The confirmation hearing for Health and Human Services Secretary hopeful Robert F. Kennedy Jr. got off to an explosive start when Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) turned up the heat, and a clash ensued. Kennedy met with lawmakers on Capitol Hill Wednesday morning, during which he was grilled about his anti-vaccine stance and potential conflicts of interest.
Warren demanded that RFK Jr. would promise to avoid conflicts of interest by refusing to accept money from drug manufacturers if he became HHS secretary. She also wanted to know if he would decline profiting off drug companies during litigation for at least four years after leaving the position. Warren explained that Kennedy earned sizable profits (to the tune of millions) from law firms by encouraging people to file lawsuits against drug and vaccine manufacturers, Mediaite reports.
But RFK Jr. did whatever he could to avoid answering, and the situation grew more heated as he claimed Warren was making him “sound like a shill.” (Maybe because he is one?)
The back-and-forth between the senator and the shill, er, HHS Secretary nominee became fiery.
WARREN: So, Mr. Kennedy, will you also agree that you won’t take any compensation from any lawsuits against drug companies while you are secretary and for four years afterwards?
Stay up-to-date with the latest news!
Subscribe and start recieving our daily emails.
KENNEDY: Well, I’ll certainly commit to that while I’m secretary, but I do want to clarify something because you’re making me sound like a shill! I did a Science Day presentation to the judge on that case to get it into court-
WARREN: Mr. Kennedy, it’s just a really simple question. You’ve taken in $2.5 million. I want to know if you will commit right now that not only will you not go to work for drug companies, you won’t go to work suing the drug companies and taking your rake out of that while you’re secretary and for four years after.
KENNEDY: I’ll commit to not taking any fees from drug companies while I am secretary.
WARREN: I’m asking about fees from suing drug companies. Will you agree not to do that?
KENNEDY: You’re asking me to not sue drug companies and I’m not going to agree to that senator!
WARREN: No! You can sue drug companies as much as you want!
KENNEDY: I am not going to agree to not sue drug companies or anybody.
WARREN: So let’s do a quick count here of how, as secretary of HHS, if you get confirmed, you can influence every one of those lawsuits. Well, let me start the list. You can publish your anti-vaccine conspiracies, but this time on U.S. government letterhead, something a jury might be impressed by.
KENNEDY: I don’t understand that!
WARREN: You can appoint people to the CDC vaccine panel who share your anti-vax views and let them do your dirty work (you tell ’em, Liz). You can tell the CDC vaccine panel to remove a particular vaccine from the vaccine schedule. You could remove vaccines from special compensation programs, which would open up manufacturers to mass torts. You could make more injuries eligible for compensation, even if there is no causal evidence. You could change vaccine court processes to make it easier to bring junk lawsuits. You could turn over FDA data to your friends at the law firm and they could use it however it benefited them. You could change vaccine labeling. You could change vaccine information rules. You can change which claims are compensated in the vaccine injury compensation program. There’s a lot of ways that you can influence those future lawsuits and pending lawsuits while you are secretary of HHS. And I’m asking you to commit right now that you will not take a financial stake in every one of those lawsuits so that what you do as secretary will also benefit you financially down the line.
KENNEDY: I’ll comply with all the ethical guidelines.
WARREN: That’s not the question.
KENNEDY: Senator, you’re asking me not to sue vaccine and pharmaceutical companies!
WARREN: No, I am not! My question is-
KENNEDY: Yeah, you are. That’s precisely what you are doing!
That RFK Jr. is a touchy critter, he is. Warren’s questions were pointed for a good reason. She knows he’s obfuscating, trying to lie by omission, and she wasn’t having it. She knows he’s massively unqualified for this job. His anti-vaxxer stance is dangerous for the country. He can force manufacturers to withdraw vaccines whenever he wishes to, and the fact that he refuses to comment as to whether he will remain neutral when lawsuits are filed and also won’t say whether he will take money from these lawsuits is the most enormous red flag I can think of. It proves he’s unqualified and, frankly, dangerous.
More people may die if this man assumes office. Of course, his boss, President Donald Trump, doesn’t care about this. He doesn’t care about the 400,000 Americans who died from Covid-19 under his watch. At the same time, he farted around with dumb and dangerous cures like Hydroxychloroquine and took forever to do anything decisive about the pandemic. Oh, and of course, I wondered if bleach could be a remedy.
I sure hope I don’t get sick any time soon. I’m a Type 2 diabetic, and RFK Jr.’s dumb ideas could cause problems I’m not prepared to deal with. Hopefully, he won’t become the next HHS Secretary. Still, considering how Republicans are bowing down to all of Trump’s nominees, I’m not holding my breath.
I’ve included a clip of the Warren/RFK Jr. throwdown below.
Featured image via YouTube screengrab
