RFK Jr. clashes with Democrats over past comments about vaccines, abortion rights
CNN
Senate Democrats grilled Robert F. Kennedy Jr. over his various controversial statements including his stance on vaccines during his confirmation hearing to be President Donald Trump’s health and human services secretary, and most left feeling overwhelmingly unsatisfied by the answers they received.
Senate Democrats grilled Robert F. Kennedy Jr. over his various controversial statements including his stance on vaccines during his confirmation hearing to be President Donald Trump’s health and human services secretary, and most left feeling overwhelmingly unsatisfied by the answers they received. The Democratic lawmakers confronted Kennedy with previous statements he had made to press him on his role in a deadly measles outbreak in Samoa in 2019, his views on Covid-19, and his previous claims falsely linking vaccines to autism in children. Throughout the hearing, the Democrats repeatedly asked Kennedy to make commitments that he would not purge employees for political reasons or use his perch to personally benefit financially, without getting clear answers. Republicans meanwhile, seemed largely receptive to Kennedy even though his past stances – particularly on abortion – do not align with their conservative ideology. Given the narrow majorities in the Senate, Republicans can only afford to lose three GOP senators, and some have yet to say how they will vote. There are some areas in Kennedy’s record that overlap with Democrats, but no Democratic senator has declared they will back him. Wednesday’s tense hearing in front of the Senate Finance Committee was Kennedy’s first test, and he will face off against the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions on Thursday. For his part, Kennedy tried to downplay his anti-vaccine rhetoric and other controversial stances regarding public health and rebuked statements that he is a vaccine skeptic despite an extensive, recorded history of his linking vaccines to autism in children.
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