovery, arguing it needed them to test Trump’s own claim that the documentary damaged his “brand, properties, and businesses.” In response, Trump’s team filed an amended complaint narrowing the case to reputational harm and dropping claims of financial damage, which they argued makes the document request moot.
While a magistrate judge had sided with the BBC and ordered the president to start handing over records from more than 400 companies held by his family trust by today, federal district judge Roy Altman paused the deadline in response to Trump’s request for an emergency stay. Trump’s lawyers argued that the BBC’s demand was “shockingly broad” and driven by “clearly political motivations.”
CIA Forms Task Force on Cuba
The CIA has created a new task force on Cuba,The New York Times reported. The administration has been pressuring Cuba’s communist government to make the economic, political, and leadership changes demanded by President Trump. The aim is reportedly to create fissures within Cuba’s political elite and push out those the US sees as hardline, anti-American leaders in favor of more pragmatic figures willing to negotiate.
The task force will let the CIA direct more money, personnel, and technical resources toward Cuba, and it’s already adding intelligence officers who recruit spies, analysts, cyber specialists, and officers who run covert influence operations.
The CIA ran a similar Cuba task force in 1960; it helped plan the failed Bay of Pigs invasion. Officials said this one has a narrower mission, focused on intelligence and influence rather than military action.
Missouri Redistricting Fight
Missouri Secretary of State Denny Hoskins rejected a petition earlier this week that would have let voters decide whether the state’s new congressional map takes effect, triggering an immediate lawsuit. The GOP is trying to flip the state’s only Democratic-held congressional district by redrawing its boundaries. Republicans currently hold seven of the state’s eight US House seats.
The anti-gerrymandering group People Not Politicians sued within hours, arguing Hoskins’s move violates Missouri law. Republican lawmakers passed the new map last year, hoping to flip another House seat. Opponents gathered enough signatures to force a November referendum that would delay the map, but Hoskins says Missouri’s constitution doesn’t allow referendums on congressional redistricting at all.
The state already used the new map in Tuesday’s primary. If a court puts the referendum on the ballot, judges may also have to decide whether that primary result stands.