← Bannon`s War Room
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- [00:00]
Melanie
Ghosn of New Jersey, tell us who you're with. I'm with New Jersey Public Health Innovation Political Action Committee in New Jersey. And why are you here? I'm here to support Bobby because he supported New Jersey for almost a decade. And I wouldn't be any other place because he's always come to New Jersey when we've called him. And as everyone knows, in 2019, 2020, we preserve the religious exemption and we're forever indebted to him as well as all the advocates who showed up. Thank you so much, Melanie. So I'm here with Jill Pere and Amy Lizes and Amy Lisseski, also from New Jersey.
- [00:37]
Joe
We are.
- [00:37]
Melanie
So why are you here today?
- [00:38]
Rand Paul
To support Bobby. He was very supportive of us in Trenton in 2019.
- [00:43]
Melanie
I feel like he's done so much.
- [00:45]
Rand Paul
Good for the environment, and I just.
- [00:47]
Melanie
Think he will hopefully make some major changes in a very good direction. Well, tell us a little bit about the Battle of Trenton. What was that about? So the Battle of Trenton, December 2019. Many of us remember it so well. We were there every Monday and Thursday as the legislators met. We were there in January. We really were quite frightened we would lose our religious exemption. I sat in the assembly as I watched us lose in the assembly. And then we just continued to show up and pray and know that we weren't going away and that we have this right and it should never be taken away. And why is the religious exemption, why was that important to you? Well, we've had it, so why will we? Why should it be taken away? The timing was also quite suspicious. But, you know, I'm actually an educator and my own children would have been threatened with the potential of being kicked out of school. Right. So we should always know what's going in our bodies and we should always have that choice. And we have it now. And we thank him for that. Thank you, Joe.
- [01:58]
Steve Bannon
Okay, Wednesday, the 29th of January, in the year of our Lord 2025. You're in the war room today. Ladies and gentlemen, history on Capitol Hill. Robert F. Kennedy Jr. The son of the slain Bobby Kennedy, the brother of Jack Kennedy, is there for his confirmation hearing. And it's going to be a wild one. As we've told you and prepped you, we're going to need people at the ramparts today. 202-224-3121 is the Senate main switchboard. Also, Grace Chung, the queen of the trolls, is going to be putting a bill blaster. We want to get to those local offices. Also, you're going to have to stiffen some spines here. There's no doubt about that. And today so for the next, I don't know, 48, 72 hours, we're going to have Bobby Kennedy today and then tomorrow, doubleheader, Tulsi Gabbard, Cash Patel. So it's man the ramparts and all three of these, Cash probably being the safest, but we can't take anything for granted. Pam Bondi just came out of committee, voted at a committee 12 to 10 at a judiciary. They're trying to expedite this. Thune and Senator Thune, we got to get on this. So folks, you might want to call John Thune to start off with. There's a backlog because Democrats are playing games and quite frankly, we're not forcing the issue. We need to get these people up, up, up to the floor, through committee, up to the floor. We need our team. Russ Vogt, ombuds, you see this situation yesterday with the funding federal judge stepped in right now and we're going to cut live obviously to the Senate hearing when Robert F. Kennedy begins his opening statement. The rest of it would kind of be maybe when the minority of an ask my crack production team here, when we look at the Democrat, when they start reading, they're going to start reading Bobby Kennedy the riot act. So the CO head, the ranking member on the Democratic side, let me go and we'll cut right to that. Not the Republican. So today's a work day. Natalie Winters is at the White House. We're going to get her this afternoon when we have more to report on how the White House is driving the Kennedy nomination. Senator Rand Paul is scheduled to join us here momentarily. We wanted him, we thought he was the perfect pick to talk about this. We also Senator Tommy Tuberville will be in the 11 o'clock hour even maybe if we can get time. Senator Rand Paul joins us right now. Senator Rand Paul, thank you for coming to the war room today of all days. First off, sir, could you give him perspective since you're a doctor, walk through Bobby Kennedy's credentials. I mean, he's getting lit up overnight. These Democrats are coming in from every different direction. I think people look to you on the Republican side as a safe pair of hands of what's right. You're the guy that led the fight against Fauci, which we'll get to in a minute. Give us your perspective, sir, of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. As secretary of HHS.
- [04:48]
Rand Paul
You know, I think he's a disruptor, but I think it's necessary to disrupt Things we've gotten it wrong in public health for so long. I mean, we've actually recommended the wrong kind of food to eat. The pyramid's been upside down, the food pyramid. So much about public health has been wrong. And I think we need somebody new to come in. I think when people meet Bobby Kennedy and have a conversation with him, and I've heard this from other senators, they're impressed with his breadth of knowledge, his ability to discuss the specifics. But ultimately the things he's for are really not, shouldn't be that controversial. Transparency, open discussion of risks and benefits. Look, everything has risks and benefits. And some of it depends on your age, some of it depends on your weight, some of it depends on your lifestyle. There are all kinds of things that go into deciding whether to take a medication, to take a vaccine, to take chemotherapy. I mean, there are all kinds of questions that should be answered. This is what you want from your doctor and from your government is objectivity. And I think what's happened over the last few years is that the government has been dishonest with us and it has led to a great deal of distrust of government. The only way they get back is to have a truth teller who believes in transparency. I think Bobby Kennedy is that.
- [06:03]
Steve Bannon
I think people are pretty shocked when someone likes you says the government's been dishonest. So let's leave Foushee aside. Where have you seen and experienced actually the health apparatus, the big pharma health industrial complex, in sworn testimony or in things where they. In the government, where they should be. They should be honest and straightforward and transparent with the American people. Where have you seen them be dishonest in the past? And what should people be looking for?
