Conservative group founded by former Vice President Mike Pence urges Republicans to reject Robert F. Kennedy Jr. for Health and Human Services secretary, citing his support for abortion access as did some Republican senators who expressed concerns about his controversial views on vaccines. said whether they would vote to confirm Kennedy.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. attends inauguration ceremonies in the Rotunda of the United States Capitol on January 20 … (+)
Getty ImagesPence’s group announced the launch of a six-figure ad campaign to oppose his confirmation.
The group believes there is “little reason to believe” that Kennedy “will have a strong commitment to protecting the unborn,” wrote Advancing American Freedom President Tim Chapman and Board Chairman administration in a recent letter to senators, echoing a previous statement by Pence, who is staunchly anti-abortion.
In an ethics form submitted by Kennedy and made public Wednesday, he said he would continue to receive fees related to cases he submitted to the law firm Wisner Baum — which is suing Merck over the vaccine that protects against the human papilloma virus, or HPV — which do not involve the United States and “in which the United States does not have a direct and substantial interest,” the New York Times reported.
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Kennedy’s Senate confirmation hearing has not yet been scheduled. Kennedy, or any of President Donald Trump’s nominees, can only afford to lose three Republican votes, assuming all Democrats vote against them. Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Monday became Trump’s first nominee approved by the Senate.
The son of the late Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy, Kennedy is a longtime attorney and environmental activist. He officially entered the presidential race in April 2023 as the Democratic candidate challenging former President Joe Biden for the party’s nomination, before running as an independent in October of that year. He withdrew from the race in August and supported Trump. Both suggested in the following months that Kennedy would be offered a job in the Trump administration, and Trump nominated him to head HHS in November. Before Kennedy entered the presidential race, he was a leading voice in the anti-vaccine movement, particularly during the Covid-19 pandemic. He is also married to actress Cheryl Hines.
Kennedy upholds “the principles set forth in Roe v. Wade,” according to his campaign website, which quotes him saying that “abortion is a tragedy, but I don’t trust the government to make these decisions for Americans.” He said in 2023 that he supported a 15-week abortion ban, but later retracted his statement.
Kennedy has a long history of promoting conspiracies about childhood vaccines, including the theory that the preservative thimerosal – which has been phased out of most modern vaccine formulations – is linked to autism, a claim that has been completely debunked. discredited by medical studies. In a podcast last year with Lex Fridman, Kennedy said that “there is no vaccine that is, you know, safe and effective.” He walked back that statement in a later interview with CNN, calling it a “misuse of words” and often denied being anti-vaccine. He gained notoriety during the Covid-19 pandemic for fueling vaccine conspiracies. He suggested they were linked to a “wave of suspicious deaths,” according to the New York Times, and told Louisiana lawmakers it was the “deadliest vaccine ever made.” Medical authorities have said vaccines do not increase the risk of death from non-Covid-related causes and are a safe and effective way to prevent the virus, with serious side effects extremely rare. Kennedy was the leading “super-spreader” of Covid-19 vaccine misinformation on Twitter, accounting for 13% of daily retweets of low-credibility information, according to a study in the Journal of Medical Internet Research. His nonprofit Children’s Health Defense has filed several lawsuits against public health guidelines and vaccination mandates related to the pandemic, including a petition in 2021 asking the Food and Drug Administration to revoke the authorization of the vaccine, the New York Times reported. In the petition, the group advocated for treatments other than vaccines, including ivermectin and hydroxychloroquine, although they have already been found to be ineffective.
In his 2021 book, “The Real Anthony Fauci,” he accused the former head of the National Institutes of Health of working with Bill Gates to carry out a “historic coup against Western democracy” by exaggerating the effects of the pandemic to control the He also falsely claimed at a dinner in July 2023 that “Covid-19 is aimed at attacking Caucasians and Black people” and that “the people most immune are Jews Ashkenazim and the Chinese,” according to video footage. comments published by the New York Post.
He suggested that wireless technology contributes to cancer, alleging that WiFi “radiation” causes what he calls “cell phone tumors” and “opens your blood-brain barrier” to toxins in a June 2024 interview with Joe Rogan. He suggested that HIV might not cause AIDS, and he insinuated a link between school and increased use of antidepressants. There is no credible medical evidence to support these theories.
Kennedy promised he would allow people to make their own assessment about whether they want to receive vaccines, telling NBC News in November “if the vaccines work for someone, I’m not going to take them away” and explaining that their choices “must be informed by the best information. In the interview, he promised to “end the epidemic of chronic disease”, including by evaluating food ingredients. He pledged to eliminate ” entire departments” which he says have been ineffective, including including the Food and Drug Administration’s nutrition departments Addressing his views on fluoride in water, he said he would warn water districts of their “legal responsibility” in providing safe drinking water. .
Eliza Cooney, a former nanny for the Kennedy family, told several media outlets last year that he groped her and made repeated sexual advances toward her while she worked for him in the 1990s. Kennedy sent her apology when the story broke, writing, “I have no memory of this incident but I sincerely apologize for anything I did that made you uncomfortable or anything that where did I do said who offended you or hurt your feelings,” according to NBC and the Washington Post, which reviewed the text messages. When asked about a Vanity Fair article revealing the allegation, he called the article “a lot of garbage” but did not respond to Cooney’s allegations.
None have said definitively that they would vote for him, although Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., has not ruled out the possibility. Sanders told CBS in December that he had not decided how he would vote, calling Kennedy’s position that fluoride should be removed from water “extremely dangerous” and his views on vaccines ” very wrong.” “absolutely correct.” Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa., is also considered a swing vote on all of Trump’s nominations, as he has urged his party to stop “panicking” over every controversial Trump decision.
While some, including Sen. Bill Cassidy, Republican of Los Angeles, and Sen. Lisa Murkowski, Republican of Alaska, have expressed some tempered skepticism about his initial nomination, he has reportedly overhauled his anti-vaccine image in meetings with senators. “He told me he was not anti-vaccine. He supports vaccine safety, which seems to me to be a rational position to take,” Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, told Politico. While on Capitol Hill last month, Kennedy told reporters that he was “all in favor of the polio vaccine,” although he has said in recent years that the first polio vaccine could have caused cancers “that have killed many, many, many, many more people than polio.” did it,” and disputing that the vaccine reduced polio cases, the New York Times reported. Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., a polio survivor, issued a statement defending the polio vaccine when The Times reported in December that a Kennedy confidant helping him make hiring decisions of HHS, attorney Aaron Siri, had called on the government to revoke the polio vaccine. vaccine. “Efforts to undermine public confidence in proven remedies are not only misinformed: they are dangerous,” McConnell said. “Anyone seeking Senate consent to serve in the new administration would do well to avoid even the appearance of association with such efforts.” Neither McConnell nor Cassidy, a doctor who told Fox News earlier this month that Kennedy was “wrong” about vaccines, have said publicly how they plan to vote. Murkowski also told Politico that she was undecided after meeting with Kennedy on Capitol Hill.
In announcing Kennedy’s nomination, Trump said “HHS will play an important role in helping ensure that everyone is protected from the harmful chemicals, pollutants, pesticides, pharmaceuticals and food additives that have contributed to to the overwhelming health crisis in this country. » In October, Trump said he would let Kennedy “run amok on health care.” . . food” and “medication”.
RFK Jr. Conspiracy Theories: Here’s What Trump’s Pick for Health Secretary Promoted (Forbes)
RFK Jr. Cabinet Nomination: Dozens of Nobel Laureates Urge Senate to Reject Trump’s HHS Pick (Forbes)
RFK Jr. launches independent presidential bid – challenging Biden and Trump (Forbes)
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