Caroline Kennedy calls RFK Jr. a ‘predator’ and urges Senate to reject his nomination

In a letter Tuesday urging the Senate to reject Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s nomination for well being and human providers secretary, Caroline Kennedy referred to her cousin as a “predator.”

Caroline Kennedy, a former U.S. ambassador to Australia and the daughter of President John F. Kennedy, mentioned RFK Jr. was unqualified to steer HHS, which oversees 13 federal companies, together with the Meals and Drug Administration, Facilities for Illness Management and Prevention, and Facilities for Medicare & Medicaid Companies.

Amongst her many criticisms within the letter to the Senate Committee on Well being, Training, Labor and Pensions, Kennedy mentioned that “siblings and cousins who Bobby inspired down the trail of substance abuse suffered habit, sickness and loss of life.”

She additionally accused her cousin of missing any related expertise for the function and mentioned he holds “harmful and willfully misinformed” views on vaccines. She learn the letter aloud in a video posted on X by her son, Jack Schlossberg.  

“Bobby is hooked on consideration and energy,” Caroline Kennedy mentioned, utilizing her cousin’s nickname. “Bobby preys on the desperation of fogeys of sick youngsters — vaccinating his personal children whereas constructing a following by hypocritically discouraging different mother and father from vaccinating theirs.”

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. didn’t reply to shouted questions from reporters Tuesday concerning the letter or his affirmation listening to this week. A spokesperson advised NBC Information he wouldn’t be commenting.

He’s set to seem Wednesday earlier than the Senate Finance Committee for the primary of two hearings.

RFK Jr. is the founding father of Youngsters’s Well being Protection, a distinguished anti-vaccine activist group. He has repeatedly questioned the protection and effectiveness of routine vaccinations, corresponding to these for measles, hepatitis B and the flu. 

In her letter, Caroline Kennedy referred to a 2019 outbreak of measles in Samoa as proof of the implications of her cousin’s anti-vaccine rhetoric. Samoa’s director normal of well being has accused Robert F. Kennedy Jr. of waging a disinformation marketing campaign that stoked vaccine hesitancy on the time, although Kennedy has denied any accountability for the outbreak.

The letter additionally notes RFK Jr.’s intent to proceed amassing charges over lawsuits in opposition to the pharmaceutical firm Merck. The fits allege that the corporate didn’t correctly warn customers about negative effects related to its human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine, which reduces the chance of cervical most cancers. The CDC says the vaccine has a “reassuring security file.”

“Bobby is keen to revenue and enrich himself by denying entry to a vaccine that may stop virtually all types of cervical most cancers,” Caroline Kennedy wrote.

She additionally raised issues about her cousin’s “private qualities.”

“His basement, his storage and his dorm room had been the facilities of the motion the place medicine had been obtainable, and he loved exhibiting off how he put child chickens and mice within the blender to feed his hawks,” Caroline Kennedy mentioned. “It was typically a perverse scene of despair and violence.”

RFK Jr., whose father was a senator when he was assassinated whereas he was operating for president in 1968, ran for president himself as a Democrat after which as an unbiased, however he suspended his marketing campaign over the summer season. Shortly after, he endorsed Donald Trump and joined his transition crew. In November, Trump mentioned he was going to appoint RFK Jr. for HHS secretary. 

Caroline Kennedy mentioned she had avoided talking publicly about her cousin over the previous yr as a result of her function as a former ambassador and a want to not touch upon relations. Nonetheless, she mentioned within the letter that her father and different relations can be “disgusted” by her cousin’s actions. 

“Bobby expropriated my father’s picture and distorted President Kennedy’s legacy to advance his personal failed presidential marketing campaign, after which groveled to Donald Trump for a job,” she mentioned.

“Bobby continues to grandstand off my father’s assassination and that of his personal father,” she added. “It’s incomprehensible to me that somebody who’s keen to use their very own painful household tragedies for publicity can be put in control of America’s life and loss of life conditions.”