16m ago “As a general matter, do you find it hard to tell what is a conspiracy theory and what isn’t? Is that a general deficit that you find in your own analytical abilities?” Virginia Sen. Tim Kaine, a Democrat, asked Kennedy, previously bringing up statements from Kennedy’s presidential campaign that, as president, he wouldn’t take sides on 9/11.
“My father told me when I was 13 years old, he said, people in authority lie, and that the job of a citizen in every democracy is fierce skepticism,” Kennedy said.
“You’re an authority, but you wouldn’t take sides on 9/11,” Kaine said. “And you’re admitting, I have a hard time telling what is a conspiracy theory and what isn’t.”
“Senator. I haven’t investigated it. People are allowed to hold that opinion. I’m not going to tell them they’re crazy for holding that opinion,” Kennedy said.
18m ago Sen. Tammy Baldwin sought to establish if Kennedy believes a drug where 98% or 99% of people have no complications is clinically safe.
Kennedy suggested those numbers may not be sufficient for a “healthy individual with zero risks.”
The Wisconsin Democrat said she is talking about the abortion drug mifepristone, which can be taken up to 10 weeks of gestation. Baldwin said the drug mifepristone has been FDA-approved for nearly 25 years, and more than 100 studies have confirmed that 99% of patients who took the pill had no complications.
Kennedy had a simple answer in response.
“With mifepristone, President Trump has not chosen a policy,” Kennedy said. “And I will implement his policy.”
20m ago Sen. Tammy Baldwin told Kennedy the studies and data he’s asking for on vaccine safety are already out there.
The Wisconsin Democrat said Kennedy told her there is no post-approval safety monitoring for vaccines, which she said leads her to believe he doesn’t know that monitoring already exists. She asked Kennedy if he’s aware of those monitoring systems.
Kennedy insisted he is, but said independent scientists aren’t allowed to look at enough information.
“I’m aware that they’re broken,” Kennedy said of all the post-vaccine monitoring systems.
Baldwin said she listed only some of the guardrails in place to make sure vaccines are safe and effective.
“If you want to take a second look at the science like you have said, well, it’s here,” Baldwin said. “It’s available. And it’s conclusive. And saying anything else is undermining vaccines.”
24m ago Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul, a Republican, did not use his time for a question. Speaking ahead of Murray, he instead called out his Democratic colleagues for criticizing Kennedy for being “open minded” on existing science.
I think really what we have up here is presupposition, you’ve already concluded,” he said. “That’s what this country’s about. What dissent is about. So I just ask you to look at the larger picture and give the guy a break who says, ‘I just want to follow the science, see where it leads’ without presupposition.”
After his statement, there were cheers and applause heard in the chamber.
28m ago Speaking to Kansas Sen. Roger Marshall, a Republican, Kennedy said he got “question after question from the Democrats about measles” at yesterday’s hearing.
“None of them mentioned diabetes. Didn’t mention heart disease, they didn’t mention cancers,” he said. “We need to refocus if we’re going to save our country.”
Marshall went on to say that Kennedy’s words, written and spoken, have been “so misattributed, exaggerated, sensationalized and taken out of context,” asking him about how ranchers fit into his MAHA — Make America Healthy Again — platform.
“Will you just speak to my farmers and ranchers back home and tell me, where do they fit in this role of MAHA?” he said.
“MAHA will not succeed without the cooperation and partnership of agricultural producers of farmers, ranchers across this country,” Kennedy said.
43m ago Democratic Sen. Patty Murray of Washington brought up Kennedy’s past statements in which Murray said Kennedy called the human papillomavirus, or HPV, vaccine dangerous and defective. The vaccine has been proven to significantly lower women’s risk of cervical cancer.
Murray asked Kennedy if he stands by those past statements.
Kennedy said he brought litigation on behalf of girls who believed the HPV vaccine harmed them.
Murray said her question was a “yes or no” question.
“Let me answer, Senator—” Kennedy said.
