The GOP’s Contempt Case Against Fauci Hits a Wall

**Sabrina Siddiqui** (0:00)
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The fallout on the FIFA sell-off plan widens as European soccer officials seek to subpoena Joshua Kushner. Plus, the FAA finds that air traffic controllers left work early before a deadly collision at LaGuardia in March.
And whatever happened to the Republican push to prosecute Fauci? We go inside the Trump administration's deliberations.

**Natalie Andrews** (0:42)
Rand Paul tried to maneuver, but it seemed like through our reporting that he had done this without really talking to the White House thoroughly.

**Sabrina Siddiqui** (0:51)
It's Thursday, August 27th. I'm Sabrina Siddiqui for the Wall Street Journal, filling in for Alex Osala. This is the PM Edition of What's News, the top headlines and business stories that move the world today.
European soccer officials are seeking subpoenas in New York for Joshua Kushner and his venture fund, Thrive Capital Management, regarding FIFA's $20 billion proposal to privatize part of its commercial rights. WSJ Sports editor Joshua Robinson says that UEFA, which governs European soccer, is looking for information that could be used in a potential criminal proceeding against FIFA president Gianni Infantino in Switzerland.

**Joshua Robinson** (1:37)
UEFA is specifically trying to see how this plan came about, what the negotiations were, and also how they came up with this valuation of $20 billion for this FIFA forward enterprise, which was a way to privatize some of the commercial rights of FIFA's biggest competitions, like the World Cup, like the Women's World Cup, and then sell off a stake in them. They came to a number that was $20 billion.
Thrive was going to pay about $4.2 billion for their stake. And what this lawyer's filing today says is that this was actually quite low, and that they arrived at this number in a completely backhanded arrangement. They believe that Infantino was in this to profit personally, that after 2031, his next presidential term, he would go and serve as chairman of FIFA Forward Enterprise, where he would be paid much, much more than the roughly $6 million he currently makes.

**Sabrina Siddiqui** (2:27)
Infantino has denied that that was his intention.
Neither FIFA nor Thrive immediately responded to a request for comment. Joshua says there's a lot of pressure on Infantino from soccer officials, but he's still running unopposed in FIFA's presidential election in March. And the controversy may not actually mean a whole lot for players or fans.

**Joshua Robinson** (2:47)
FIFA's been able to do this amazing thing, where they've been a scandal-ridden organization for decades at this point. And somehow that hasn't tainted their ultimate product, which is the World Cup.

**Sabrina Siddiqui** (3:03)
We have an update on the March collision at LaGuardia Airport. That was when an Air Canada jet crashed into a fire truck on the runway, and two pilots died and six other people were injured. The FAA has found that before the crash, two air traffic controllers left work about an hour early. That meant the two controllers left behind at the tower had no backup during a chaotic night when the airport was handling more than double its usual traffic. The FAA is now moving to fire the two controllers for what it says is a form of time card fraud. The Journal understands that the agency has taken steps this year to fire more than 10 controllers for alleged time card fraud or abuse of leave policies.
The National Air Traffic Controllers Association says it's discussing time card and leave fraud allegations with FAA leadership. Turning to the Iran War, the Journal has learned that the Trump administration has repeatedly told mediators it has no interest in going back to the preliminary deal it struck with Iran in June. That's complicating the diplomatic efforts this week to end the war. Mediators from Pakistan, Oman and Qatar have all made trips to Tehran recently trying to restart talks. But there hasn't been much progress. Iran's demanding the US return to the terms from June before reopening the Strait of Hormuz. President Trump, however, is sticking with a strategy of squeezing Tehran economically. In the meantime, tanker attacks continue to disrupt shipping. And President Trump today signed an executive order to change the name of Lake Ontario to, quote, Lake America. The US and Canada are in the middle of a trade fight that could last for a long time. And Lake Ontario touches both countries. The new name will probably show up in official US government documents and communications, but it's not likely that Canada will recognize a Lake America. Canada's Prime Minister Mark Carney said on social media today that, quote, naming reality means calling it Lake Ontario. And in Markets, yesterday's blockbuster revenue forecast from Nvidia reassured investors and stocks climbed today.