Robert F. Kennedy Jr. appeared before senators Wednesday for his first confirmation hearing as President Donald Trump’s nominee to become the next secretary of health and human services, facing a grilling from Democrats on his views on vaccines.
Kennedy sought to defend himself in his opening statement from the expected line of questioning in his opening statement, prompting a brief eruption from a protester in the gallery.
“News reports have claimed that I am anti-vaccine or anti-industry,” Kennedy said.
“You are!” a person yelled before being ushered out of the chamber.
Kennedy continued, “I am neither; I am pro-safety. I worked for years to raise awareness about the mercury and toxic chemicals in fish, but that didn’t make me anti-fish. All of my kids are vaccinated, and I believe vaccines have a critical role in healthcare.”
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After a second disruption from a protestor, the crowd was warned the hearing would adjourn to allow police to investigate if there were further outbursts from the audience.
Kennedy and Sen. Ron Wyden D-Ore, the ranking member of the Senate Finance Committee, engaged in a heated exchange as Wyden attempted to nail down Kennedy’s stance on the measles vaccine.
“Is measles deadly, yes or no?” Wyden asked Kennedy, who did not directly answer the question. Kennedy contended again he was not anti-vaccine.
Wyden pressed Kennedy on his comments in a 2023 podcast in which he said, “There’s no vaccine that is safe and effective.”
“Mr. Kennedy, all of these things cannot be true. So are you lying to Congress today when you say you are pro-vaccine?” Wyden said.
Kennedy claimed that statements he made on podcasts have “been repeatedly debunked.”
He also contended he would not dissuade Americans from getting certain vaccines.
“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 anything,” Kennedy said.
At one point, Kennedy spoke about the rise in chronic diseases and ingredients in food, but also noted that his boss likes to eat a McDonald’s cheeseburger and a Diet Coke.
“You should be able to do that,” Kennedy said to some chuckles at President Donald Trump’s penchant for eating from the fast-food restaurant. “But you should know what the impacts are on your family and your health.”
While several of Trump’s Cabinet picks have generated controversy, Kennedy, a former third-party presidential candidate, has drawn outside opposition from both the right and left.
He has been the subject of negative paid ad campaigns, with liberals criticizing his anti-vaccine positions and conservatives decrying his stances on abortion. Physicians and Nobel laureates have publicly warned about him, accused him of politicizing science.
And on the eve of his hearing before the Senate Finance Committee, he received a stinging rebuke from his own family.
On Tuesday, his cousin Caroline Kennedy wrote a scathing letter asking the Senate to deny his confirmation. She described him as a “predator” who once delighted in a “perverse scene of despair and violence,” placing baby chickens and mice into a blender to feed his hawks. She also accused him of enticing other family members into addiction.
“Bobby is addicted to attention and power,” she wrote. “Bobby preys on the desperation of parents of sick children — vaccinating his own kids while building a following by hypocritically discouraging other parents from vaccinating theirs.”
The letter was addressed to the chairs and the ranking members of the Finance Committee, which will vote on his nomination before it goes to the full Senate floor, and the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions, which will hold a second hearing with him Thursday.
Kennedy can only afford to lose the support of three Senate Republicans if Democrats are united against him when the full Senate votes on his nomination. So far, none have publicly opposed him.
He must clear an expansive array of hurdles this week as he seeks to be confirmed to one of the most influential positions in the U.S. government. As head of HHS, Kennedy would oversee powerful agencies, including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Food and Drug Administration, the National Institutes of Health and the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services.
Some of those duties, critics say, are in direct conflict with his longtime role leading Children’s Health Defense, which has grown into one of the largest anti-vaccine organizations in the world. The group has taken legal action against the federal government in which he now wants to serve. Kennedy recently disclosed that as of December he was no longer chair of the group.
One of Kennedy’s most outspoken critics has been Trump’s former vice president, Mike Pence, specifically on the issue of abortion. The scion of the Kennedy family, who initially ran as a Democrat against President Joe Biden before he registered as an independent, had said he embraced few restrictions on abortion.
“Abortion has been a notoriously divisive issue in America, but actually I see an emerging consensus — abortion should be legal up until a certain number of weeks, and restricted thereafter,” he said on X in May. “Once the baby is viable outside the womb, it should have rights, and it deserves society’s protection.”
Pence’s group, Advancing American Freedom, has launched ads combating Kennedy’s confirmation, saying he supports “abortion on demand.”
Last week, Kennedy’s many financial entanglements became public in a financial disclosure form he was compelled to file with the Senate. It opened a new line of questions, with some Democrats saying his potential payout in an ongoing court case involving the pharmaceutical giant Merck would be a direct conflict of interest should he be confirmed.
“RFK Jr. wants us to trust him to make healthcare decisions for millions of Americans. Meanwhile, he could make millions off of lawsuits against the same vaccine manufacturers he’d regulate as health secretary,” Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., said in a statement to NBC News. “RFK Jr. can’t keep Americans safe if he’s busy lining his own pockets.”
A Kennedy spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment about a potential conflict of interest.
Kennedy disclosed last week that he intended to keep a stake in a potential payout for an ongoing case against Merck over the Gardasil vaccine, which protects against HPV. Kennedy is connected to the case through the WisnerBaum law firm.
“I am entitled to receive 10% of fees awarded in contingency fee cases referred to the firm. I am not trying these cases, I am not an attorney of record for the cases, and I will not provide representational services in connection with the cases during my appointment to the position of Secretary,” his filing read.
He also said he would receive money tied to compensation involving the national Vaccine Injury Compensation Program.
“Prior to assuming the duties of my position, I will receive complete and final payment for all amounts owed to me from WisnerBaum for all concluded cases that involve claims against the United States, including any claims filed under the VICP.”