“It’s a simple yes or no,” Murray repeated.
Kennedy said, “Those questions will be answered by a jury in that trial.”
Pressed as to whether he encourages families to follow the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention schedule for their children, Kennedy responded, “I recommend that children follow the CDC schedule and I will follow the CDC schedule when I get in there.”
Murray also asked Kennedy if he would recommend that Americans get vaccinated against measles.
“Yes,” Kennedy said.
50m ago Sanders pressed Kennedy further on his vaccine views, following up on Cassidy’s questions.
“As I understand it, dozens of studies done all over the world that make it very clear that vaccines do not cause autism. Now you just said, If I heard correctly, ‘Well, if the evidence is there’ — the evidence is there,” Sanders said.
They then turned to the COVID vaccine.
“COVID vaccine successful in saving millions of lives?” Sanders asked.
“I don’t know. We don’t have a good surveillance system. Unfortunately, I don’t think anybody can say that. If you have science that shows —” Kennedy responded.
“Bobby, you say, if I show you — you’re applying for the job. I mean, clearly you should know this, and the scientific community has established that the COVID vaccine saved millions of lives. Your casting doubt, that is really problematic,” Sanders said.
55m ago Cassidy, the Republican chairman who spent 30 years as a doctor, pressed Kennedy repeatedly to answer whether he will “unequivocally” reassure Americans that the measles and Hepatitis B vaccines don’t cause autism, cutting Kennedy off when he wasn’t satisfied by the nominee’s answer
Cassidy spent years vaccinating children against hepatitis B to prevent serious disease in the future.
Kennedy. in the past has suggested those vaccines have links to autism.
“If you are approved to this position, will you say, unequivocally, will you reassure mothers unequivocally and without qualifications that the measles and hepatitis B vaccines do not cause autism?” the Republican senator pressed.
“Senator, I am not going into the agency—” Kennedy began to respond, before Cassidy cut him off.
“That’s kind of a ‘yes’ or ‘no’ question,” Cassidy said. “Because the answer is there.”
“If the data is there, I will absolutely do that,” Kennedy responded.
Cassidy noted that he worked on hepatitis B issues for years, and insisted that the data and studies have existed for a long time showing the vaccine does not cause autism.
“Then I will be the first person, if you show me data, I will be the first person to assure the American people that they need to take those vaccines,” Kennedy said.
Cassidy noted that Kennedy has recently cast doubt on these vaccines, when the Republican senator said these studies are much older. Cassidy asked Kennedy that if the data is brought to him, and these peer-reviewed studies have existed for a long time, will Kennedy clearly state there is no link.
“Not only will I do that, but I will apologize for any statements that misled people otherwise,” Kennedy said.
10:29 AM Kennedy posed a question in his opening statement, asking why health care costs are so high.
“The obvious answer to that question is chronic disease,” he said, offering an answer to his own question.
The nominee did not mention any other factors, like an inefficient health care system, insurance companies or even government mandates.
Kennedy said he wants to make sure federal funding doesn’t go toward food additives and unhealthy foods.
10:18 AM Speaking second, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, an independent who caucuses with Democrats, said Kennedy’s frequent phrase “make America healthy again,” is “a goal that all of us share,” but brought up several issues he wants addressed, including universal healthcare.
“I’m not quite sure how we can move to making America healthy again, unless we have the guts to take on the insurance companies and drug companies and guarantee health care for all people,” Sanders said.
He also brought up guaranteed paid family and medical leave.
“How do you have a healthy country when women are forced to go back, when women and men get fired because they stay home taking care of their sick kids? That’s not making America healthy again,” he said.
10:16 AM The hearing was called to order at 10:04 a.m., after Kennedy shook the hands of many of the senators on the panel.
Dr. Bill Cassidy, the committee’s chairman, opened the hearing, saying he and Kennedy are “totally” in agreement on limiting ultra-processed foods to curtail diabetes in the country.
