House Democrats on Thursday hammered Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a. notorious vaccine conspiracy theorist and Democratic presidential candidate boosted by numerous Trump allies, during his testimony before the so-called House Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government,
Appearing before the Jim Jordan-led panel, Kennedy denied that he is racist, Sinophobic or antisemitic after comments leaked over the weekend in which he appeared to cite a conspiracy theory that the coronavirus was "targeted to" certain ethnicities while Chinese people and Ashkenazi Jews had more immunity.
Kennedy defended himself, saying that "in [his] entire life," he had never "uttered a phrase that was either racist or anti-semitic."
"I have spent my life fighting, my professional career fighting for Israel, for the protection of Israel," Kennedy continued, conflating the state and government of Israel with all Jewish people.
"I have a better record on Israel than anybody in this chamber today," he claimed before accusing the Biden administration of launching a "genocidal program" in making a $2 billion payout to Iran.
"I'm the only one who's objected to that," Kennedy continued. "I've fought more ferociously for Israel than anybody, but I am being censored here. Through this target, through smears, through misinterpretations of what I've said."
"I wanna say this while I'm on the record that in my entire life ... I have never uttered a phrase that was either racist or antisemetic."
— The Recount (@therecount) July 20, 2023
— Robert F Kennedy Jr. testifying before the House Judiciary Weaponization of the Federal Government Subcommittee pic.twitter.com/h29XsmSYbt
Kennedy also insisted that he was not against vaccinations despite having previously peddled a range of conspiracy theories and misinformation on public health issues.
"I'm subjected to this new form of censorship," he claimed at the televised hearing, "which is called targeted propaganda, where people apply pejoratives like 'anti-vax.' I've never been anti-vaccine. But everybody in this room probably believes that I have been because that's the prevailing narrative."
The environmental lawyer and author's testimony before the committee followed 102 Democrats signing a letter earlier this week opposing his appearance over the comments recorded on video and released by the New York Post on Saturday.
In the video, which the outlet said was made during a press dinner in New York City last week, Kennedy can be heard spewing a series of false and misleading claims, including, "We don't know whether it [COVID-19] was deliberately targeted or not, but there are papers out there that show the racial or ethnic differential and impact."
"There is an argument that it is ethnically targeted," specifically against Caucasian and Black people, Kennedy is heard saying.
Health officials around the world have determined that the COVID-19 pandemic disproportionately killed some groups of people not because of their race but because of underlying health inequities often linked to racial discrimination.
During his testimony, Kennedy also alleged that Democrats were trying to censor him based on his views.
"'I've spent my life in this party. I've devoted my life to the values of this party," he said. "This — 102 people signed this. This itself is evidence of the problem that this hearing was convened to address. This is an attempt to censor a censorship hearing."
"If you think I said something that's antisemitic, let's talk about the details," Kennedy added. "I'm telling you, all the things that I'm accused of right now, by you and in this letter, are distortions, they're misrepresentations."
RFK Jr. at hearing on the weaponization of the federal government: "This is an attempt to censor a censorship hearing" pic.twitter.com/qo6954YiNT
— The Post Millennial (@TPostMillennial) July 20, 2023
Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, D-Fla., who initiated the letter alongside Reps. Dan Goldman, D-N.Y. and Judy Chu, D-Calif., did just that during the hearing. She described his comments as "despicable, antisemitic and anti-Asian" while invoking a committee rule on defamatory, derogatory and incriminating testimony that would have moved his testimony into executive session.
Republicans blocked Wasserman Schultz's measure in a 10-8 party-line vote, allowing Kennedy to proceed. But when the Florida Democrat later read off some of Kennedy's remarks in an attempt to "give him a chance to repair some of the harm that he's helped cause," Wasserman Schultz and Kennedy sparred.
"You're misstating—," Kennedy began before Wasserman Schultz interrupted to clarify that she quoted him.
"You are slandering me incorrectly. What you're saying is dishonest," Kennedy said, pointing angrily in her direction, while the congresswoman declared she was reclaiming her time.
When Wasserman Schultz asked him to renege on another past statement, in which he invoked Nazi Germany when complaining about COVID-19 health restrictions, Kennedy fired back, "what you are saying is a lie."
RFK Jr gets mad as Wasserman Schultz quotes a number of his outrageous comments pic.twitter.com/EpfPEKdutR
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) July 20, 2023
The top Democrat on the subcommittee, Del. Stacey Plaskett of the U.S. Virgin Islands, also tore into Kennedy ahead of his testimony Thursday, both slamming Kennedy for his comments and accusing her Republican colleagues of endorsing his remarks by giving him a platform.