- [06:32]
Rand Paul
Well, particularly with the COVID vaccine, I think that they were dishonest in the sense that there's a difference depending on how old you are, whether or not the risks exceed the benefits. So, for example, if this was March of 2020 and people were dying, a significant amount of people were dying in March of 2020. My advice would be, if you were in the risk category, I'd take your chances with the vaccine. I still think that the disease was worse than the vaccine for people probably over 60, over 65, particularly if you're overweight. But for people under 40 or under 30 in particular, or even under 20 who are thin and healthy, the risks of the vaccine actually exceed the of the vaccine. And this is absolutely true. And when the government said that everybody should be taking not just one, not just two, but also three Covid vaccines For six month olds. People don't believe that. And it's interesting if you look at the statistics, I think people are smarter than you give them credit for. Over age 65 in our country, 97% of people chose to get the vaccine in 2020 or 2021 when it came out. If you look at under age 20 today, it's about maybe 5 or 10% are giving their 5 and 10 year olds this vaccine because people are smart enough to know their kids aren't dying from COVID their kids aren't going to the hospital, they can't even tell when their kids get Covid. And the virus is actually much less dangerous now. So it's really not about being anti vaccine or pro vaccine. It's a nuanced position that I'm pro freedom. The government should give you honest information and then you can decide if you're a worry ward. You want to vaccinate your 5 year old with COVID vaccine. The harm is not real common, but there's about four to six chances in 10,000 they could get a significant enough heart inflammation that they would present to the emergency room with chest pain and elevated heart enzymes. If you're okay with those risks, do it. But that's what happens in a free country. We give you the information and I think because of the dishonesty over the COVID vaccine, because of the mandates, because of the hysteria, because of them being wrong on six foot of distance, being wrong on the mask, everything they told us was actually incorrect and actually led to more danger for us. I think because of that, people are now distrusting virtually anything the government says. And while I think a healthy dose of distrust is good, I think we also need transparency to bring back some trust.
- [08:54]
Steve Bannon
But Senator, I just want to go back to that. Were they wrong or they actually knew and they lied to us? I think it's the latter. But I'd like to hear your opinion. I remember you drilling and we covered, remember here at War Room, we covered those hearings wall to wall. It turns out I think they had facts and they thought the American people were too stupid and so they lied. Did they lie to us? Did they get it wrong? Or they knew what they were doing and they lied to us. What did they do?
- [09:22]
Rand Paul
Well, let's take masks. If you take masks, for example, we studied masks for probably 20 years preceding this and we knew for the 20 years preceding this and it was accepted by almost everybody, even in governmental pandemic circles. All the people always wringing their hands and wanting to be prepared. They Acknowledged that masks didn't work when they came on initially. The only time Anthony Fauci was honest is actually in private. He told his coworkers, you know, they don't work. You don't need to wear them. But within a couple of months, he was. Then he was wearing two and three masks. But where it's a real disservice is by telling people that cloth masks work. Let's say you're 75 years old and you go into your spouse's bedroom and they have Covid and you're going to feed them, and you really don't want to get Covid from them. Wearing a cloth mask is a disservice to tell you that that's safe. So we actually told you things that were unsafe to do and led to unsafe behavior. The same way, with six foot of distance, you would say, well, I'm at risk, I'm overweight, I have diabetes, and my spouse has Covid. I'll just stay six feet away from him. No, if you sit in the same room with them and it's a small room for 30 minutes, it travels across the entire room and throughout the house. So if you really were at risk, he gave you bad advice there, too. But did they know the trut? I think for the most part, they did know the truth. In fact, some people point to this as sort of a platonic lie or a noble lie in the sense that Anthony Fauci felt that the hoi polloi, the people are too stupid to make decisions for themselves. So he would make the decisions even if it weren't true. He thought, well, maybe there might be some net benefit for society, even though what I'm telling them isn't true. And I think that's a terrible approach to take. And why he should be harshly judged and I think will be by history.
- [11:05]
Steve Bannon
As a Roman Catholic, he's got a little bit too much Jesuit training. Senator Paul Bobby Kennedy is a disruptor. You're the strongest voice, the strongest pro freedom kind of libertarian voice in the United States Senate. Together, what can you two do together? What would be your recommendation to him to do one or two big things against the pharma medical industrial complex, because quite frankly, let's be blunt, it owns this town. MSNBC would be a test pattern if you took big Pharma's advertising off there every night. The big Pharma and big medical own this town. They own the lobbyists, they own big law firms. They've got the media on their side. They particularly got the left media that's been a flip. The left media, MSNBC is cheering this on, cheered it on during a pandemic. And you see, you know, 80% of their ads in primetime are related to Big Pharma. So what can the disruptor Bobby Kennedy and the Pro Freedom Libertarian Dr. Rand Paul do to take on Big Pharma Medical industrial complex?
- [12:08]
Rand Paul
Sir, I think we need to try to separate pharmacy companies from writing their own regulations and funding their own regulations. And that's been a real problem. In recent years. It's gotten even worse. So, for example, the patent on the MRNA vaccine for Covid is shared by Moderna Pfizer and the government through lawsuits. The government has said, oh, we own a portion of this patent. So Moderna gave them 450 million at the behest of the court. And then Pfizer, I think, gave them $800 million. And you say, well, that's only fair. The government scientists helped develop this. Yes and no. The problem with so much money going directly back to them is do you think that in the future decisions about Pfizer or Moderna drugs will be objective or based on the fact that they bring in over a trillion dollars to the FDA and to the nih? So I think what has to happen is that money, if it is appropriate to go to the government or back to the government, scientists shouldn't go directly into the NIH's pool of funds. It should go back to the treasury, and then the people's representatives should decide how to disperse it. But if you give people the incentive to gain more money from a certain company by having better behavior, you will get that kind of crony behavior, that crony capitalism, which is really what's been going on for decades. So I think he will be very good on this. What I'm surprised is, is that there are people on the left who are somewhat skeptical of big corporate influence in government, like Bernie Sanders. I would think he would leap at the chance to support Bobby Kennedy, and we haven't heard that. I'm still hopeful that some of these people who have been critics from the left would support Bobby Kennedy. If he can get a few Democrats, it'll make his journey to the nomination a lot easier. So I know he's talking to Democrats. I'm hoping some of them will come on board. But many of the things he says are consistent with that. On food, I think the number one thing we can do with food is the government should quit subsidizing bad food. So, for example, we have hundreds of millions of dollars every year, hundreds of billions of dollars, well, millions, I guess, each year spent on food stamps. We shouldn't have full strength Pepsi, Coke. We shouldn't have chips. We shouldn't have Twinkies and Ding Dongs. All these bad foods shouldn't be provided by the taxpayer because the biggest problem we have among the poor is actually overweight, obesity and diabetes. And we certainly shouldn't be subsidizing that. That's something I've talked to all the nominees about, including agriculture, because food stamps come out of agriculture. And I'm hoping the Trump administration can do something dramatic on what kind of food the government subsidizes.
- [14:45]
Steve Bannon
Senator Paul, you've been the tip of the spear about Anthony Fauci. We are banned on all platforms, not just for the election. Our correct call on the election of President Trump won in 2020, but also because of us going after Dr. Anthony Fauci. We're banned on every major platform, although we're still the second biggest podcast for politics in the country. Fauci, the pardon Tom Fenton is recommending from Judicial Watch. He's recommending to the President that the Justice Department do not effectuate those pardons. What are your thoughts about Fauci? You've been the biggest voice and the most reasonable voice, the most knowledgeable voice. Let me say, going after Fauci, exposing his lies to the public, and quite frankly, you caught him at, I don't know, two or 300 perjury traps during your testimony. What is your recommendation about Anthony Fauci?
