One of President Donald Trump‘s most controversial cabinet picks, Robert Kennedy Jr., repeatedly insisted that he was not “anti-vaccine” even as Democrats presented a bevy of past comments in which he sowed doubt or disparaged Covid shots and other inoculations.
Sitting behind Kennedy was his wife, actress Cheryl Hines, and in the next row was podcast host Megyn Kelly, who repeatedly disparaged the Biden administration for its Covid policies.
“News reports have claimed that I am anti-vaccine or anti-industry,” Kennedy told the Senate Finance Committee. “I am neither.”
Just then, he was interrupted by a protester who shouted, “You lie.” She was led away by Capitol Police.
Kennedy then continued. “I am pro-safety. I have worked for years to raise awareness about the mercury and toxic chemicals in fish, and no one called me anti-fish.”
The top Democrat on the committee, Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR), opened his questioning of Kennedy by entering a scathing letter that his cousin, Caroline Kennedy, sent to lawmakers urging them to reject the nomination.
Wyden noted that during a podcast interview in July, 2023, Kennedy said, “No vaccine is safe and effective.”
Wyden also cited a comment that Kennedy made on a podcast in 2020, when he said that he would “pay anything” to go back in time and not vaccinate his children.
“Are you lying to Congress today when you say you are pro-vaccine? Or did you lie on all those podcasts?” Wyden asked.
Kennedy, though, said that on the 2023 podcast, he was interrupted by host Lex Fridman and meant to qualify his comment by saying that no vaccine is safe and effective “for every person.”
“I’ve corrected it many times, including on national TV,” Kennedy told Wyden. “You know about this Senator Wyden, so bringing this up right now is dishonest.”
With his confirmation hearing looming, The Washington Post published a piece on Tuesday tracking 36 appearances since 2020 where Kennedy has linked vaccines to autism, despite repeated studies rejecting that claim.
In his opening statement, Kennedy emphasized the the high cost of health care in the U.S., but that more than half the population is chronically ill. He pledged to “make sure our tax dollars support healthy foods,” including scrutiny of additives in the food supply. He said that he wanted to do research to “understand the relationship between these different food additives and chronic disease so that Americans understand it.”
He did assure the lawmakers that “I don’t want to take food away from anybody.”
“If you like a McDonald’s cheeseburger, Diet Coke, which my boss loves, you should be able to get them. …But you should know what the impacts are on your family and your health.”
More to come.