"Why are we here?" Plaskett began, arguing that the hearing was doing nothing to aid "the everyday lives of Americans."
"Why would the Republican leadership in the committee majority give a hearing and a platform to the witnesses today, specifically to Mr. Kennedy, a man who has recently claimed that COVID-19 is targeted to attack Caucasians and Black people. The people who are most immune are Ashkenazi Jews and Chinese," Plaskett continued.
The Democratic delegate recounted some of Kennedy's other problematic comments, noting the "hyper superhuman" language from his film "Medical Racism, The New Apartheid" that alleged COVID-19 vaccines did not work for Black children because of their "kick ass kind of immune system" and citing his invocation of Nazi Germany in relation to pandemic restrictions.
"Now, many of my Republican colleagues across the dais will rush to cover that they have Mr. Kennedy here because they want to protect his free speech, that they do not believe in American censorship," she said. "This is not the kind of free speech that I know of, the free speech that is protected by the Constitution's First Amendment."
She admonished House Republicans, accusing them of using Kennedy's appearance at the hearing "to promote quasi-science, things such as the replacement theory that says that Brown people are replacing good White Americans here in this country."
"Let's not remember that this country first belonged to brown Native American people," she added.
She called the rhetoric "a rallying cry for bigotry and hate" and criticized her Republican colleagues who spout antisemitic claims, revel in white supremacist ideology and even deny the Holocaust without receiving any condemnation — but rather "chuckles, slaps on the back, shrugs" — from the Republican conference.
"It's a free country. You absolutely have a right to say what you believe," Plaskett continued. "But you don't have the right to a platform, public or private. We don't have to give one of the largest platforms of our democracy — Congress, this hearing. Our right does not mean that we as Americans are not free from accountability."
She added that it was distressing that Jordan and Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., invited Kennedy to speak despite being aware of his comments and called on other witnesses to make their points. McCarthy said earlier this week that he disagreed with everything Kennedy said but felt "censoring somebody" during a hearing on censorship was not the answer.
"They intentionally chose to elevate this rhetoric to give these harmful, dangerous views a platform in the halls of the United States Congress," Plaskett concluded. "That's endorsing that speech. That's not just supporting free speech. They have co-signed on idiotic, bigoted messaging."
Plaskett: "Even knowing what they know about Kennedy's hateful, evidence-free rhetoric, & even though they've invited any number of witnesses to make their point, McCarthy & Jordan's affirmatively chose to give this a platform... they have co-signed on idiotic, bigoted messaging" pic.twitter.com/7XYaDsm50J
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) July 20, 2023
Rep. Gerry Connolly, D-Va., lamented Kennedy's remarks, arguing that the 2024 presidential candidate is disgracing his family name by being an "enabler" of the GOP, which Connolly claimed was wielding Kennedy as a political prop against President Joe Biden.
"And no matter what you may think, Mr. Kennedy. And I revere your name. You're not here to propound your case for censorship," Connolly said.
"You are here for cynical reasons to be used politically by that side of the aisle to embarrass the current president of the United States. And you are an enabler in that effort today," he added.
"And it brings shame on a storied name that I revere. I began my political interest with your father. And it makes me profoundly sad to see where we have descended today in this hearing. I yield the balance of my time," he concluded.
Connolly to RFK Jr: "You are here for cynical reasons to be used politically by that side of the aisle to embarrass the current president, and you're an enabler in that effort today. And it brings shame on a storied name that I revere." pic.twitter.com/ocKOUZ25SN
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) July 20, 2023
Kennedy's bid for the presidency and challenge to Biden for the Democratic nomination has brought him much media and national attention but a new poll from the University of New Hampshire Survey Center found that Kennedy is lagging among the liberal voter base. Only 10% of Democratic primary voters support Kennedy, compared to Biden's 70%. The poll also showed that Kennedy, who has seen his most prominent support in conservative media figures, is a deeply unpopular figure among Democratic voters with just nine percent of respondents holding a favorable opinion of him compared to the 69% who said they did not.
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., echoed some of his colleagues' sentiments about Kennedy's campaign Thursday morning, dubbing the environmental attorney's presidential candidacy a "false flag operation" run by "right-wing political operatives" and the hearing a "malignant clown show" intended to "peddle outlandish and out of control conspiracy theories."
There is a big difference between legitimate congressional oversight.
— Hakeem Jeffries (@RepJeffries) July 20, 2023
And a malignant clown show. pic.twitter.com/8l0xd8HKMD