- [15:34]
Rand Paul
You know, I can say that we're not done with him or the investigation. There's something very specific that I'm looking for. Anthony Fauci said that his people told him it was not gain of function research that happened in Wuhan wasn't dangerous and didn't need to go to the Safety Committee. For three, four years, I've been asking for the deliberations. I want to see the arguments that happened on why they skipped the Safety Committee. I want to know who was in the meetings and I want to know if the notes or the meeting was approved by Anthony Fauci or Francis Collins. But interestingly, I haven't gotten one piece of paper in four years that indicates any of the deliberations that went on on this research, which makes me think that there is something there. If Anthony Fauci or Francis Collins is connected to this approval process, they ultimately will come back in. Now, whether or not he goes to jail or not, I think he's tainted for all time now. I think history is going to judge him harshly. And by accepting this open ended pardon for what have you, we're going to fill in the blank of what have you. And filling in the blank is basically he is culpable for, you know, the millions of deaths through the pandemic. And he won't escape that in history because he will now been pardoned basically for that. But he's not done in the sense that people are pardoned. All also cannot take the fifth Amendment when asked about those particular issues. So we will bring him back in and I don't believe he'll be able to plead the fifth Amendment to us. So we'll see what happens. But we're moving rapidly on this. I issued 14 subpoenas in the last week. We are rapidly going after this information.
- [17:10]
Steve Bannon
Are you talking to John, John Ratcliffe at CIA? You've had two big leaks come out of the CIA or not even leaked statements. Number one, the lab leak theory, which remember we shifted to war room pandemic in mid January of 2020 off of war room impeachment. We were the first ones to break this story. We were the first ones to talk about Wuhan, because I'd been to Wuhan is Radcliffe saying now the CIA believes it was a lab leak theory and they withheld that information. And now the second shoe to drop. They actually think the Chinese Communist Party may on purposely released the gain of function, the powered up virus into the population. Are you coordinating with him? Are you sitting down with intelligence? Are you going to get the intelligence brief to see how deep this goes into the U.S. government and the Chinese Communist Party and the PLA?
- [17:59]
Rand Paul
Yes, I've subpoenaed documents from the CIA. We've gotten a production in the last couple of days from them. I've talked this over with Radcliffe in his nomination process. The interesting thing is we had a whistleblower six months, nine months ago come to us from the CIA and say that the scientists there had met internally and voted that they believed that the source of the virus, the source of the pandemic, was the lab. And then they were overruled by superiors. We're still gaining information on that debate. But in the process of asking for that information, surprisingly, the previous CIA director instituted a reevaluation two months ago and the conclusions came out actually under the Biden administration, but then were released by Radcliffe. So transparency is what we're really looking for. We voted unanimously in both the House and the Senate to declassify all of this material. And so I think Radcliffe is going to help us to Put shine light on it. But we now have Department of Energy, FBI and CIA all saying it came from the lab. So what we need to make sure is that this never happens again.
- [19:07]
Steve Bannon
Yeah. Senator Paul, we're going to jump to Bobby Kennedy's live testimony. We appreciate what's your social media now that Sergio's in the White House and not with you, we got to make sure that people can track you down and catch you all the time on social media.
- [19:21]
Rand Paul
Paul.senate.gov is good. We're on Facebook, we're on X, we're on Instagram, we're on. Wherever people go on the Internet, you can find us.
- [19:32]
Steve Bannon
Senator Rand Paul, thank you so much for joining us this morning. Appreciate you. Let's go live to Bobby Kennedy's confirmation hearing.
- [19:44]
Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
Chairman Grape thanking member Wyden and members of this distinguished committee. I'm humbled to be sitting here today as President Trump's nominee oversee the U.S. department of Health and Human Services. I want to thank President Trump for entrusting me to deliver on his promise to make America healthy again. I also want to thank Cheryl and Kik and Bobby and all of my other children who are here today and all the many members of my large extended family for the love that they have so generously shared. Ours has always been a family that has been involved in public service, and I look forward to continuing that tradition. My journey into the issue of health began with my career as an environmental attorney, working with hunters and fishermen and mothers in a small town in the Hudson Valley and along the Hudson River. I learned very early on that human health and environmental injuries are intertwined. The same chemicals that kill fish make people sick. Also today, Americans overall health is in grievous condition. Over 70% of adults and a third of children are overweight or obese. Diabetes is 10 times more prevalent than it was during the 1960s. Cancer among young people is rising by 1 or 2% a year. Autoimmune diseases, neurodevelopmental disorders, Alzheimer's, asthma, ADHD, depression, addiction, and a host of other physical and mental health conditions are all on the rise, some of them exponentially. The United States has worse health than any other developed nation. We spend more on health care, at least double and in some cases triple, as other countries. Last year, we spent 4.8 trillion, not counting the indirect costs of missed work. That's almost a fifth of GDP. It's tantamount to a 20% tax on the entire economy. No wonder America has trouble competing with countries that pay a third of what we do for health and have better outcomes and a healthier workforce. I don't want to make this too much about money. It's the human tragedy that moves us to care. President Trump has promised to restore America's global strength and to restore the American dream. But he understands we can't be a strong nation when our people are so sick. A healthy person has a thousand dreams. A sick person has only one. Today, over half of our countrymen and women are chronically ill. When I met with President Trump last summer, I discovered that he has more than just concern for this tragic situation, but genuine care. President Trump is committed to restoring the American dream, and 77 million Americans delivered a mandate to him to do just that, due in part to the embrace and elevation of the Make America Healthy Again movement. This movement, led largely by maha moms from every state. You can see many of them behind us today and in the hallways and in the lobbies, is one of the most transcendent and powerful movements I've ever seen. I promised President Trump that if confirmed, I will do everything in my power to put the health of Americans back on track. And I've been greatly heartened to discover a deep level of care among members of this committee, too, both Democrats and Republicans. I came away from our conversations confident that we can put aside our divisions for the sake of a healthier America. For a long time, the nation has been locked in a divisive health care debate about who pays when health care costs reach 20%. There are no good options, only bad ones. Shifting the burden around between government and corporations and insurers and providers and families is like rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic. Our country will sink beneath a sea of desperation and debt if we don't change the course and ask, why are health care costs so high in the first place? The obvious answer is chronic disease. The CDC says 90% of healthcare spending goes toward managing chronic disease, which hits lower income Americans the hardest. The President's pledge is not to make some Americans happy again, healthy again, but to make all of our people healthy again. There is no single culprit in chronic disease. Much as I have criticized certain industries and agencies, President Trump and I understand that most of their scientists and experts genuinely care about American health. Therefore, we will bring together all stakeholders in pursuit of of this unifying goal. Before I conclude, I want to make sure the committee is clear about a few things. News reports have claimed that I am anti vaccine or any industry. I am neither. I am pro safety.
