Key events
RFK Jr suggests HHS personnel decisions will be ‘based upon my opinion’
Senator Mark Warner, a Democrat of Virginia, pressed Robert F Kennedy Jr on whether he would move to dismiss longtime staffers at the Department of Health and Human Services, as Donald Trump’s other cabinet picks have already started doing at other agencies.
“I will commit to not firing anybody who is doing their job,” Kennedy said.
Warner asked, “Based upon your opinion, or your political agenda, or Mr Trump’s political agenda?”
“Based upon my opinion,” Kennedy replied.
Warner remarked, “So I guess that means a lot of the folks who have had any type of views on vaccines will be out of work.”
Senator Michael Bennet, a Democrat of Colorado, continued his rapid-fire questioning of Robert F Kennedy with more quotes from Kennedy’s past writings and interviews.
Bennet asked, “Did you say that Lyme disease is highly likely a materially engineered bioweapon?”
Kennedy replied, “I probably did say that.”
Bennet asked, “Did you say that exposure to pesticides causes children to become transgender?”
Kennedy replied, “No, I never said that.”
Bennet challenged that claim, saying he would submit the record to the committee chair. He then asked, “Did you write in your book, and I quote, ‘it’s undeniable that African Aids is an entirely different disease from western Aids’?”
Kennedy replied, “I’m not sure.”
Bennet concluded his questioning by reminding Kennedy of the importance of the job he is seeking, noting that Americans rely on the Department of Health and Human Services to provide accurate medical information.
“This matters. It doesn’t matter what you come here and say that isn’t true, that’s not reflective of what you really believe,” Bennet said. “Unlike other jobs that we’re confirming around this place, this is a job where it is life and death.”
Democrat’s rapid-fire questioning puts RFK Jr on defense
Senator Michael Bennet, a Democrat of Colorado, said that he agreed with Robert F Kennedy Jr on some of his criticism of the US healthcare system, but he painted Kennedy as woefully unqualified to lead the department of health and human services.
“What is so disturbing to me is that out of 330 million Americans, we’re being asked to put somebody in this job who has spent 50 years of his life not honoring the tradition that he talked about at the beginning of this conversation, but peddling in half-truths, peddling in false statements, peddling in theories that create doubt about whether or not things we know are safe are unsafe,” Bennet said.
Bennet then launched into a series of damning, rapid-fire questions about Kennedy’s past comments on a range of healthcare topics, including the coronavirus pandemic and AIDS.
“Did you say that Covid-19 was a genetically engineered bioweapon that targets Black and white people, but spared Ashkenazi Jews and Chinese people?” Bennet said.
Kennedy replied, “I didn’t say it was deliberately targeted. I just quoted an NIH-funded and NIH-published study.”
As Democrat Ron Wyden’s questioning time ran out, Robert F Kennedy Jr attempted to clean up his record on vaccines, saying, “Senator, I support the measles vaccine. I support the polio vaccine. I will do nothing as HHS secretary that makes it difficult or discourages people from taking either of those vaccines.”
Wyden shot back, “Anybody who believes that ought to look at the measles book you wrote saying parents have been misled into believing that measles is a deadly vaccine. That is not true.”
Ron Wyden, the top Democrat on the Senate finance committee, also pressed Robert F Kennedy Jr on his role in a deadly measles outbreak that struck Samoa in 2019.
The measles outbreak in Samoa – which claimed the lives of 83 people, most of them young children – came just months after Kennedy visited the island nation.
Quoting Kennedy’s book that raised doubts about the potential lethality of measles, Wyden said, “The reality is measles are in fact deadly and highly contagious – something that you should’ve learned after your lies contributed to the deaths of 83 people, most of them children, in a measles outbreak in Samoa. So my question here is: Mr Kennedy, is measles deadly, yes or no?”
Kennedy replied that the death rate from measles has historically been quite low, and he again denied any role in the Samoa outbreak.
“I went there nothing to do with vaccines. I went there to introduce a medical and thematic system that would digitalize records in Samoa,” Kennedy said. “I never taught or gave any public statement about vaccines. You cannot find a single Samoan who will say, ‘I didn’t get a vaccine because of Bobby Kennedy.’”
He concluded, “I went in June of 2019. The measles outbreak started in August. So, clearly I had nothing to do with the measles.”
