{"id":835305,"date":"2025-03-19T14:12:33","date_gmt":"2025-03-19T19:12:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/2025\/03\/19\/key-moments-from-robert-f-kennedy-jr-s-first-hearing-as-he-battled-dems-fended-off-attacks-on-vaccines-climate-change-and-obesity\/"},"modified":"2025-03-19T14:12:33","modified_gmt":"2025-03-19T19:12:33","slug":"key-moments-from-robert-f-kennedy-jr-s-first-hearing-as-he-battled-dems-fended-off-attacks-on-vaccines-climate-change-and-obesity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/2025\/03\/19\/key-moments-from-robert-f-kennedy-jr-s-first-hearing-as-he-battled-dems-fended-off-attacks-on-vaccines-climate-change-and-obesity\/","title":{"rendered":"Key moments from Robert F. Kennedy Jr.\u2019s first hearing as he battled Dems, fended off attacks on vaccines, climate change and obesity"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Robert F. Kennedy Jr., President Trump\u2019s pick to run the Department of Health and Human Services, squared off with Democratic senators for more than four hours in a contentious confirmation hearing before the Senate Finance Committee.<\/em><\/p>\n

Below are some of the key exchanges from the question-and-answer period:<\/em><\/p>\n

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont) on RFK merch:\u00a0<\/h2>\n

Sanders:<\/strong> \u201cYou have started a group called the Children\u2019s Health Defense . . . They are selling what\u2019s called \u2018onesies\u2019
. . . One of them is titled \u2018unvaxxed, unafraid.\u2019 Next one \u2014 and they\u2019re sold for 26 bucks apiece, by the way \u2014 next one is \u2018no vaxx, no problem.\u2019 . . . Your organization is making money selling a product which casts fundamental doubt on the usefulness of vaccines.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n
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\"Senator<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>

Senator Bernie Sanders grilled RFK Jr. about a controversial onesie sold by an organization he was involved in. Annabelle Gordon\/UPI\/Shutterstock<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\n
\n

\"RFK<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>

RFK Jr. was questioned by members of the Senate Finance Committee for several hours. ZUMAPRESS.com<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Kennedy:<\/strong> \u201cSenator, I have no power over that organization. I\u2019m not a part of it. I resigned from the board.<\/a>\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Sanders:<\/strong> \u201cThat was just a few months ago!\u201d<\/p>\n

On his own struggles with drugs:\u00a0<\/h2>\n

Kennedy:<\/strong> I was a heroin addict<\/a> for 14 years. I have been 42 years in recovery. Primary care physicians should understand addiction care.<\/p>\n

Sen. Michael Bennet (D-Colo.) asked about several of Kennedy\u2019s claims:<\/h2>\n

Bennet:<\/strong> \u201cDid you say that COVID-19 was a genetically engineered bioweapon that targets black and white people, but spared Ashkenazi Jews and Chinese people<\/a>?\u201d<\/p>\n

Kennedy:<\/strong> \u201cI quoted a study, your honor. I quoted an NIH study that showed . . . certain races.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bennet:<\/strong> \u201cDid you say Lyme disease is a highly likely militarily engineered bioweapon?\u201d<\/p>\n

Kennedy:<\/strong> \u201cI probably did say that.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\n

\"RFK<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>

RFK Jr. defended quoting a study that related to COVID-19. ZUMAPRESS.com<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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\"Senator<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>

Senator Michael Bennet questioned RFK Jr. about COVID-19 and Lyme disease. AFP via Getty Images<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

On obesity:<\/h2>\n

Kennedy:<\/strong> \u201cWhen my uncle was president, 3% of Americans were obese. Today, 74% of Americans are obese or overweight. Epidemics are not caused by genes. Something is poisoning the American people, and we know that the primary culprit\u2019s our changing food supply.\u201d<\/p>\n

On climate change:<\/h2>\n

Kennedy:<\/strong> \u201cI believe [climate change] is existential. President Trump and I, from the beginning, from our first meeting, agreed to disagree on that issue.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\"RFK<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>

RFK Jr. shared thoughts about vaccines during the hearing. AFP via Getty Images<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

On artificial intelligence in medicine:<\/h2>\n

Kennedy:<\/strong> \u201cThe Cleveland Clinic has developed an AI nurse that . . . has diagnostics as good as any doctor.\u201d<\/p>\n

On Medicaid:<\/h2>\n

Kennedy:<\/strong> \u201cMedicaid is not working for Americans. And it\u2019s specifically not working for the target population. The best doctors will not accept it, the best hospitals, and particularly Medicaid was originally designed for a target population: the poorest Americans. It\u2019s now been dramatically expanded and the irony of the expansion is that the poorest Americans are now being robbed.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tangling with Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) over vaccines:\u00a0<\/h2>\n

Wyden:<\/strong> \u201cMr. Kennedy, you have spent years pushing conflicting stories about vaccines. You say one thing and then you say another. In your testimony today, under oath, you denied that you were anti-vaccine. But during a podcast interview in July of 2023, you said, quote, \u201cNo vaccine is safe and effective. So are you lying to Congress today when you say you are pro-vaccine? Or did you lie on all those podcasts?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Kennedy:<\/strong> \u201cI said, \u2018there are no vaccines that are safe and effective.\u2019 And I was going to continue for every person, every medicine has people who are sensitive to them, including vaccines. He interrupted me at that point.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

Post Staff Report
Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Robert F. Kennedy Jr., President Trump\u2019s pick to run the Department of Health and Human Services, squared off with Democratic senators for more than four hours in a contentious confirmation hearing before the Senate Finance Committee. Below are some of the key exchanges from the question-and-answer period: Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont) on RFK merch:\u00a0 Sanders:<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":835306,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1612,930],"tags":[5498,6692],"class_list":{"0":"post-835305","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-moments","8":"category-robert","9":"tag-moments","10":"tag-robert"},"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/835305","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=835305"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/835305\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/835306"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=835305"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=835305"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=835305"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}