- [25:37]
Rand Paul
We'll have order.
- [25:41]
Senator Wyden
Please proceed.
- [25:42]
Rand Paul
Mr. Kennedy.
- [25:43]
Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
I am pro safety. I worked for years to raise awareness about the mercury and toxic chemicals in fish, and nobody called me any fish. And I believe that vaccines play a critical role in health care. All of my kids are vaccinated. I've written many books on vaccines. My first book in 2014, the first line of it is, I am not anti vaccine. And the last line is, I am not anti vaccine. Or am I the enemy of food producers? American farms are the bedrock of our culture, of our politics, of our national security. I was a 4H kid and I spent my summer working on ranches. I went to work with our farmers. I want to work with our farmers and food producers, remove burdensome regulations and unleash American ingenuity. I simply cannot succeed without a partnership, a full partnership of American farmers. In my advocacy, I've often disturbed the status quo by asking uncomfortable questions. Well, I'm not going to apologize for that. We have massive health problems in this country that we must face. Honestly. The first thing I've done every morning for the past 20 years is to get on my knees and pray to God that he would put me in a position to end the chronic disease epidemic and to help America's children. That's why I'm so grateful to President Trump. The opportunity to sit before you today and seek your support and partnership in this endeavor. I will conclude with a promise. The members of this committee, to the President and to all the tens of millions of parents across America, especially the moms who have propelled this issue to center stage. Should I be so privileged as to be confirmed. We will make sure our tax dollars support healthy foods. We will scrutinize the chemical additives in our food supply. We will remove financial conflicts of interest from our agencies. We will create an honest, unbiased gold standard science at hhs, accountable to the President, to Congress, and to the American people. We will reverse the chronic disease epidemic and put the nation back on the road to good health. Thank you.
- [28:21]
Senator Wyden
Thank you, Mr. Kennedy.
- [28:23]
Senator Cassidy
Big victory on the 5th of November. Now the work can finally start on the big issues facing the country. One of the biggest is the national debt and the deficits that drive it. Hey, you think the country's broke? The country is broke. We're just printing money to keep this house of cards going. The strategy remains the same for you. You got to diversify, diversify your savings. That's why buy gold from Birch.
- [28:47]
Steve Bannon
Gold.
- [28:48]
Senator Cassidy
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- [32:22]
Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
Mr. Kennedy, I will begin. Each of us will have five minutes.
- [32:26]
Rand Paul
To ask you questions and then at the conclusion of the hearing, if there are further questions.
- [32:31]
Steve Bannon
Okay, here's what we're going to do. We're going to go back as we normally do. The Republicans are to ask him. I don't think softballs will ask him questions. It's the Democrats are going to come after him. I think it's quite important. I want this to be a, a teaching moment. One of the things we're focused on here is the, is the established order and how the established order runs the deal in the United States. There's not really a difference between Republicans and Democrats. They're two sides of the same neoliberal, neocon coin, to wit, the Wall Street Journal, Rupert Murdoch. I haven't seen Paul Gigio. I can say this. Paul Gigio has a person he hates more than Steve Bannon, and that is Bobby Kennedy. The Murdoch apparatus is all in on takedown of Bobby Kennedy. Okay, now we start off this with Wyden. Wyden, Senator Wyden. You remember Wyden from Scott Besant from the, from the, from the, from. Just give me a heads up. We'll go back to Bobby live as soon as he gets asked a cheap shot question. You remember Wyden with Scott Besant. And Scott Besant did what we recommend to everybody. When a guy like Wyden ask a wise guy a question. Take a deep breath. Scott adjusted his glasses, very professorial, and that's a tell with him. And then in a very calm manner, he went, he just lit up Wyden about what a moron he was in a very gentlemanly way. And that sent a message. You never saw, really a tough question coming from any of the other Democrats the rest of the day. Why? Because Scott showed him right there that he knows ten times more about the topic than they do. And if you want to be made a fool on Global television. We're right here to do it. Wyden had that opportunity today. He's the ranking member. Remember the structure. You have, you have. We control the committee. Okay, let's go. We're going to go back live. I'll continue this lesson. Let's go back live to the Senate.
- [34:23]
Senator Warner
Conflicting stories about vaccines. You say one thing and then you say another. In your testimony today, under oath, you denied that you were anti vaccine. But during a podcast interview In July of 2023, you said, quote, no vaccine is safe and effective. In your testimony today, in order to prove you're not anti vax, you note that all your kids are vaccinated. But in a podcast in 2020, you said, and I quote, you would do anything, pay anything to go back in time and not vaccinate your kids. Mr. Kennedy, all of these things cannot be true. So are you lying to Congress today when you say you are pro vaccine or did you lie on all those podcasts? We have all of this on tape.
- [35:20]
Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
By the way, Senator, as you know, because it's been repeatedly debunked. That statement that I made on the Lexus Friedman podcast was a fragment of the statement. He asked me, and anybody who actually goes and looks at that podcast will see this. He asked me, are there vaccines that are safe and effective? And I said to him, some of the live virus vaccines are. And I said, there are no vaccines that are safe and effective. And I was going to continue. For every person, every medicine has people who are sensitive to them, including vaccines. He interrupted me at that point. I've corrected it many times, including on national tv. You know about this, Senator Wyden, so bringing this up right now is dishonest.
- [36:09]
Senator Warner
Let's be clear about what you've actually done then since you want to deny your statements. For example, you have a history of trying to take vaccines away from people. In May of 2021, you petitioned the Food and Drug Administration to not only block Americans from having access to to the COVID vaccine, but to prevent any future access to the life saving vaccine. Are you denying that your name is on the petition?
- [36:41]
Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
We brought that petition after CDC recommended COVID vaccine without any scientific basis or six year old children. Most experts agree today, even the people who did it back then at Covid, vaccines are inappropriate for six year old children who basically have a zero risk from COVID That's why I brought that lawsuit. I don't want to.
- [37:10]
Senator Warner
I want to emphasize, Mr. Kennedy, the facts, the facts.
- [37:21]
Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
The committee will be in order.
- [37:24]
Rand Paul
And to the audience.
- [37:28]
Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
Senator I'm not against you.
- [37:30]
Rand Paul
Hold off for a second, Mr. Kennedy, to the audience.
- [37:34]
Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
Comments from the audience are inappropriate and out of order.
- [37:37]
Rand Paul
And if there are any further disruptions, the committee will recess until the police can restore order.
- [37:45]
Senator Wyden
Please follow the rules of the committee.
- [37:47]
Rand Paul
Mr. Kennedy, you may proceed.
- [37:49]
Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
I also want to point out that you're recitation of what happened in Samoa is absolutely wrong. And you know it's wrong. And you know it's wrong.
- [37:59]
Senator Warner
We'll get to that in a moment. Right now we're talking about the petition that you filed to block Americans from having access to the vaccine and to prevent any future access to the vaccine. Those facts are on the record. My third question to you is you made almost $5 million from book deals, mostly promoting junk science. In 2021, in a book called the Measles Book, you wrote that parents had been misled into believing that measles is a deadly disease and that measles vaccines are necessary, safe and effective. The reality is measles are in fact deadly and highly contagious, something that you should have learned after your lives contributed to the deaths of 83 people, most of them children, in a measles outbreak in Samoa. So my question here is, Mr. Kennedy, is measles deadly? Yes or no?
- [38:54]
Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
The death rate from measles, historically in this country, in 1963, the year before the introduction to the vaccine, was 1 in 10,000. Let me explain what happened in Samoa. In Samoa, in 2017 or 2015, there were two kids who died following the MMR vaccine. The vaccination rates in Samoa dropped precipitously from about 63% to the mid-30s. So they've never been very high. In 2018, two more kids died following the MMR vaccine and the government in Samoa banned the MMR vaccine. I arrived a year later when vaccination rates were already below any previous level. I went there. Nothing to do with vaccines. I went there to introduce a medical informatic system with digitalized records in Samoa and make health delivery much more efficient. I never gave any public statement about vaccines. You cannot find a single Samoan who will say I didn't get a vaccine because of Bobby Kennedy. I went in June of 2019. The Measles Housebreak started in August. Oh, clearly I had nothing to do with the measles. Not only that, Senator. Not only that. If you let me finish that you.
- [40:18]
Senator Warner
Have had some time.
- [40:19]
Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
If you let me finish, Senator, if you Let me finish. 83 people died when the tissue samples were sent to New Zealand. Most of those people did not have measles. We don't know what was killing them. The same outbreak occurred in Tonga and Fiji and no extra people died. There were seven measles outbreaks in the 13 years prior to my arrival would.
- [40:44]
Senator Warner
Like to get my time back. The nominee wrote a book saying that people had been misled into believing that measles is a deadly disease. He's trying now to play down his role in Samoa. That's not what the parents say. That's not what Governor Greene says. It's time to make sure that we blow the whistle on actually what your views are. At least we're starting.
- [41:05]
Rand Paul
We need to move on.
- [41:06]
Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
Senator, 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 it.
- [41:17]
Senator Warner
Anybody who believes that on a look at the measles book you wrote saying parents have been misled into believing that measles is a deadly disease. That's not true.
- [41:27]
Rand Paul
We need to move on.
- [41:28]
Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
Senator Grassley, welcome.
- [41:34]
Steve Bannon
I'm going to. Let's take it back. Grassley could get interesting. We'll check in there in a second. Wyden is providing air cover right now for Big Pharma. This is why I think in this town, as I say Republicans and Democrats, the labels mean nothing. Either populist nationalists or you're globalist elite. Either believe in America first, American citizens first, or you're a neoliberal neocon. Two sides of the same coin. Who's coming after Bobby Kennedy today is in defending Big Pharma is the Murdoch enterprise, particularly the Wall Street Journal, Paul Gio and these guys are off the chain. And coming after Bobby Kennedy now you just see right there, Wieden with softball. And it's kind of opening. And he's getting lit up still on social media. He's getting lit up as a defender of. And this is the Democrat, this is the ranking member. He's getting lit up as a defender of the. Of big Pharma and Bobby Kennedy. And this is one of the things we want to make sure that everybody understands because these hearings provide two things. If you want to do a blocking, number one, excuse me, you can. You can vote them down. And because of your efforts, that's not going to happen. That's not going to happen. Or you can get them off the one or two things. This is what we asked Rand Paul, the one or two big things that you want to accomplish. Let's go back in time to Matt Gaetz. Remember the day that Matt Gaetz went to Capitol Hill with JD Vance and they walked around and met certain senators. And then later in the day, it was leaked that Matt Gaetz had to promise what? Not to go after msnbc, not to go after Fauci, not to go after, you know, the people that came after the president. He had committed this in the room. Now, I didn't believe it, but you could see what's already happening. They want to box in. If they can't defeat a Trump nominee, they want to box it in. They want to box it in. And that's what you're seeing right now, to force Bobby Kennedy to say, I support the polio vaccine, I support the measles vaccine. I'm not making. I'm not opining whether that's right or wrong or not. I'm telling you the kind of statics and dynamics of how these things work. They actually believe, ladies and gentlemen, that they can defeat Bobby Kennedy. There was a time they thought some Democrats might vote for him, but I think right now they think the momentum has shifted back. They think it's shifted back to actually this thing could be a coin flip. And so this is all about performance of Bobby Kennedy today in going through this. And this could be a tough one. Of course, a lot of the war, some of the war and posse is already in the room. There was a huge line outside today and Claire Dooley, the great filmmaker was out there doing interviews. The Children's Health Defense was out there. Mary Holland, who's the president, they were out doing interviews of people in the crowd, in the line, tons of supporters. But you can tell there's some non supporters also in there. I think some people maybe even a little even farther in more of a disruptor than Kennedy going. Both type of disruptors. Like I said, we will go back to all the Democrat questions because that's where the meat and the sustenance is going to be. Just to put in perspective, we try to get Senator Tuberville in here momentarily. Don't know if we're going to be able to pull that off. In our particular, where the hearing is going, Kerry Lake, I think we're going to bump her this afternoon. We're going to go to the White House live for Natalie. So much going on overnight. So, so the. So this two memos came out yesterday in the deconstruction administrative state. Number one was this, hey, we're stopping all funds flow until we get a handle around it. I believe this came because if you saw us, the executive orders or executive actions, President Trump's taken the last 48, 72 hours about USAID, about who things that are very high in the war room posse's agenda, right. Of shutting down and making sure are gone. There would be reports afterwards of things like EPA and the Green New Deal. And we showed you that headline from the Financial Times last week to talk about $300 billion. Remember that quote unquote carved back by President Trump or impound it. Remember the word impoundment? Write that one down because that's going to be a major, a major issue. This is where Congress has authorized it, right? Appropriated it. Remember, appropriations is a law. They've appropriated money. But the theory of the case is that's the ceiling, not the floor. That's the ceiling. And not even a hard target that you can the president by executive action carve back on that. That is quite controversial. I think that that might actually go to the Supreme Court if the opposition can find can get standing. So what happens over the last 72 hours is two things. Number one, they put out basically a OMB directive to say full stop, no transfers, no grants. Essentially how everything in the government is essentially financed except stuff that's direct. And there was a firestorm. I believe this exercise was to show where the money's going. But also with the feedback you saw last night, in particular msnbc, they go through hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of programs and people start asking the question, we fund all this because remember, to deconstruct the administrative state and particularly to cut spending, which Doz has to do with omb, you're going to have a fight and you're going to have to have an unpleasant conversation. You're not going to. This discretionary spending and even the Medicaid spending hasn't gotten where it's gotten without both parties being cool with it. This is the controlled opposition of the Republican Party. So this will part of it was I think to expose that a federal judge in Obama appointee, one of the most radical judges in the D.C. circuit. And you know how bad they are given J6 she's put a temporary restraining or a stay on this until Monday when both sides are going to get in there and argue it. Although I think she even said, hey, I got to see some specific damages from potential plaintiffs to see if this is just not government action. Now, the case that other people make and say, hey Johnson, this is all in the CR that you just kicked the can down the road. This is a Republican House, the Speaker, what's your beef? You're Republicans, your guys, your town that doesn't know, you know, where the money's going. This is the heart of the matter. This also gets back to this theory of the unified executive. You've got the he's the chief executive officer. He's the commander in chief. He's also, wait for it, the chief magistrate and the chief law enforcement officer. So you'll give me a heads up when Bobby's, when Bobby's back for the Democrat. So the question with Trump is, hey, I see where that, yes, I see where the appropriations bill is. I see where this has gone. It doesn't mean that we're not going to think through how we cut this from the executive branch point of view. And we've got omb. That's why. And remember, please, this is why Russ vote is so important now. Russ vote has not been confirmed. This gets back to our situation with Thune. The number is 202-224-3121. Today you can take two actions. Number one, call John Thune's office, allow his staff to know that it's quite important that we expedite, we expedite the hearings and the votes at a committee. We break cloture and we get to the floor that it's taken too long to get Pam Bondi. It's too long for Russ vote. We don't want to wait for Cash Patel or Tulsi Gabbard, particularly Bobby Kennedy. We got to get on with it. It's only a handful of people have been only a handful of people have been, have been approved. So we got to get on with that. So 202-224-3121 make sure you call up Thune and be polite but firm. We got to get on with this. And people should be working all night. I don't know why they're knocking off over there. I don't know whether they're not working all weekends. You know, this was committed to the president where you get these and we, and you know, Trump right now is all gas, no brake. It's all pedal, no brake as it should be. So that's number one. This was huge, right? Could have been done a little tighter. Hey, maybe. But you know, people are rolling hard. There's like I said, there's a dozen major things every day. It's flood the zone. You don't want the enemy, the people, the mainstream media cannot get a grip on this. They came in, there's a half a dozen, I said yesterday, half a dozen to ten things every day they get a blip in. They get A blip on the Associated Press. They get a blip on the Hill. But nobody even does any in depth research because it's just too much. They're too overwhelmed. Of course, the other thing, big besides the 17 inspector generals and the 160 detailees getting sent home, all types of structural things. Then last night, another bomb, and I believe this is coming from the doe. So one was omb, right. Working with Stephen Miller. And what I will do. Bobby's still filibustering. We haven't gotten to the. We haven't gotten to a Democrat. I'd love. Bob, Bobby's gonna filibuster the hell out of this thing, right? It's Corny. Corny's fine. He's a. I was down in Texas. Corn is going to have a big issue in this, in this reelect of the grassroots down there. They got Corn and Target. The other big thing, this came from Doge. So one came from omb. And this was massive. The massive. Hey, stop. All the 3 trillion. We want to see where all the money is. People are shocked. Think the President's shocked about every program, every funding, all the NGOs. I've got it up on Getter. I think I gave it to Natalie. I think Alex Jones put it up too. There's an amazing like infographic of the thousands and thousands of NGOs that are all supported by this. Remember, it's a racket. It's a total racket. So part of that was a learning exercise. Number two, the other big one, and this came, I think from the DOGE guys. This another blockbuster. They kind of put the, they put the administrative state on notice. They said, hey, you got a date to return to the office to come back? Number one. Number two, we're going to give every employee an option by. I think, I think it's February 8th, today's January 28th, yesterday by February 8th. We need you to make a decision if you want to stick around. There's a new sheriff in town to be new rules and regulations. You've got to work from office, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. Or you can take a buyout. Now a buyout is people in media companies know this buyout, particularly in restructurings or turnarounds or like in a failing company, like most media companies today, mainstream media, they offer buyouts which really they give a. Okay, I'm going to get back to this. Let's go back to the Senate floor. Bobby Kennedy, take another incoming from a.
- [52:27]
Senator Wyden
Democrat this morning here in the U.S. senate. And this committee is being asked to fulfill a really important responsibility, which is to decide whether to confirm Mr. Kennedy to one of the most important health care jobs in America. And the reason I think it's so important is for many of the reasons you said in your opening statement, which is that we live in the richest country in the world and we have some of the worst health outcomes of any industrialized country in the world. We live in the richest country in the world, and we have some of the lowest life expectancy rates of anybody in the industrialized world. I was a school superintendent before I was in this job, Mr. Chairman, and I can tell you that. But Mr. Kennedy's right. You know that when I look at the kids in the Denver Public Schools, if we don't change the way we eat in this country, 40% of them are going to suffer adult on site, adult diabetes as a result of their diet. These are. And we're, as I said, spending more than any other country in the world. And our families, every single person's constituents in this Senate, are facing chronic shortages when it comes to health care. My friend from Texas, Senator Cornyn, has been a champion on mental health care. We have an epidemic, as he knows, across this country in mental health care, partly because of what the massive social media platforms that were sitting behind the President of the United States have inflicted on our children for their profit in the last decade or so. So we have no shortage of challenges to confront. And I even agree with some of the diagnosis of Mr. Kennedy. What is so disturbing to me is that out of 330 million Americans, we're being asked to put somebody in this job who has spent 50 years of his life not honoring the tradition that he talked about at the beginning of this conversation, but peddling in half truths, peddling in false statements, peddling in theories that create doubt about whether or not things that we know are safe are unsafe. Not that every vaccine in America is unsafe, not that you can't possibly have an adverse reaction, but that parents and children in my old school district and school districts all this country would be better off not getting vaccinated than getting vaccinated. Unlike his own children who were vaccinated, unlike the people he invited to his house in Los Angeles for their party who were vaccinated. For everybody else, it's about peddling these half truths. And he says it with such conviction that you want to believe him. And Mr. Kennedy, I just have some. There are many, many things in the record. But I hope that you could answer these questions, yes or no. I've tried to ask these in a manner that's faithful to what you actually said because I didn't want to have a debate about whether you actually said them. So I'm asking you yes or no, Mr. Kennedy. Did you say that COVID 19 was a genetically engineered bioweapon that targets black and white people but spared Ashkenazi Jews and Chinese people?
- [56:03]
Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
I didn't say it was deliberately targeted. I just quoted an NIH funded an NIH published study.
- [56:14]
Senator Wyden
Did you say that it targets black and white people but spared Ashkenazi?
- [56:18]
Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
I quoted a study. Your Honor, I quoted an NIH study that showed that.
- [56:22]
Senator Wyden
I'll take that as. I have to move on. I have to move on. Did you say that Lyme disease is highly likely a materially engineered bioweapon? I made sure I put in the highly likely. Did you say Lyme disease is a highly likely militarily engineered bioweapon?
- [56:44]
Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
I probably did say that.
- [56:45]
Senator Wyden
Did you say that?
- [56:46]
Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
That's what the developer of.
- [56:48]
Senator Wyden
I want all of our colleagues to hear it, Mr. Kennedy. I want them to hear it. You said. Yes. Did you say that exposure to pesticides causes children to become transgender?
- [57:00]
Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
No, I never said that.
- [57:01]
Senator Wyden
Okay. I have the record that I'll give to the chairman, and he can make his judgment about what you said. Did you write in your book and I. It's undeniable that African AIDS is an entirely different disease from Western AIDS? Yes or no, Mr. Kennedy?
- [57:19]
Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
I'm not sure. If I may.
- [57:20]
Senator Wyden
I'll give it to the chairman, Mr. Kennedy. And my final question. Did you say on a podcast, and I quote, I wouldn't leave it abortion to the states? My belief is we should leave it to the woman. We shouldn't have the government involved, even if it's full term. Did you say that, Mr. Kennedy?
- [57:41]
Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
Senator, I believe that every abortion is a tragedy.
- [57:44]
Senator Wyden
Did you say it, Mr. Kennedy? This matters. It doesn't matter what you come here and say. That isn't true. That's not reflective of what you really believe that you haven't said over decade after decade after decade. 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 Schools 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 that you're playing, Mr. Kennedy. And I hope my Colleagues will say to the president, I have no influence over him. I hope my colleagues will say to the President, out of 330 million Americans, we can do better than this.
- [58:38]
Rand Paul
Thank you. We need to move on. Senator Cassidy.
- [58:45]
Senator Cornyn
Mr. Kennedy, President Trump has sworn to protect Medicare. Republicans are exploring reforms to Medicaid that could help pay for Trump administration priorities. With this context, what will you do about dual eligibles? About dual eligibles?
- [59:04]
Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
Well, dual eligibles are not right now, served very well under the system. Those are people who are eligible for both Medicaid and Medicare. And, you know, I suppose my answer to that is to make sure that the programs are consolidated, that they're integrated and the care is integrated. I look forward to working with you, Dr. Cassidy, on making sure that we take good care of people who are.
- [59:37]
Senator Cornyn
Too ill. And how would we. How do you propose that we integrate those programs? Does Medicare pay more? Medicare pay less. Medicaid pay more. Medicaid pay less. How do we do that?
- [59:48]
Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
Well, I'm not exactly sure because I'm not in there. I mean, it is difficult to integrate them because Medicaid is. Medicare is under a fee for service is paid for by employer taxes. Medicaid is fully paid for by the federal government, and it's not fee for service. So I do not know the answer to that. I look forward to exploring options with you.
- [60:24]
Senator Cornyn
Republicans again, are looking at ways to potentially reform Medicaid to help, you know, pay for President Trump's priorities, but to improve outcomes. What thoughts do you have regarding Medicaid reform?
- [60:38]
Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
Well, Medicaid is not working for Americans, and it's specifically not working for the target population. Most Americans, like myself, I'm on Medicare Advantage. I'm very happy with it. Most people who are on Medicaid are not happy. The premiums are too high, the deductibles are too high, the networks are narrow. The best doctors will not accept it. In the best hospitals, particularly. Medicaid was originally designed for a target population, the poorest Americans. It's now been dramatically expanded. The irony of the expansion is that the poorest Americans are now being robbed. Their services have dramatically dissing decrease. Even though we've increased the price of Medicare by 60% over the last four years, the target population is being robbed. Other options.
- [61:36]
Senator Cornyn
Obviously you've thought about that, and I appreciate that. What reforms do you recommend, again, that would improve services, I suppose, but also make it more cost efficient?
- [61:48]
Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
President Trump has given me the charge of improving quality of care and lowering the price of care for all Americans. There are Many things that we can do. The ultimate outcome, I think is to increase transparency, increased accountability, and to transition to a value based system rather than a fee based system, than a service based system.
- [62:17]
Senator Cornyn
On Medicaid in particular, can you just kind of take those kind of general principles and apply it to the Medicaid program?
- [62:26]
Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
Listen, I think that there are many, many options with telemedicine, with AI right now. And there's a including direct primary care systems. We're seeing that movement grow across the country. There is one of the largest providers.
- [62:48]
Senator Cornyn
So going back to Medicaid though, and speaking of these specific advances, how would you, what reforms are you proposing with these ideas vis a vis Medicaid?
- [62:59]
Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
Well, I don't have a broad proposal.
- [63:03]
Senator Cornyn
For dismantling the program, of course not saying that.
- [63:07]
Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
I think what we need to do is we need to experiment with pilot programs in each state. We need to keep our eye on the ultimate goal, which is value based care, which is transparency, accountability, access.
- [63:20]
Senator Cornyn
And one more thing going back to Medicare, you mentioned you're an ma. You mentioned earlier the Medicare fee for service. Do you have any kind of thoughts as to whether or not patients on fee for service should move into MA or how should we handle that? Whether patients who are on Medicare fee.
- [63:40]
Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
For service and traditional Medicare, yes, that's their choice right now. I mean we have I think 32 million Americans or 30 million Americans on Medicare, on traditional Medicare and then another 34 or 30, 34 on Medicare Advantage, roughly half and half. And I think more people would rather be on Medicare Advantage because it offers very good services, but people can't afford it. It's much more expensive. In answer to your first question, there are all kinds of exciting things that we can be doing, including cooperatives, which President Trump has supported, including health savings accounts, which President Trump has supported. All of these things to make people more accountable for their own health.
- [64:35]
Senator Cornyn
And so we'd bring the cooperatives and the health savings accounts into Medicare and Medicaid.
- [64:39]
Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
Exactly. We try to, we try to increase those, the use of those and to direct primary care to continue to transition into a value based program that is private. Americans don't by and large do not like the Affordable Care Act. People are on it. They don't like Medicaid, they like Medicare and they like private insurance. We need to listen to what people they would prefer to be on private insurance. Most Americans, if they can afford to be, will be on private insurance. We need to figure out ways to improve care, particularly for elderly, for veterans, for the poor. In this country. And Medicaid, the current model, is not doing that. I would ask any of the Democrats who were chuckling just now, do you think all that money, the $900 billion that we're sending to Medicaid every year has made Americans healthy? Do we think it's working for anybody? Are the premiums low enough?
- [65:51]
Rand Paul
We do need to move on, Senator Warner.
- [65:55]
Joe
Well, I gotta tell you, for literally hundreds of thousands of Virginians, Medicaid is what prevents them from health crises on a daily and weekly basis and some imaginary new plan. And if there was a new plan that was to be the basis of what Trump was going to do when repealing Obamacare, I would have thought by now we'd have seen it. I got to tell you.
- [66:20]
Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
Listen, Senator.
- [66:22]
Joe
Mr. Kennedy, I got questions. I appreciate our visit. I know you take your views seriously, and I don't reflexively vote. I voted for four of President Trump's nominees. Already got a lot of grief from folks on this panel. But I gotta tell you, I saw an email that you put out Monday night, or your campaign did. In a fundraising email, your presidential campaign celebrated that the freeze on all new regulations, guidance and announcements is a way to protect unelected bureaucrats from further undermining our health freedom. Then you ask your donors to help pay for your campaign debt. Did your campaign. And you put out that.
- [67:04]
Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
I don't think my campaign exists anymore.
- [67:07]
Joe
Well, listen, I got to tell you this. Somebody's out there soliciting money for it. Maybe you ought to find out who is. So the fact that you celebrate this freeze, do you think that was a good idea to put all of this on hold for 90 days funding and any kind of further work?
- [67:25]
Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
NIH Research, as chairman Crapo pointed out.
- [67:30]
Joe
I'm not asking for. I love Mike Crapo, I'm asking you. You're up very, very important position.
- [67:35]
Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
As he pointed out, Senator, the portals that were closed were not closed as a result of the Trump administration.
- [67:42]
Joe
Let me just tell you. I'd like you to explain. Excuse me, sir. I'd like you to explain to a domestic violence center in Richmond that's saying because this freeze, they may have to close down. Where are those battered women to go? Or a rural nonprofit? I've gotten the Chino Valley saying that freeze is going to potentially shut down their ability to operate. So I don't. I guess if you deny or don't know what your campaign's sending out, you don't know if you raised a lot of money Monday night.
- [68:09]
Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
I'm saying that the Trump administration.
- [68:12]
Joe
You don't know if you raised a lot of money.
- [68:14]
Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
The Trump administration has made clear and it does not want to freeze benefits for any American under Medicaid or Medicare. And I do not want Medicare.
- [68:25]
Joe
The freeze is affecting beyond Medicare and Social Security. I would hope you would have known that to be able to answer some of this. Now, you've said publicly you want to immediately get rid of 600 NIH workers on job one. On day one, when we had our meeting, you said you actually like to get rid of 2,200 people from HHS. Which offices are you going to start cutting and riffing these 2,200 workers from?
- [68:55]
Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
Senator, there's 200 political appointees that are changed during every administration.
- [69:01]
Joe
So if you got rid of those 200 political appointees, you're not going to replace them with your political appointees.
- [69:05]
Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
Well, President Biden this year changed 3000 employees at HHS. 3750.
- [69:13]
Joe
You're 2200. What departments are you going to pick them from?
- [69:17]
Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
Well, the same as President Biden did when he changed 3,000 out.
- [69:23]
Joe
I'm down to a minute 30. The chairman's been generous with colleagues on both sides and may have to go a couple minutes over. But let me just say so let's just answer this would be this. I hope, since you're asking to become the top health care official in the United States in terms of hhs, huge ramifications. And part of this job is to be the senior advisor to the president on health issues. So when we're looking at this purge and we're looking at laying off workers, when we're looking at potentially the president's illegal offer to try to buy out federal employees, which I would say to any federal employees. Think twice. Has this individual in his business world ever fulfilled his contracts or obligations to any workers in the past? But if you are in this position, will you pledge that you will not fire federal employees who work on food safety, work on trying to preventing things like salomono?
- [70:20]
Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
Senator, there's 91,000 employees.
- [70:23]
Joe
So that I take that as I take. That's a simple yes. And I'm going to take that as a no. I take that as a no. Will you actually we talked about protecting Americans from cyber criminals, something we need to do a lot more on. Will you commit not to fire anyone in the health arena who currently works on protecting Americans from cyber attacks in their health care files?
- [70:46]
Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
I will. I will commit to not firing anybody who's doing their job based on your.
- [70:53]
Joe
Opinion, based upon your opinion or your political agenda or Mr. Trump's political agenda.
- [70:59]
Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
Based upon my opinion.
- [71:02]
Joe
I guess that means a lot of the folks who've had any type of views on vaccines will be out of work. Will you freeze grant funding for community health centers?
- [71:13]
Melanie
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- [72:40]
Rand Paul
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- [72:59]
Senator Cassidy
Absorb these nutrients far better than taking.
- [73:02]
Rand Paul
Any other synthetic multivitamin or any other synthetic vitamin in general. So we have some other amazing products, but if you'd like to check us out, you can go to sacredhumanhealth.com and.
- [73:13]
Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
Cheers to your health.
- [73:14]
Senator Cassidy
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- [74:09]
Steve Bannon
You need.
- [74:09]
Senator Cassidy
If you're going to be part of the posse, you need a strong heart. You need a lion's heart. How we're going to do that is with salty. Go there, do it today, check it out.