That final comment seemed curious given that reports have pointed to the timeline of Kennedy’s visit as potentially incriminating, considering the outbreak followed just a couple of months later.
Kennedy clashes with Democrat over past vaccine comments
Ron Wyden, the top Democrat on the Senate finance committee, criticized Robert F Kennedy Jr for having “spent years pushing conflicting stories about vaccines”.
As he began his questioning, Wyden quoted some of Kennedy’s podcast interviews in which he claimed that “no vaccine is safe and effective” and that he regretted vaccinating his own children. But in his opening statement, Kennedy denied being anti-vaccine.
“Mr Kennedy, all of these things cannot be true,” Wyden said. “So, are you lying to Congress today when you say you are pro-vaccine, or did you lie on all of those podcasts? We have all of this on tape.”
Kennedy replied that his previous comment about vaccines’ safety had been truncated and had since been corrected, telling Wyden, “You know about this, Senator Wyden, so bringing this up right now is dishonest.”
Wyden retorted that Kennedy has “a history of trying to take vaccines away from people,” citing his signature on a 2021 petition calling for the Food and Drug Administration to block access to coronavirus vaccines. Kennedy suggested that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention had mishandled the recommendation process for those vaccines.
Another protester then interrupted the hearing.
In response to questioning from Republican chair Mike Crapo, Robert F Kennedy Jr said he was not looking to place restrictions on food options, even though he has consistently expresssed alarm over Americans’ diets.
“I don’t want to take food away from anybody,” Kennedy said. “If you like a McDonald’s cheeseburger and a Diet Coke, which my boss loves, you should be able to get them.”
The comment, an acknowledgment of Donald Trump’s long-documented embrace of fast food, was met with chuckles in the hearing room.
Kennedy continued, “If you want to eat Hostess Twinkies, you should be able to do that, but you should know what the impacts are on your family and on your health.”
Protester disrupts Kennedy’s opening comments on vaccines
Robert F Kennedy Jr dedicated most of his opening statement to detailing his vision for addressing “chronic disease” if confirmed as the secretary of health and human services, but he took a moment to address his past comments attacking vaccines.
“News reports have claimed that I am anti-vaccine or anti-industry. I am neither,” Kennedy said.
He was disrupted by a protester who appeared to yell in response, “You lie!”
The protester was escorted out of the hearing room, and then Kennedy was then able to continue his opening statement, saying, “I am pro-safety.”
Before Robert F Kennedy Jr delivered his opening statement, the Republican chair and Democratic ranking member of the Senate finance committee shared a tense exchange on the Medicaid portal outage that occurred yesterday.
Medicaid payment portals were down across the country yesterday following Donald Trump’s announcement of a federal funding freeze, but multiple states reported that the portals were back online last night.
In his opening statement, Democrat Ron Wyden of Oregon pointed to the outage as a sign of what may be to come if Kennedy is confirmed to lead the department of health and human services.
The chair of the committee, Republican Mike Crapo of Idaho, criticized Wyden’s comments as a “false attack,” noting that the portals are now operational, but Wyden retorted that the outage had created “bedlam across the country”.
Democrat excoriates Kennedy for having ’embraced conspiracy theories’
The top Democrat on the Senate finance committee, Ron Wyden of Oregon, delivered a scathing rebuke of Robert F Kennedy Jr in his opening statement at the cabinet nominee’s confirmation hearing.
“The receipts show that Mr. Kennedy has embraced conspiracy theories, quacks, and charlatans, especially when it comes to the safety and efficacy of vaccines,” Wyden said.
“He’s made it his life’s work to sow doubt and discourage parents from getting their kids life-saving vaccines. It’s been lucrative for him and put him on the verge of real power. This is the profile of somebody who chases money and influence wherever they lead, even if that means the deaths of children and other vulnerable people.”
Wyden noted that, if confirmed as the next secretary of health and human services, Kennedy would play a key role in issuing medical recommendations for the nation, and the Democrat expressed fear that Kennedy might use his authority to restrict access to the abortion medication Mifepristone.
“Women deserve to know if Mr Kennedy will abuse his power as our country’s chief health officer to essentially implement a national abortion ban by restricting access to this safe and legal medication,” Wyden said.