“But it’s no secret I have some reservations about your past positions on vaccines and a couple other issues,” the Louisiana Republican said.
Cassidy practiced medicine for 30 years working in public hospitals in California and Louisiana, caring for those with liver disease.
Cassidy offered a story from his life about a patient he treated whose disease was preventable with a vaccine. That inspired Cassidy to work on a public-private partnership that vaccinated 36,000 children for hepatitis B.
“I know they save lives, I know they’re a crucial part of keeping our nation healthy,” Cassidy said.
The Republican senator said his phone “blows up” from constituents who follow Kennedy.
“And there are many who trust you more than they trust their own physician,” Cassidy said. “And so the question I need to have answered is, what will you do with that trust? Whether it’s justified or not … I have constituents who partly credit you for their decision to not vaccinate their child. Now that’s a real conversation.”
10:01 AM RFK Jr. arrived for the hearing at 9:46 a.m., flanked by aides.
His wife, Cheryl Hines, is present, too.
Smith spars with RFK Jr. over school shootings, antidepressants 06:49
Sen. Tina Smith, a Democrat from Minnesota, used part of her time during Wednesday’s hearing to revisit Kennedy’s stance on abortion, saying the answers he has given to the committee during his confirmation hearing indicate to her that the Trump administration “is more than willing to restrict or even ban medication abortion without a single act of Congress.”
“What is clear to me is that you and President Trump are dangerous to mifepristone,” Smith argued.
Smith went on to question Kennedy about his views on antidepressants, known as SSRIs.
Updated 9:15 AM Finance Committee Chairman Sen. Mike Crapo, a Republican from Idaho, wrapped up Wednesday’s hearing a little after 1:30 p.m., after more than three hours of questioning. He thanked RFK Jr. for the hours he spent outside of the hearing answering senators’ questions, saying he endured “the most thorough vetting process that any committee in this Congress puts anybody through.”
“I think that you have come through well and deserve to be confirmed,” Crapo said.
Bernie Sanders on common ground with RFK Jr. at Senate hearing 06:53
During Wednesday’s hearing, Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, an independent who caucuses with Democrat, said he strongly agrees with Kennedy’s efforts to make America healthy again, and then, he proceeded to ask him for a “yes” or “no” answer on universal health care.
“Do you agree with me that the United States should join every other major country on Earth and guarantee health care to all people as a human right?” Sanders asked.
“Senator, I can’t give you a yes or no answer to that question,” Kennedy said.
“In the way that free speech is a right,” he asked. “I would say it’s different, because with free speech, doesn’t cost anybody anything, but in health care, if you smoke cigarettes for 20 years and you get cancer, you are now taking from the poor.”
RFK Jr. asked about comments on COVID, AIDS, abortion 04:14
During Wednesday’s hearing, Sen. Michael Bennet, Democrat of Colorado, grilled Kennedy on statements he’s made in the past on several controversial topics, including COVID-19 and abortion — and reminded him of the weight of the job for which he’s been nominated.
“It doesn’t matter what you come here and say,” Bennet said. “That’s not reflective of what you really believe… Because unlike other jobs we’re confirming around this place, this is a job where it is life and death for the kids that I used to work for in the Denver Public School, and for families all over this country that are suffering from living in the richest country in the world that can’t deliver basic health care and basic mental health care to them.”
“It’s too important for the games you’re playing,” he told Kennedy.
Bennet said, “Out of 330 million Americans, we’re being asked to put somebody in this job who has spent 50 years of his life … peddling in half-truths, peddling in false statements, peddling in theories that create doubt about whether or not things we know are safe are unsafe.”
- Updated 9:00 AM What: Robert F. Kennedy Jr. appears before the Senate HELP Committee
- Date: Thursday, Jan. 30
- Time: 10 a.m. ET
- Location: U.S. Capitol, Washington D.C
- Online stream: Live on CBS News in the play above and on your mobile and streaming device.