He concluded, “After a careful review of Robert F Kennedy Jr’s statements, actions, associations and views, I have reached the conclusion that he should not be entrusted with the health and well-being of the American people. When he’s taken every side of every issue, how can this committee and the American public believe anything he has to say?”
The Republican chair of the Senate finance committee, Mike Crapo of Idaho, praised Robert F Kennedy Jr as “a voice for an inspiring coalition of Americans who are deeply committed to improving the health and wellbeing of our nation”.
In his opening statement, Crapo lamented that the US healthcare system has become a “dyfunctional maze” for many Americans, and he framed Kennedy’s potential confirmation as an “opportunity to deliver bold, transformative solutions”.
“Regardless of political party, everyone in this room shares a common recognition that our current system has fallen short, as well as a common desire to make our country healthier,” Crapo said. “I look forward to today’s conversation as well as your testimony, Mr Kennedy.”
RFK Jr confirmation hearing begins
The chair of the Senate finance committee, Republican Mike Crapo of Idaho, has kicked off the confirmation hearing for Robert F Kennedy Jr, Donald Trump’s nominee for secretary of health and human services.
After Kennedy entered the hearing room, he walked up toward the dais to shake the hands of committee members while photographers swirled around him to capture the scene.
The hearing will begin with opening statements before senators have the opportunity to question Kennedy, who has faced intense criticism over allegations of sexual harassment and his shifting stance on vaccines.
Stay tuned.
Jessica Glenza
Anti-vaccine rhetoric and lawsuits were a lucrative enterprise for Robert F Kennedy Jr, leading up to his nomination to be secretary of health – one he is seeking to distance himself from as he enters confirmation hearings this week.
Last week, he promised to resign from his consultancies and chairmanship of Children’s Health Defense, a leading anti-vaccine nonprofit, if he is confirmed. That is cold comfort to public health experts anxiously eyeing his confirmation.
“The plain truth is that vaccines have saved hundreds of millions of lives,” said Dr Tom Frieden, former director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) under Barack Obama, and now CEO of Resolve to Save Lives, a public health-focused non-profit.
“When Mr Kennedy says things like autism does come from vaccines” – a false claim – “that’s very problematic”.
Frieden continued: “That was a fraudulent claim from someone who was aiming to profit from it, and false claims like that not only undermine our confidence in safe and effective vaccines they also divert attention from finding the real cause of things like autism that affect so many people.”
Read Jessica’s full report:
Robert F Kennedy’s confirmation hearing comes one day after his cousin, Caroline Kennedy, shared a video on social media describing him as a “predator” who “preys on the desperation of parents of sick children” by peddling misinformation on vaccines.
“I have known Bobby my whole life; we grew up together. It’s no surprise that he keeps birds of prey as pets because he himself is a predator,” Caroline Kennedy said in the video.
Her remarks were also shared in a letter to senators, as she implored them not to confirm RFK Jr as the next secretary of health and human services.
She went on to say that her father, President John F Kennedy, and her uncle, former US attorney general Robert F Kennedy, would be “disgusted” by the actions of her cousin.
More on Caroline Kennedy’s comments here:
RFK Jr confirmation hearing getting underway soon
The Senate confirmation hearing for Robert F Kennedy, Donald Trump’s nominee for secretary of health and human services, will get underway in about 30 minutes, and Democrats are expected to grill Kennedy on allegations of sexual harassment and his shifting stance on vaccines.
The Guardian’s Joseph Gedeon reports: “Robert F Kennedy Jr, the environmental lawyer turned anti-vaccine activist, faces a watershed moment this week as the Senate confirmation hearings begin on his nomination as the US’s top health official, setting up what could be the most contentious cabinet battle of Donald Trump’s second administration.
“The 71-year-old Kennedy, whose nomination has sparked fierce resistance from the scientific establishment, would take control of a sprawling $1.8tn healthcare apparatus at a time when public trust in medical institutions remains deeply fractured along partisan lines.
“As health and human services secretary, Kennedy would oversee everything from vaccine policy to food safety, wielding enormous influence over public health decisions affecting millions of Americans. His controversial views – including debunked claims about vaccines and autism, fluoride safety and raw milk regulations – have put him at odds with mainstream medical consensus.
“Kennedy told NPR in December that as a member of the administration, he is ‘not going to take vaccines away from anybody’, but he also added he wanted people to make ‘informed choices’.”
Read Joseph’s full report:
