Episode 4754: Kennedy Hearings Live

Summary

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Bannon’s War Room – Episode 4754: Kennedy Hearings Live

Date: September 4, 2025
Host: Steve Bannon (WarRoom.org)
Main Guests/Speakers: Robert F. Kennedy Jr. (Secretary of Health and Human Services), Senators Wyden, Cassidy, Bennett, Warner, Crapo, Cantwell

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Episode Overview

This episode centers on the live coverage and commentary of the highly charged Senate hearings for Secretary of Health and Human Services, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. The session, dubbed by Bannon as a "Star Chamber" and "inquisition," focuses chiefly on Kennedy’s dramatic overhaul of federal vaccine advisory panels, his stance on vaccine safety, the role of the CDC, and broader debates over the direction of American public health. The War Room team cuts in and out of the hearing, highlighting moments of confrontation between Kennedy and Democratic senators, and providing analysis geared towards their audience.

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Key Themes and Discussion Points

1. Vaccine Policy, Advisory Panels, and Public Health

• Kennedy’s major reform: firing and replacing CDC vaccine advisory panel members, with replacement by what critics call “vaccine skeptics” or “conspiracy theorists.”
• Fierce debate over the safety and efficacy of childhood vaccines and mRNA technology.
• Allegations and defense regarding the politicization of health agencies.

2. Public Accusations and Political Theater

• Democrats, led by Sen. Wyden, accuse Kennedy of fueling vaccine skepticism, empowering “crackpots,” causing chaos at public health agencies, and direct harm to American children.
• Conflict over role of science, transparency, and alleged personal/political profit motives in Kennedy’s acts as HHS Secretary.

3. Structural Healthcare Changes

• The Trump administration’s major rural healthcare investment through the “One Big Beautiful Bill.”
• Ongoing disputes about cuts to Medicaid/healthcare funding and resultant impact on rural and vulnerable communities.

4. Broader Culture War Battlelines

• Framing of Kennedy and Trump as fighting “Deep State,” “Big Pharma,” and the “medical-industrial complex.”
• Frequent invocation of “Make America Healthy Again” and attacks on legacy public health leadership.

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Detailed Segment Summaries with Quotes & Timestamps

I. Opening Host Commentary and Vaccine Debate ([00:00] – [03:20])

• Topic: Host Steve Bannon and others tee up the national divide over childhood vaccines, referencing RFK Jr.'s influence on government policy.
• Major Point: Sharp criticism of Kennedy’s overhaul at CDC, with Bannon and RFK Jr. both defending and explaining the move.
• Notable Quote:
  • RFK Jr.: "There’s no scientific evidence that any of the childhood vaccinations... have been making children sick. The science doesn’t beg it." ([00:37])
  • Senator Wyden: "When ideology starts intruding on public health, you’re going in a dangerous direction because science comes under attack." ([02:13])
• Reference to Real-World Impact: Noting declining pediatric hospital capacity, rising measles outbreaks and broader fears for public health.

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II. The Senate "Star Chamber" – Kennedy v. Wyden and Democrats ([10:49] – [39:48])

1. Senator Wyden’s Broadside ([10:49] – [18:26])

• Wyden accuses Kennedy of spreading chaos, elevating “crackpots,” threatening children, and enriching himself.
• Insists the committee formally "swear in" Kennedy due to distrust in his honesty, a request rejected by Chair Crapo.
• Quote:
  • Wyden: "Robert Kennedy has elevated conspiracy theorists, crackpots and grifters to make life or death decisions about the health care of the American people." ([11:46])
  • "He puts children in harm’s way every single day." ([16:46])

2. Kennedy’s Opening Statement ([19:36] – [27:16])

• Kennedy honors fallen CDC security officer; outlines a new “Make America Healthy Again” approach by targeting chronic diseases and reforming “broken” federal health agencies.
• Lays blame for chronic disease crisis and COVID failings at the feet of his CDC predecessors: “They did not do their job. This was their job to keep us healthy.” ([31:30])
• Emphasizes rooting out conflicts of interest and restoring CDC to “gold standard.”
• Quote:
  • "The people at CDC who oversaw that process, who put masks on our children, who closed our schools, are the people who will be leaving…We need bold, competent and creative new leadership." ([25:15])
• Highlights savings from cutting duplicative enrollments, rural health initiatives, and focus on nonpartisan, evidence-based public health.

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III. Rural Health Investments & Systemic Reform ([27:16] – [32:46])

• Discussion shifts to the financial state of rural hospitals, with Kennedy and Chair Crapo jointly touting the $50 billion rural investment as historic.
• Kennedy uses the statistics on chronic disease to frame the current U.S. health crisis: 76.4% of Americans have chronic disease, up from 11% in 1963 and just 3% in 1950.
  • Quote:
    • Kennedy: "8 out of 10 of our kids cannot qualify for military service. This is a national security issue." ([31:30])
    • "If we don’t end this chronic disease, we are the sickest country in the world." ([32:34])

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IV. Heavy Fire: Vaccine Panel Shakeup & Science v. Skepticism ([32:46] – [39:48])

• Wyden and others use testimony and op-eds to accuse Kennedy of stacking vaccine advisory committees with fringe figures, undermining scientific credibility, and hiding conflicts of interest.

• RFK Jr. counters that previous panels were “pervaded with conflicts of interest” due to pharma influence and that his appointees represent a depoliticization.

• Key Moment:

  • Wyden: "Scientists and doctors are saying otherwise. They’re all wrong too. They’re all lying?" ([36:31])
  • RFK Jr.: "Maybe you’re listening to a selective group of people." ([37:03])

• Wyden closes: "How many preventable child deaths are an acceptable sacrifice for enacting an agenda that I think is fundamentally cruel and defies common sense?" ([38:19])

  • RFK Jr. retorts: "Senator, you’ve sat in that chair for how long, 20, 25 years, while the chronic disease in our children went up to 76% and you said nothing." ([39:02])

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V. Host Commentary & Broader “War Room” Framing ([40:10] – [53:13])

• Bannon recaps the exchange, framing Kennedy as a “fighter” standing up to a health “deep state.”
• Characterizes the hearings as a full-court press by Democrats (and some Republicans) to “inquisit” and ultimately remove Kennedy, asserting that the process is less about truth and more about power over health and narrative.

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VI. Further Senate Exchanges: Bennett, Cassidy, Warner ([53:13] – [69:08])

1. Senator Bennett Goes on Offense ([53:13] – [58:29])

• Grills Kennedy on appointing Dr. Malone and others with fringe vaccine views to advisory panels.
• Raises fears over rollback of childhood vaccine requirements.
• Notable Quote:
  • "These are common back-to-school vaccinations for children all over the industrialized world. If you change that, you owe parents ... transparency." ([54:12])
  • Kennedy responds: “All the evidence is transparent for the first time in history. And you were never there complaining when the pharmaceutical companies were picking those people..." ([57:06])

2. Senator Cassidy: The Doctor’s Angle ([58:30] – [64:33])

• Cassidy praises Operation Warp Speed, questions Kennedy about HHS’s cancellation of mRNA vaccine contracts.
• Pushes on Kennedy’s perceived inconsistency—supporting warp speed but litigating against mandates.
• Raises concern over conflicts of interest for new panel members as paid witnesses.
• Kennedy: "It may be a bias, and that bias, if disclosed, is okay, but it’s not a financial conflict." ([63:11])

3. Senator Warner: Science vs. Skepticism ([64:33] – [69:08])

• Warner accuses Kennedy of undermining technological leadership, refusing to support “the science” that saved millions, and perpetrating hoaxes around public health.
• Promotes the role of Western states and academia as the future of evidence-based health.
• Kennedy responds: “Yes, I want to fix the system. And that’s what we’re doing, fixing systematically to make premiums lower. That’s what President Trump wants to do.” ([67:44])

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VII. Noteworthy Confrontations & Quotes

• “This is the Star Chamber. ... I promised you an inquisition on Bobby Kennedy. The Democrats can’t help themselves. Lie after lie after lie. But big pharma’s getting their money’s worth today.”
  — Steve Bannon ([73:02])
• “You mean out of the pharmaceutical paradigm?”
  — RFK Jr., challenging Senator Bennett on what constitutes mainstream science ([55:48])
• “You've sat in that chair for how long? 20, 25 years, while the chronic disease in our children went up to 76% and you said nothing.”
  — RFK Jr. to Wyden ([39:02])
• “The women who were talking about Epstein, do you think they were a hoax yesterday?”
  — Senator Warner challenging Kennedy on unrelated controversies ([67:56])

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Memorable Moments, Highlights, and Tone

• Kennedy’s Defiance: Kennedy repeatedly stands firm under aggressive questioning, insisting his reforms are about breaking pharmaceutical influence, restoring scientific independence, and tackling the root causes of the chronic disease crisis.
• Senate Hostility: Democratic senators maintain a relentlessly prosecutorial tone, with multiple demands for “yes or no,” repeated accusations of dishonesty, and warnings of dire consequences.
• Host Framing: Bannon consistently characterizes the event as a power struggle between “the people” (Kennedy/Trump) and the health establishment, deep state, and “Big Pharma.”
• Recurring Motif: Calls for radical transparency, depoliticization of science, and upending legacy CDC processes — met in turn by demands for adherence to established science and alarmist warnings about public health consequences.

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Key Timestamps for Major Segments

• 00:37–01:09: RFK Jr. on lack of scientific evidence linking routine childhood vaccines to harm
• 10:49–18:55: Wyden’s opening accusation and attempt to have Kennedy sworn in
• 19:36–27:16: Kennedy’s opening statement on HHS reforms and CDC overhaul
• 31:30–32:38: Kennedy recites chronic disease statistics as argument for radical change
• 34:16–37:53: Intense Q&A between Wyden and Kennedy about advisory panels, pharma conflicts, and ethics
• 53:13–58:29: Bennett confronts Kennedy about advisory panel appointees’ controversial views
• 58:30–64:33: Cassidy’s questioning on mRNA vaccine policy and conflicts of interest
• 64:33–69:08: Warner’s clash over science, technology, and accusations of hoaxes

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Conclusion

Episode 4754 of the War Room provides a real-time, unfiltered window into an exceptionally partisan and dramatic Senate hearing. Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is cast both as a lightning rod for national controversy and a standard bearer for the Trump administration’s populist health agenda. The episode is defined by its relentless confrontation, vivid rhetoric, and the wider War Room narrative that American health and governance are at a crucible moment—with vaccine policy, scientific credibility, and the battle against chronic disease at the center.

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For Further Listening

Listeners wanting to understand the core conflicts in today's health policy and the deep ideological divides in U.S. governance will find this episode a rich, if fiery, resource—with real-time soundbites, political theater, and both sides’ starkly differing visions for the future of American health.

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Transcript

[Senator Bennett]

And a lot of what we've heard.

[Host/Commentator (possibly Steve Bannon)]

From Bobby Kennedy Jr. Just amplified now.

[Senator Bennett]

Because of the position he finds himself in. All this skepticism about vaccines. Now packing that panel at Health and Human Services with vaccine skeptics.

[Host/Commentator (possibly Steve Bannon)]

Can you just address.

[Senator Bennett]

Let's just take these basic. These basic vaccines that kids have been.

[Senator Cassidy]

Taking for generations to go to school.

[Host/Commentator (possibly Steve Bannon)]

Are there questions around them?

[Senator Cassidy]

Do they make people sick?

[Host/Commentator (possibly Steve Bannon)]

Have they been making children sick?

[Robert F. Kennedy Jr.]

Is there reason for concern?

[Senator Bennett]

And if so, why hasn't that been addressed in the, the, I don't know.

[Robert F. Kennedy Jr.]

80 years since they've been around?

[Host/Commentator (possibly Steve Bannon)]

I mean, Willie, you're signaling it.

[Robert F. Kennedy Jr.]

No, the answer is no. There's no scientific evidence that any of the childhood vaccinations. Let's take tetanus, measles, mumps and rubella, polio vaccine. I mean, these are just fundamental, foundational things that no other country in the entire world, by the way, is having a similar type of discussion at their governmental level. We are because of the people that are currently in power. But there is no reason why the other countries across the globe are having a similar discussion. Discussion, because the science doesn't beg it. There's no incidence of increased side effects.

[Host/Commentator (possibly Steve Bannon)]

There's no links to autism.

[Robert F. Kennedy Jr.]

This is one man with his agenda in the power to really enact his agenda. That's RFK Jr. I'll lastly say here, just on this topic, of why this matters to American families across the spectrum, because Florida is likely just the canary in the coal mine there. We're probably going to see this in more states across the country, just like we saw here on the west coast, that they're banding together to create their own coalition to counter the cdc. We're going to see this likely happen in more places for everybody out there. Something that has happened since 2008, Willie, is that pediatric beds across the country have declined. 20% decrease in pediatric bed capacity in children's hospitals across the country. Why does that matter? Just at the time that Ladapo and Desantis are doing this in Florida, creating more burden of illness for kids, there's less beds to actually deal with the aftermath than we saw in West Texas. When you have a measles epidemic that lands kidney kids in the hospital that need supplemental oxygen, likely in an icu. We have less of those beds, Willie. It's crazy.

[Host/Commentator (possibly Steve Bannon)]

Yeah, look, I mean, I mean, first of all, when, when, when ideology starts intruding on public health, you're going in a dangerous direction because science comes under attack. But the Florida Surgeon General just said, I mean, if Vaccines are slavery, then polio is freedom, apparently.

[Senator Wyden]

And you get in that kind of.

[Host/Commentator (possibly Steve Bannon)]

An Orwellian death spiral and kids are going to get sick and people will die. And you wonder what will get our attention. Except then you remember that we had 1.1 million Americans died during COVID and still that disinformation got in the groundwater. So I want to hear from people like, you know, Senator Cassidy, who's a doctor, who was skeptical of RFK's claims and ultimately went along with it and empowered this kind of dismantling of the CDC that I'm sure he's agonizing about in private, but will he have the courage to say it in public? Because this is a dismantling of, you know, dis repudiation of Operation Warp Speed, which was one of the great accomplishments.

[Robert F. Kennedy Jr.]

Of Donald Trump's first term.

[Host/Commentator (possibly Steve Bannon)]

But what's happening right now at the CDC and in Health and Human Services and in some of these states will hurt Americans. Kids will get sick, people will die. This is what happens when ideology starts intruding on science and public health.

[Senator Cassidy]

The first reported case of COVID 19 in the US focus has now turned to vaccines as companies race to develop them and government leaders work to distribute them.

[Host/Commentator (possibly Steve Bannon)]

Is it safe?

[Committee Chair (possibly Senator Crapo)]

It's safe.

[Host/Commentator (possibly Steve Bannon)]

Breaking news in the fight against coronavirus.

[Robert F. Kennedy Jr.]

Pfizer and Biontech have announced this morning.

[Senator Warner]

That its COVID 19 vaccine is safe and generates a robust immune response in a clinical trial of children ages 5 to 11.

[Host/Commentator (possibly Steve Bannon)]

And all three options are safe as well as effective.

[Robert F. Kennedy Jr.]

You know, the FDA is the gold.

[Senator Wyden]

Standard for the safety and effectiveness of these vaccines.

[Host/Commentator (possibly Steve Bannon)]

And I think this is a very.

[Robert F. Kennedy Jr.]

Powerful signal in the safety and effectiveness. The good news is that the vaccines that we have to date have proven to be both safe and effective.

[Host/Commentator (possibly Steve Bannon)]

Announcing today its potential COVID vaccine is 94.5% effective.

[Robert F. Kennedy Jr.]

The vaccines are safe. Please, for yourself, your family, your community, this country, take the vaccine when it's.

[Senator Wyden]

Your turn and available.

[Robert F. Kennedy Jr.]

The preliminary findings from an NIH study.

[Host/Commentator (possibly Steve Bannon)]

Indicating that getting a booster different from.

[Robert F. Kennedy Jr.]

Your original vaccination is likely safe and.

[Senator Wyden]

Effective resulted in a vaccine that is safe and highly effective. If you get vaccinated, you are protected, even.

[Host/Commentator (possibly Steve Bannon)]

But I can tell you that the.

[Senator Cassidy]

Overwhelming evidence of data that we have.

[Host/Commentator (possibly Steve Bannon)]

Now indicates that the vaccines, as we all know, are highly effective and really very, very safe.

[Robert F. Kennedy Jr.]

The challenges of distributing a safe and.

[Senator Cassidy]

Effective vaccine, once one is identified that.

[Robert F. Kennedy Jr.]

Vaccine is in fact safe and effect. The vaccines are safe.

[Senator Cassidy]

I promise you they are safe and effective.

[Committee Chair (possibly Senator Crapo)]

And COVID 19 vaccines are effective.

[Robert F. Kennedy Jr.]

The combination is safe and effective.

[Host/Commentator (possibly Steve Bannon)]

And I was really happy that we have a safe and effective COVID vaccine.

[Senator Warner]

And I was really proud of them.

[Robert F. Kennedy Jr.]

Today that they got their vaccine.

[Senator Warner]

It was a huge sigh of relief for mom.

[Robert F. Kennedy Jr.]

This appears to be a set of.

[Senator Warner]

Vaccines which is just incredibly safe and effective.

[Senator Cassidy]

That the Pfizer COVID 19 vaccine is safe and effective.

[Robert F. Kennedy Jr.]

Incredibly effective. Up to 80% effective in preventing symptomatic cases of COVID 19 in children between the ages of 6 months and 5 years old.

[Senator Bennett]

We know that these vaccines are highly effective. They are as safe in the short.

[Robert F. Kennedy Jr.]

Term as any other vaccine that's already approved.

[Senator Bennett]

Tens of thousands who have put themselves on the line to prove to the country and the world that these are.

[Robert F. Kennedy Jr.]

Safe and effective products.

[Host/Commentator (possibly Steve Bannon)]

The bottom line is this looks effective.

[Senator Wyden]

It looks safe and hopefully when enough people get vaccinate, ultimately this will end.

[Host/Commentator (possibly Steve Bannon)]

This epidemic in the US and hopefully.

[Senator Wyden]

The pandemic around the world.

[Host/Commentator (possibly Steve Bannon)]

In a 17 to 4 vote with one abstention, they concluded that the Pfizer vaccine is safe and effective for emergency use for those 16 and older.

[Robert F. Kennedy Jr.]

The fact that we know now that.

[Host/Commentator (possibly Steve Bannon)]

These vaccines are highly, highly effective, safe and effective is how the FDA described.

[Senator Warner]

Johnson Johnson's one dose vaccine.

[Robert F. Kennedy Jr.]

We are delighted that the vaccine as close to 95% efficacy.

[Senator Warner]

Pfizer says its COVID vaccine is safe and works at a lower dose for children 5 to 11 years old.

[Robert F. Kennedy Jr.]

Anyone? Pass.

[Host/Commentator (possibly Steve Bannon)]

Got some breaking news. FDA announcing Johnson and Johnson's vaccine is safe and effective. Bringing it one step closer to emergency use authorization.

[Robert F. Kennedy Jr.]

Very important not only for your own.

[Host/Commentator (possibly Steve Bannon)]

Health, but for the health of the country.

[Senator Bennett]

And we can do it.

[Host/Commentator (possibly Steve Bannon)]

We have a great vaccines, more than.

[Senator Bennett]

1, 3 and they're safe and they're highly effective.

[Host/Commentator (possibly Steve Bannon)]

It is Thursday 4September in the year of our Lord 2025. We are going to, we're going to jump in right now. Go live to the hearing the Star Chamber has met on Bobby Kennedy. Let's go live and we'll come back to the show in a few minutes.

[Committee Chair (possibly Senator Crapo)]

Now the department has a renewed focus on tackling the root causes of chronic disease and promoting prevention. First, I look forward to exploring ways that the federal government can further align payment incentives to support healthy living and fight chronic disease. The administration has also prioritized efforts to end waste, fraud and abuse in our federal health care programs, including through eligibility and enrollment verification. This critical work is not just about saving taxpayer dollars. It's about restoring trust and ensuring vital programs like Medicare and Medicaid are sustainable for generations to come. In July, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services announced that the agency identified 2.8 million Americans who were simultaneously enrolled in multiple Medicaid or Affordable Care act exchange plans. Stopping this duplicate enrollment, while working with states to ensure that individuals do not inappropriately lose coverage has the potential to save taxpayers $14 billion.

[Host/Commentator (possibly Steve Bannon)]

We're going to dip in and out of this. This is going to be an inquisition of Bobby Kennedy. The Democrats all night long have been plotting and planning. They want to remove Kennedy. They look at Senator Cassidy from Louisiana as the, as the weak link here. So we're going to find out we're cut in and out. I'm sure we'll probably show more Democratic senators than Republican and we're going to try to get to as many of Bobby Kennedy's answers as possible. So just let me know when it's passed, particularly to a Democrat, Mr. Producer, so we can go back and hear the vitriol. We're going to try to take commercial breaks. We may not be able to. If we can't, we'll just go right through and break the commercials like we did yesterday. I wanted to make sure one of the key things we wanted yesterday, which I think is very important because Fox almost showed none of it. I thought it was quite important from the very first to the very end that you saw all the Epstein victims and bro Khanna and, and what Tom Massey's trying to do or trying to do with the discharge petition. I don't believe they picked up any votes yesterday. Viva Fry has had some interesting comments and observations on, on this yesterday and I've asked Viva to join us probably in the second or third block. Here's what we're going to do on the show today. We're going to go in and out of Bobby Kennedy's hearing because it's vitally important for make America healthy again. And Bobby Kennedy, we believe, is doing a terrific job. Now, I would like to see more aggressive leaning into it, calm strategy over there to get more information out. If we had that, I think, quite frankly, the star Chamber element of this could have been avoided today. But be that as it may, Bobby Kennedy, I'm sure will be putting forward the best evidence today. And remember, 3500 of you worked under the guidance of what Amy Kelly and Naomi Wolf over Daily Cloud to come up with the Pfizer papers, which were extraordinary and were elemental in moving this discussion forward. Of course, what we have is that Bobby has cut off all current research and I believe all future research in the Gene Therapies let's go back. We're going to go to Wyden. We're going to get some of the nasty ones right of the box. Let's go ahead and listening.

[Senator Wyden]

Most of the senior leadership at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention were fired or they resigned after refusing to bow to Robert Kennedy's unceasing crusade against vaccines. I traveled across Oregon last month and the message was the same from one end of the state to the other. Families are confused. They're scared about who to trust about their health care. Robert Kennedy and Donald Trump have done so much to feed that mistrust. This morning, my staff, in partnership with Senator Also Brook's team, is releasing a report that shows the disaster of Robert Kennedy's 203 days in office. Every single day, there's been an action that endangers the health and wellness of American families. Robert Kennedy has elevated conspiracy theorists, crackpots and grifters to make life or death decisions about the health care of the American people. Robert Kennedy's tenure is so far marked by three calling cards. One is chaos at federal health agencies, leaving families, doctors and the entire nation confused and frightened. Corruption that benefits Robert Kennedy, Donald Trump and their friends at the expense of taxpayers and higher health costs for families. I ask unanimous consent, Mr. Chairman, to enter this report into the record without objection. Then there's chaos. It's been obvious from the start that Robert Kennedy's primary interest is to take vaccines away from Americans. During his confirmation process, he claimed to be pro safety and pro science. But his actions reveal a steadfast commitment to elevating junk science and fringe conspiracies. His agenda has not been about choices and information for families. Just last week, he threatened doctors that deviated from the new anti science vaccine guidelines he released that make it harder for pregnant women and children to get the COVID vaccine. And then there's corruption. Robert Kennedy's bizarre statements and actions beg the question why? Democrats on this committee answered that question months ago. Robert Kennedy can enrich himself and his allies. His family still stands to gain from class action lawsuits against vaccine makers. Now, Robert Kennedy fired every member, every single one of the group responsible for making vaccine recommendations to doctors across the country under the false pretense of conflicts of interest. Meanwhile, many of the new members of the panel are outright vaccine deniers who've appeared as paid witnesses in lawsuits against vaccine makers. Their conflicts of interest and ethics disclosures remain hidden under lock and key. On top of all this bedlam in American health care, just two months ago, Donald Trump Signed into law the largest health care cuts in American history to pay for tax breaks for the wealthiest people and massive corporations in our country. Republicans know these cuts are going to hit communities like a wrecking ball. That's why they push the most severe cuts until after the election. That's why their members already introduced bills to roll back some of the cuts. Make no mistake, though, those cuts are being felt right now. We're seeing hospitals in Idaho cutting payments. Hospitals and nursing homes. Providence Seaside Hospital in Oregon announced they're shutting down their labor and delivery unit. Every family is going to feel the burden of Trump care in America. Premiums are going to spike next year, especially for those who buy health insurance on their own. But the effects will be felt by those who get insurance also through an employer. Congress has an opportunity to extend the Affordable Care act tax credits that lower the cost of premiums. Democrats are ready to pass an extension that stops a dramatic premium spike that would force many families to pay double what they do today. Instead of finding ways to help American families pay less for health care, Robert Kennedy is focused on his anti vaccine mission, fueled by some kind of complex that the consequences be damned. Amid this litany of corruption and chaos, the one point I have to underline is Robert Kennedy puts children in harm's way every single day in America. To my Republican colleagues, I must ask, what line must Robert Kennedy cross before some of you will also join this alarm. This weekend, under the COVID of darkness, Robert Kennedy attempted to disappear hundreds of children under his care at Office of Refugee Resettlement Facilities. These children here, without parents or family, were rounded up in the middle of the night and put on planes to Guatemala. Lawyers on the ground described unthinkable scenes. Our staff, some who are here today, were partying to this in the middle of the night. And one child said to their lawyer, why do they want to send me back? My mom is dead and my dad abuses me. Why do they want to hurt me? This was an actual conversation. These actions were illegal. Documents show that many of these children were in the country to escape trafficking in their homeland. Mr. Kennedy calls himself a protector of children. Some kind of rich claim, claiming from somebody who's flown on Jeffrey Epstein's private jet on multiple occasions. I don't think Robert Kennedy should be within a million miles of this job. Republicans on the committee had a chance to prevent the public health train wreck that Mr. Kennedy has engineered. Everyone voted for him. It is in the country's best interest that Robert Kennedy step down. And if he doesn't, Donald Trump should Fire him before more people are hurt by his reckless disregard for science and the truth. I also would like to note Senator Cantwell has joined us in this effort. I hope at the very least Robert Kennedy has the decency to tell the truth this morning. Mr. President. Excuse me, Mr. Chairman. I have a procedural request I'd like to make at this time. It's a short one.

[Committee Chair (possibly Senator Crapo)]

Proceed.

[Senator Wyden]

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, it's unfortunate that I have to say this, but this is a witness who has lied to members of the Senate Finance Committee. In response to over 35 written questions, including from me, he said, and I quote, that he would do nothing as HHS secretary that makes it difficult or discourages people from taking vaccines. That was clearly not true. His unprecedented unilateral actions to restrict access to Covid vaccines, that alone proves it. He tried to fire the Senate approved CDC director after she chose the truth over what I consider his delusions. His prepared testimony even today includes the debunked lie that half a million children disappeared under the Biden administration's watch. A lie that the Trump administration is using as a pretext to hunt immigrant children and their families. So my request, Mr. Chairman, and I think it is unfortunate that I have to do this, but given the unprecedented nature of the witnesses behavior, I would ask now that the committee formally swear in Robert Kennedy as a witness.

[Committee Chair (possibly Senator Crapo)]

Senator Wyden, I will personally object and will reject your request. We will treat this witness as we treat all of the other administration witnesses who come before us. And let me just say again, as I said in my opening remarks, we will have some partisan disagreements today. We're having partisan disagreements right now. I am having partisan disagreements with you on your characterization of the facts. The bottom line is we will let the Secretary make his own case in his opening statement.

[Senator Wyden]

I'll only say, you know, Mr. Chairman, that this committee's unwillingness to swear this witness is basically a message that it is acceptable to lie to the Senate Finance Committee about hugely important questions like vaccines. I think it's a great mistake and that's why I've made the request to understand that you're not going to grant it and we can move on.

[Committee Chair (possibly Senator Crapo)]

We'll get to the bottom of your accusations. But at this point, I'm going to turn to our witness, the Secretary of Health and Human Services, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. And Mr. Kennedy. Mr. Secretary, you may make your opening statement at this time.

[Robert F. Kennedy Jr.]

Thank you, Chairman Crapo. And thank you, Ranking Member Wyden. The invitation will appear before the committee today. Before I Summarize what we've accomplished this year at hhs. I want to express my deepest condolence to the family of DeKalb County Police Officer David Rose, who gave his life to stop the gunfire attack on the CDC on August 8th. Officer Rose was a veteran. He was a husband and the father of two children. Officer Rose's widow, whom I visited, is expecting their third child. I'd like Officer Rose's family to know that he remains in our prayers and that he will continue to be in our thoughts. Let me start with the big picture. Under President Trump's leadership, we at HHS are enacting a once in a generation shift from a sick care system to a true health care system that tackles the root causes of chronic disease. Chronic diseases reach crisis proportions in our country. And finally, we have an administration that is taking action. The MAHA Report assessment, which the White House released in May, was the first government analysis of the key drivers of childhood chronic disease, ultra processed foods, chemical exposures, physical inactivity, and over medicalization. This month, we will follow with the MAHA report strategy the Trump administration solutions for addressing each cause. At hhs, we haven't just been writing reports. We have been the busiest, most proactive administration in HHS history. In just half a year. We've taken on food dyes, baby formula contamination, the grass loophole, fluoride in our drinking water, gas station heroin, electronic cigarettes, drug prices, prior authorization, information blocking.

[Host/Commentator (possibly Steve Bannon)]

It takes over three months to get.

[Committee Chair (possibly Senator Crapo)]

The committee will come to order.

[Host/Commentator (possibly Steve Bannon)]

Okay, this is going to be interrupted, we know today with protesters, so just stand by. Like I said, this is the Star Chamber. We're going to return to it right.

[Committee Chair (possibly Senator Crapo)]

Now in the audience, comments from the audiences, our audience are inappropriate. If there are any further disruptions, the committee will recess until the police can restore order. Mr. Secretary, please proceed.

[Robert F. Kennedy Jr.]

As I was saying, prior authorization, information blocking, and health care interoperability. We are ending gain of function research, child mutilation, and reducing animal testing. We are addressing cell phone use in schools, excessive screen time for youth, the lack of nutrition education in our medical schools, sickle cell anemia, hepatitis C, the East Palestine chemical spill, and many, many others. At fda, we are now on track to approve more drugs this year than at any time in history. I'm also proud to say that HHS under President Trump is doing more with less. We have taken measures to fight waste, fraud and abuse. Just by eliminating duplicative enrollments in CMS, we are saving taxpayers $14 billion a year. Meanwhile, we are expanding access for people who need it. We are ending racist diversity, equity and inclusion practices and instead focusing on aiding low income and vulnerable families regardless of their race, which was the original intent of title 10. We're also pouring a billion dollars into Head Start and the Administration for Children and Families. Compassion need not be the casualty of efficiency. I'd like to highlight some issues that have not gotten media attention. First, we are doing our part to fulfill the President's commitment to stop human trafficking, especially of children. We inherited a terrible humanitarian crisis from the previous administration with its open border policies, which allowed the appalling loss of 476,000 unaccompanied children. We have implemented policies now to ensure that that appalling tragedy can never happen again. We have knocked on 82,000 doors and located 22,000 of those children. I promise you that we will do more in the next three years. We are also addressing the disastrous health conditions in tribal communities on Native American reservations. I've met face to face with tribal leaders in dozens of communities and tribes in Alaska, Arizona, Idaho, New York, New Mexico and elsewhere, and I look forward to making HHS resources more available to those communities. One of the most significant initiatives under President Trump is the Rural Health Transformation Fund, part of the President's big beautiful bill, which will provide the greatest investment of federal money into rural health care in history. Finally, I would like to address the reasons shake up, said cdc. These changes were absolutely necessary adjustments to restore the agency to its role as the world's gold standard public health agency with a central mission of protecting Americans from infectious disease. CDC failed that responsibility miserably during COVID when its disastrous and nonsensical policies destroyed small businesses racing, violated civil liberties, closed our schools, caused generational damage in doing so, masked infants with no science and heightened economic inequality. Yet all those oppressive and unscientific interventions failed to do anything about the disease itself. America is home to 4.2% of the world's population. We had nearly 20% of the COVID deaths. We literally did worse than any country in the world. The people at CDC who oversaw that process, who put masks on our children, who closed our schools, are the people who will be leaving. That's why we need bold, competent and creative new leadership at cdc, people able and willing to chart a new course. As my father once said, progress is a nice word, change is its motivator and change has its enemies. That's why we need new blood at cdc. That's also why it's imperative that we remove officials with conflicts of interest and catastrophically bad judgment and political agendas. We need unbiased politics, free, transparent, evidence based science in the public interest. Those are the guiding principles behind the changes at the cdc. And that is what you can expect all across our agency for the next three years.

[Committee Chair (possibly Senator Crapo)]

Thank you very much, Mr. Secretary. I'll begin with the questioning. And one of the first things I'd like to talk to you about is actually something that is under the auspices of CMS. And I spoke with Dr. Oz last night about this. I'm sure you're very familiar with it, though, and that is that in the one Big beautiful bill, there's a lot of attacks right now going on publicly about hospitals are in trouble and the blame for that is placed on the bill, even though the bill hasn't even been implemented yet. The fact is this committee held hearings on the troubles that rural hospitals are facing in the United States before the passage of the one big beautiful bill. They've been facing difficulties in rural America for a number of years now. And the bill, the one big beautiful bill, contained a rural health transformation program, which I just like to ask you to comment on. This is the program which allocated $50 billion over the next five years to our rural community hospitals in the United States to help them deal with some of the financial crises that they are facing and transition to more significant stability. Could you comment on that program that is in the one big beautiful bill?

[Robert F. Kennedy Jr.]

Yeah. Senator. One of President Trump's campaign promises and one of the principal preoccupations not only of Republican senators when I did my confirmation hearing, but also almost equally among Democratic senators, was a crisis in rural health. We've had 120 rural hospitals closed over the past 10 years. These institutions, institutions are not just delivering health access to rural Americans, but they are economic centers, they are cultural centers for those communities. They are often the largest employer, they are the highest paying jobs, and they are the centerpiece for those communities. So when they die, the communities collapse. And President Trump promised to do something about that, and he has delivered on that promise. Right now we spend about 6% of Medicaid funding is sent to rural hospitals. A very, very tiny slice. And that's one of the reasons they're in trouble. President Trump has now allocated through the one big beautiful bill, $50 billion. So $10 billion a year over the next five years. What we give to rural hospitals, that 6% represents 19 billion a year. So we're increasing that by $10 billion. So we're infusing more than 50% increase in the amount of money that is going to rural communities over the Next five years. There's never been anything like that in history. It is the biggest investment and it should stem this hemorrhage.

[Committee Chair (possibly Senator Crapo)]

Well, thank you. I appreciate your giving clarity to that because it is frustrating to see these continuous allegations that the difficulties that our rural hospitals are facing all were created in the last few months when we passed a bill, when we've been holding hearings in this committee about these problems. And in the bill that we passed, we gave a $50 billion boost to, as you indicated, increase by 50% the federal support for our community rural hospitals in the United States. And I think that the hospital owners understand that. They recognize this support. In fact, they are coming very, they're coming together very carefully with Dr. Oz to work on the rollout of this program so that we can see this boost and this support that is coming. Just another one of the disagreements we have about what really was in the one big beautiful bill. So I appreciate you commenting on that in the last few, in the last minute, minute and 10 seconds that I have with you. Could you just quickly talk once again about the broad issue of making America healthy again in terms of our aim to change the healthcare system's focus from a reactive symptom management model to one that focuses on lifestyle choices and the root causes of chronic disease?

[Robert F. Kennedy Jr.]

Senator, you know, this morning I got the latest numbers from CDC that 76.4% of Americans now have a chronic disease. This is stunning. When my uncle was President, it was 11%. 1950, it was 3%. A is 76.4%. 8 out of 10 of our kids cannot qualify for military service. This is a national security issue. When my uncle was president, we spent zero on chronic disease. Today we spend $1.3 trillion. It's the biggest cause. It's increasing. And all of the arguments that Republicans and Democrats have about single payer Obamacare or the various ways of allocate the health dollars, they're all like rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic. If we don't end this chronic disease, we are the sickest country in the world. That's why we have to fire people at cdc. They did not do their job. This was their job to keep us healthy.

[Senator Wyden]

Thank you.

[Robert F. Kennedy Jr.]

I need to fire some of those people to make sure this doesn't happen again.

[Committee Chair (possibly Senator Crapo)]

Thank you, Mr. Secretary. I have to cut myself off to make sure I keep to this timeframe too.

[Senator Wyden]

Senator White, thank you very much. Mr. Chairman. I've made it clear, I think that Secretary Kennedy is dead set on making it harder for children to get vaccines and that kids are going to die because of it. And Mr. Chairman, I'd like to put in the record today an op ed written by Susan Manarez, who was fired by Mr. Kennedy without objection. So what we know, and Dr. Manarez you know, was approved by Republicans. She wrote an op ed today in the Wall Street Journal which I've just put in the record and I quote her. She said, I was told to pre approve the recommendations of a vaccine advisory panel newly filled with people who have publicly expressed anti vaccine rhetoric. So this is not some liberal philosopher or something. This is the CDC director who tells the Wall Street Journal, which is not exactly interested in progressive theories and the like, that she was told to pre approve the recommendations of a vaccine advisory panel filled with people who've publicly expressed anti vaccine rhetoric. So My first question, Mr. Secretary, is did you in fact do what Director Monarch said you did, which is tell her to just go along with vaccine recommendations even if she didn't think such recommendations aligned with scientific evidence?

[Robert F. Kennedy Jr.]

No, I did not.

[Senator Wyden]

That's a yes or no. So you have an opportunity to call her a liar if you say that you didn't do it. But I'd like to see you respond to this.

[Robert F. Kennedy Jr.]

No, I did not say that to her. And I never had a private meeting with her. Other witnesses to every meeting that we have and all of those witnesses will say I never said that.

[Senator Wyden]

So she's lying today to the American people in the Wall Street Journal.

[Robert F. Kennedy Jr.]

Yes, sir.

[Senator Wyden]

Okay, let's talk now about what the coming up because I've made it clear what I've thought about the 203 days with my colleagues and are also Brooks. In two weeks, CDC's Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices will meet to make decisions about critical vaccines that protect us against hepatitis B, measles and more. The committee's got a profound impact on vaccine access. But these aren't ordinary meetings. You stack the deck to ensure the panel benefits bends to your views. In June you fired all 17 committee members who are respected scientists and doctors. You replaced them with non experts, vaccine skeptics and conspiracy theorists. As a result, this critical advisory panel has lost scientific credibility after years. Colleagues. We spend so much time not looking at this as Democrats and Republicans, but it's good science and scientific credibility. And now the American Academy of Pediatrics has warned that the committee is being politicized at the expense of children's health. American Academy of Pediatrics. You think they're lying to.

[Robert F. Kennedy Jr.]

I think the American Academy of Pediatrics is gravely conflicted Their biggest contributors are the four largest vaccine makers. They run a journal, Pediatrics, which they make a lot of money on, that is completely dependent on pharmaceutical companies. I don't think. I wouldn't put a big stake in what they say that benefits pharmaceutical interests. Senator, I didn't politicize ASAP. I depoliticize it. Congress has been investigating Asif all over.

[Senator Wyden]

The country, Mr. Secretary. Scientists and doctors are saying otherwise. They're all wrong too. They're all lying.

[Robert F. Kennedy Jr.]

According to you, the scientists and doctors are supporting me. All over the country there is division on opinion.

[Senator Wyden]

I don't get letters from thousands of people who are not political saying that this set of changes is going to damage American health care and particularly these health care agencies for decades to come. I don't get any letters from people saying he's going to make a big difference forever.

[Robert F. Kennedy Jr.]

And maybe you're listening to a selective group of people.

[Senator Wyden]

You get. You get me and I will. Fine.

[Robert F. Kennedy Jr.]

I will tell you what, Senator. I will put my mailbag against your mailbag any day of the week.

[Senator Wyden]

30 seconds. Dangerous respiratory viruses like RSV are on the agenda for the next advisory meeting. Countless parents have been awakened in the dead of night by a wheezing kid gasping for air, forced to rush their little one to the er. There's no worse heart wrenching fear. The RSV vaccine offers these kids protection against the worst effects of the virus. But now it looks like you're on a crusade to make infants and babies more vulnerable to the terrible illness. That's what we're doing with the COVID changes.

[Committee Chair (possibly Senator Crapo)]

And please make your answer brief.

[Senator Wyden]

Mr. Secretary, I've said position is indefensible. I think it's possible.

[Robert F. Kennedy Jr.]

Congress has been investigating that committee for 23 years because it is. It is pervaded with conflicts of interest. What we did is we got rid of the conflicts of interest and we put. We depoliticized and put great scientists on it from a very diverse group. Let me close, very close.

[Senator Wyden]

Let me close with this. Because like Senator Crapo, I'm a few seconds over. I don't think. Mr. Secretary, this is about you and me. This is about kids being pushed in harm's way by reckless and repeated decisions to get scientists and doctors out of the way and allow conspiracy theories to dictate this country's health policy. I don't see any evidence that you have any regrets about anything you've done or plans to change it. And my last comment is, I hope that you will tell the American people how many preventable Child deaths are an acceptable sacrifice for enacting an agenda that I think is fundamentally cruel and defies common sense. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

[Robert F. Kennedy Jr.]

Do I got a reply or. Senator, you've sat in that chair for how long? 20, 25 years, while the chronic disease in our children went up to 76% and you said nothing. You never asked the question why it's happening. Why is this happening Today? For the first time in 20 years, we learned that infant mortality has increased in our country. It's not because I came in here. It's because of what happened during the Biden administration that we're going to end.

[Committee Chair (possibly Senator Crapo)]

I'm going to let Senator Wyden respond briefly to that and then we're not going to go over like we just.

[Senator Wyden]

Did this committee on a bipartisan basis. Colleagues, my Cabinet secretary says that we have no interest in chronic care.

[Host/Commentator (possibly Steve Bannon)]

Mr. Secretary, Mr. Chairman, could we have regular order, please?

[Senator Wyden]

We are in the process of turning around the Medicare program with the chronic care bill that Chairman Hatch, when he was chairman, and this committee put together on a bipartisan basis.

[Committee Chair (possibly Senator Crapo)]

All right, we're going to proceed and I just want the rest of the members to know I gave Senator Wyden his ranking working members some leeway there, but we're going to stick to the five minutes.

[Host/Commentator (possibly Steve Bannon)]

Senator Grassley, first of all, thank you. I have asked HH secretaries in the past to fully utilize the Rural Community Hospital demonstration program under Medicare. The program has been underutilized. In May, this CMS filled the open slots, thanks to your agents. I told you, it's going to be a star chamber right there. You saw Wyden going right at Bobby Kennedy with nothing but invective. Bobby Kennedy, RFK Jr. I thought, had a great response at the end when they cut him off. Hey, yo, bro, you've been here for 25 years. Have you ever. When the illness of kids and chronic disease to make us the sickest country in the world, the most advanced industrial power, post industrial power, the sickest nation on earth. It's the whole reason for the Make America Healthy Again movement. And I can tell by the chats that you're infuriated and you should be infuriated. I told you this was going to be a star chamber. This is an inquisition, not simply about Bobby Kennedy, but the entire Maha movement and the fundamental beliefs in trying to clean this mess up and really back down big pharmacy from making this country sicker. And you're going to see it. This is. This is a. You talk about great powers, you know, the great power Struggle we have geopolitically. Right. My crack staff is going to tell me when we got another Democrat because that's where the action is going to be when they come after him. See the day of the, the Financial Times about the parade, the military gathering in, in China, in Beijing, which capped off the, at the Tiananmen Square. That capped off, you know, right there, great powers, Putin, Kim, you know, mini me in North Korea. Xi brought all the, all the enemies together, right? The Persians, all of them, as I've said for years, they're going to do what you're seeing this on Capitol Hill right now, play out in real time the great powers of the, of the oligarchs that, that run health care in this country. Big pharma, big medical, the big insurance companies. This is the Finance Committee. Keep that in mind. This is the Finance Committee. They really have the overall. That was the first committee that Bobby Kennedy went to for his, in his confirmation here. Remember we played the confirmation hearings. Just harken back to that because they're going to throw that up in his face every day about how you change these committees. And Dr. Malone runs this. Was it a sip right now? And they said, oh, you promised you wouldn't change it. And you've changed and gotten all the hacks off it and put other people on it and firing a cdc. Bobby Kennedy came out at the beginning breathing fire and what do you say? Hey America, you know, the stats are off the charts. We've been getting sicker every year. CDC is in charge of that. Those four people had to go and he fired them as he has the ability to do. And he fired the head of CDC also. Yeah, we're going to take this break and then we'll come back. Look, we're going to be going in and out of this hearing throughout the morning because we must. This is one of the many huge battles on the deconstruction of the administrative state and to be brutally frank about it, deconstruction of the deep state. Because cdc, you have to look for those linkages. CDC is a hardwired linkage into the World Health Organization and it's time that America took the power back. This is what President Trump gave us with the MAGA movement, the Make America Great Again and the merger and convergence with Nicole Shanahan and the great people that worked for her about Big Ag and about, you know, getting, getting our food right, the ultra processed food, getting it, you know, ending that and getting people to eat healthy again. And she said the solution with this is in the soil couple with Bobby Kennedy and what they've been fighting for. We had Mary Holland on last night. She's in the audience right now. And as I'm teasing her, I said, I told you it was going to be an inquisition. These Democrats are going to be off the chain today, coming at Bobby Kennedy. Now we're going to put in some other people. I've got, I've got Aviva Fry. He's going to be with us. Jan from Epoch Times. Jan's got a great piece about the buried lead of this. I gave a little talk today over at Heritage. The buried lead of this is the most important thing that Xi and Putin talked about was, wait for it, them living to 150 years old on freshly warm organs taken from living human beings. Oh, by the way, on the path to immortality. If you heard that sidebar conversation, Aviva Fry is going to be here. V was, I would say, less than impressed by the event yesterday. And that's why I wanted to show, show you entirely, with no editorial comment, that you guys can start to get this information and start to make your own decisions about where this Epstein thing's going. I don't think the discharge position is, discharge petition is going to make it. I'm not sure they get any more Republicans. President Trump said, hey, if you vote for that, it's a hostile act. Mike Johnson, the speaker, they've got, they've got oversight looking at this. They're going to release documents. So we'll try to get all that sorted out with Viva Fry. And we will return to Bobby Kennedy as he throws another good thing about Bobby. And it's one of the reasons I think President Trump likes him so much. He's a fighter. I mean, he's not going to back off. He saw, he went right after widen as he should. It was inappropriate the way they're trying to remove Bobby Kennedy. That's what this is about. They're trying to make the case. At the very beginning, they said, put him under oath. We want to get him for perjuring himself because he's a liar. He lied to us in the confirmation hearing. We want to get on him. And of course, they dismissed that right away, but that's the hardball they're playing. And the good thing about Bobby Kennedy, he's not going to back down one inch. He's not a guy. He's a fighter. You know, you can say a lot of things about Bobby Kennedy. One thing he can, he can give a punch as good as he can take one. So he doesn't have a glass jaw. This guy's a fighter. Want to thank Birch Gold? We told you, you know, gold is on a tear every day. I don't sit there and say you got to buy gold because the price, no, you need to learn the process. And we told you this was coming. We've told you for years this is coming. Okay? And part of that, a corollary is brics. And guess what BRICS nations had while they were still in Beijing? A zoom call. What's that? Zoom call about how to destroy the US dollar. Birchgold.com promo code Bannon the end of the dollar empire. Seven free installments. Number eight and number nine are en route. Also, we're going to have a physical copy for you that we'll be able to talk about probably early next week. Short commercial break Back to the hearing on Capitol Hill in a moment. This July, there is a global summit of BRICS nations in Rio de Janeiro. The block of emerging superpowers including China, Russia, India and Persia are meeting with the goal of displacing the United States dollar as the global currency. They're calling this the Rio Reset. 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That's 800-958-1000 or visit Tax Network USA tnusa.com Bannon do it today. Do not let this thing get ahead of you. Do it today. What if he had the brightest mind in the War Room delivering critical financial research every month? Steve Bannon here. War Room listeners know Jim Rickards. I love this guy. He's our wise man. A former CIA, Pentagon and White House advisor with an unmatched grasp of geopolitics and capital markets, Jim predicted Trump's Electoral College victory exactly 312 to 226, down to the actual number itself. Now he's issuing a dire warning about April 11, a moment that could define Trump's presidency and your financial future. His latest book, MoneyGPT, exposes how AI is setting the stage for financial chaos, bank runs at lightning speeds, algorithm driven crashes and even threats to national security. Right now, War Room members get a free copy of MoneyGPT when they sign up for Strategic Intelligence. 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[Senator Warner]

Release the files and the secrecy and stand with us in declaring that no one, no billionaires, no politicians, politicians not world leaders, is above the law. And let me announce now, several of us Epstein survivors have been discussing creating our own list of names. We know the names. Many of us were abused by them. Now together as survivors, we will confidentially compile the names. We all know we're regularly in the Epstein world and it will be done by survivors and for survivors, no one else is involved. Stay tuned for more details on that because history is Washing. And so are the women who will come after us.

[Senator Wyden]

Thank you.

[Senator Warner]

2002. I was living in California. A young woman with high aspirations of becoming an actress. I was already beginning to make a name for myself in the industry. A person I trusted, someone I thought was a friend, invited me to meet a powerful woman who could help advance my career. That woman happened to be Ghislaine Maxwell. I was asked to give her a massage, though I had almost no experience. And when I did, she praised me and promised introductions to someone enormously powerful. Someone who could change the course of my life. And that man was Jeffrey Epstein. At first, I was an excited young woman on top of the world. Epstein flew me to his private island. He listened to my dreams, promised to help. But his promises came with a catch. The abuse began. He told me to keep it secret. He manipulated me with quid pro quo. I told did not consent to. But I felt I had no one to turn to. He was too powerful. I was just one of the many young women trapped in his orbit. I was even taken on a trip to Africa with former President Bill Clinton and other notable figures.

[Host/Commentator (possibly Steve Bannon)]

We're going to get Viva Fry in here in a moment. Let's go back though. Bennett is tearing into Bobby Kennedy. Let's go listen to it system and.

[Senator Bennett]

Their ability to have children in the future. Yes or no, Mr. Kennedy?

[Robert F. Kennedy Jr.]

Dr. Malone is one of the inventors.

[Senator Bennett]

Yes or no? Yes or no? Were you aware that he had that view when you appointed him to this panel?

[Robert F. Kennedy Jr.]

Dr. Malone is one of the. As I said, Dr. Malone is one of the inventors of the MRI.

[Senator Bennett]

Mr. Chairman, that statement is not true that Dr. Malone made. Just as it wasn't true when you wrote that, quote, African AIDS is entirely different from Western aids. Are you aware that another one of These new members, Dr. Levy, wrote that, quote, evidence is mounting and indisputable that MRNA vaccines cause serious harm, including death, especially among young people. Yes or no? Are you aware that he said that?

[Robert F. Kennedy Jr.]

I wasn't aware he said it, but I think I agree with it.

[Senator Bennett]

You agree with it? It's not true. It wasn't true when he said it. It is not true when you said it. Secretary Kennedy, later this month, your new panel will meet to consider changing vaccine recommendations for American children. In addition to the COVID 19 vaccines, they are set to review recommendations for the Hepatitis B vaccine for measles, for mumps, for rubella and varicella vaccine, and the RSV vaccine. These are common back to school vaccinations for children all over the Industrialized world. If you change that, you owe parents in Colorado and across the country the benefit of some transparency. I think. If your panel recommends changing the vaccine schedule for children, do you anticipate that fewer children will receive these common vaccinations? Yes or no? What I would say, Senator, the obvious answer is yes. Should parents and schools of Colorado be prepared for more measles outbreaks as a result of that? Mr. Secretary? Senator, how about more mumps outbreaks?

[Robert F. Kennedy Jr.]

I don't. I do not anticipate a change in the MMR vaccine. You know AZIP is an independent panel, so.

[Senator Bennett]

Well, it's a panel you just put those folks on. Far from what you said. They're people with ideas that are completely outside the mainstream.

[Robert F. Kennedy Jr.]

You mean out of the pharmaceutical paradigm?

[Senator Bennett]

Let me just say, Mr. Secretary, all these vaccines that we're talking about today are free and accessible to parents today in America who have the freedom to be able to make that choice for their children. Will that be true after your hand picked panel makes their judgments about these vaccines?

[Robert F. Kennedy Jr.]

I think that parents should be free to.

[Senator Bennett]

I know you said that before. I do too.

[Robert F. Kennedy Jr.]

To make their own choices.

[Senator Bennett]

So will they be just as free after these?

[Robert F. Kennedy Jr.]

I assume they will be.

[Senator Bennett]

I will hold you to that, Secretary Kennedy, because this is not a podcast. It is the American people's health that's on the line here. This is the last thing, by the way our parents need when their kids are going back to school is to have the kind of confusion and expense and scarcity that you're creating as a result of your ideology. I think it's critical for you to share the evidence that this panel will rely on. Will you give the American people six months or six weeks in advance the record that they're going to rely on to make these decisions. Will you make it transparent for the American people?

[Robert F. Kennedy Jr.]

All the evidence is transparent.

[Senator Bennett]

Will you make it in advance transparent for the American people so they can comment on it?

[Robert F. Kennedy Jr.]

All the evidence is transparent for the first time in history. And you were never there complaining when the pharmaceutical companies were picking those people and then running their products through with no safety tests.

[Senator Bennett]

You can characterize it any way you want. I quoted them today. What I said was accurate. What you said were lies. You just moving, moving the type.

[Robert F. Kennedy Jr.]

Are you saying that a DMRNA vaccine has never been associated with myocarditis or pericarditis?

[Senator Bennett]

I am simply.

[Robert F. Kennedy Jr.]

Is that what you're trying to tell us?

[Senator Bennett]

I am simply trying to say that the people that you have put on that panel, after firing the Entire.

[Robert F. Kennedy Jr.]

Evading the question.

[Committee Chair (possibly Senator Crapo)]

You.

[Senator Bennett]

No, I'm asking the questions here.

[Robert F. Kennedy Jr.]

Evading that question.

[Senator Bennett]

I'm asking the questions. I'm asking the questions for Mr. Kennedy on behalf of parents and schools and teachers all over the United States of America who deserve so much better than your leadership. That's what this conversation is about.

[Robert F. Kennedy Jr.]

Senator, Chairman, Senator, they describe. And that's what we're going to give them for the first time in the history of that agency.

[Committee Chair (possibly Senator Crapo)]

Senator Cassidy, thank you.

[Senator Cassidy]

I'll try and restore a little calm here. And I'm approaching this as a doctor, not as a senator. I am concerned about children's health, senior's health, all of our health. And I applaud you for joining the president in a call for radical transparency. Thank you for that. I said yesterday, I believe it, that President Trump deserves a Nobel Prize for Operation Warp Speed. If he had been President Obama, he would have gotten it. But because of Operation Warp Speed, forcing the federal government to come to a vaccine development within 10 months, when others said it couldn't be done, we saved millions of lives globally, trillions of dollars. We reopened economies, an incredible accomplishment. Mr. Secretary, do you agree with me that the president. That the president deserves a Nobel Prize for Operation Warp Speed?

[Robert F. Kennedy Jr.]

Absolutely.

[Senator Cassidy]

Senator, let me ask you. But you just told Senator Bennett that the COVID vaccine killed more people than Covid. Wait, that was a statement.

[Robert F. Kennedy Jr.]

I did not say that.

[Senator Cassidy]

Okay, then let me ask, because you also.

[Robert F. Kennedy Jr.]

Senator, I just want to make clear. I did not say.

[Senator Cassidy]

We'll check the record. That's a question of fact. You also said that you were also, as lead attorney for the Children's Health Defense, you engaged in multiple lawsuits attempting to restrict access to the COVID vaccine. Again, it surprises me that you think so highly of Operation Warp Speed when, as an attorney, you attempted to restrict access.

[Robert F. Kennedy Jr.]

I'm happy to explain why.

[Senator Cassidy]

I have 3 minutes and 30 seconds left. It also surprises me because you've canceled or HHS did, but apparently under your direction, $500 million in contracts using the MRNA vaccine platform that was critical to Operation Warp Speed. Again, an accomplishment that I think President Trump should get a Nobel prize. You canceled 500 million in contracts. Now, I grew up in a middle class family, so $500 million seems. This is canceled. It seems like an incredible waste of money. But it also seems like a commentary upon what the president was attempting. What the president did in Operation Warp Speed, which is to create a platform by which to create vaccines. So the state. It just seems inconsistent that you would agree with me. The president deserves Tremendous amount of credit for this.

[Robert F. Kennedy Jr.]

Is this a question, Senator Cassidy, or is this the speech you don't want me to answer? I want to answer that question.

[Senator Cassidy]

Please, please, if it's a question, but be tight, please.

[Robert F. Kennedy Jr.]

First of all, the reason that Operation Warp Speed was genius is it did something nobody had ever been done. I don't think any president but President Trump could do, got the vaccine to Mark that was perfectly matched to the virus at that time when it was badly needed because there was low natural immunity and. Or people getting very badly injured by Covid. But he was also brought in therapeutics like hydroxychloroquine and ivermectin and protocols for treatments, and there were no mandates.

[Senator Cassidy]

So, please.

[Robert F. Kennedy Jr.]

That's when I began litigating against President Biden's mandates.

[Senator Cassidy]

Now, I'm sorry, let me go on, because in terms of COVID canceling those contracts, I have limited time. Mr. Secretary, I'm sorry. You've called for, and rightly so, that we should restrict participation in agencies. For those with conflict of interest. I would like to submit for the record a evaluation of the conflict of interest of those who are on the the ACIP and the Vaccines and Related Biologic Products Advisory Board. It was not 97% as alleged. Rather, it was 6.9% and it was 1.2%, I think, for the other panel, without objection. Now, I am concerned, though, because many of those whom you have nominated for the ACIP board. Excuse me, can I have my time back?

[Committee Chair (possibly Senator Crapo)]

Yes.

[Senator Cassidy]

Yeah. What I am concerned about is that many of those whom you've nominated for ACIP have received revenue as serving as expert witnesses for plaintiffs attorneys suing vaccine makers. Now, one of my colleagues in another setting alleged that you seem more interested in settlements than science. If we put people who are paid witnesses for vaccine, people suing vaccines, that actually seems like a conflict of interest. Real quickly, do you agree with that?

[Robert F. Kennedy Jr.]

No, I don't. It may. It may be a bias, and that bias, if disclosed, is okay, but it's.

[Senator Cassidy]

Not a financial bias. It's not a financial conflict.

[Robert F. Kennedy Jr.]

It's not a financial conflict.

[Senator Cassidy]

Let me finish up. You also told Senator Wyden at the outset that you didn't want to take vaccines away from people. And as I conclude, I would like to say this because of the conflicting recommendations made by. About COVID This is from Eric Erickson, good conservative out of Atlanta, Georgia, occasionally gives me help. My wife has stage four lung cancer. She is one of the people the COVID vaccine actually helps, thanks to the current mess at HHS CVS is unable to get her vaccine. Secondly, an email from a physician friend of mine. Hey, Bill, I'm not even sure what I'm asking you, but we're all confused and concerned about who can get the COVID vaccine. We are having our attorney try and render an opinion, but there's no firm guidance and concern about liability if vaccines are given to a patient. Requested, but not on the current CDC list. Pharmacists are requiring a prescription now even for patients over 65, creating a huge headache. I submit these for the record.

[Committee Chair (possibly Senator Crapo)]

Without objection.

[Senator Cassidy]

I would say effectively we're denying people vaccine.

[Robert F. Kennedy Jr.]

Senator Cantwell, I get wrong.

[Senator Warner]

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Following up on that same line as Senator Cassidy, because that's exactly. You know, I represent one of the most science based states in the country. That is percentage of scientists per capita. And at your confirmation hearing we asked about this, whether you would follow science. You've made a statement here today in your testimony that you would follow science and yet you're not following science. And that's what Senator Cassidy's question was. It's a simple yes or no answer. Do you think the President deserves to get a prize for warp speed in the MRNA technology that saved so many lives? And you won't answer that question?

[Robert F. Kennedy Jr.]

I answered it.

[Senator Warner]

No, you're saying that there are problems with what was interpreted. You could say yes. Do you say.

[Robert F. Kennedy Jr.]

I said the President deserves Nobel Prize. But our MRNA vaccines that we're working on, the ones that we canceled, which are for upper respiratory infections alone, are those.

[Senator Warner]

You canceled $500 million of research because the MRNA technology is about continuing the research to be ready for the next flu, influenza, the next pandemic. And you have to do the.

[Robert F. Kennedy Jr.]

I'm happy to have a detailed discussion with you about it. You're so wrong on your facts.

[Senator Warner]

You're interrupting me. And sir, you're a charlatan. That's what you are. You're the ones who conflate chronic disease with the need for vaccines. The history on vaccines is very clear. This is the 20th century. That's how many people had vaccines and had illnesses. This is the 21st century. This is the decrease. 99% down to 100%. This is what was delivered with vaccines. And you don't want to support that. You don't want to support that evidence. So, yes, the governors of the West, Washington, Oregon and California will take up the efficacy of science. Yes, the University of Washington will deliver the science that America will depend on. Because you don't want to depend on it and his own surgeon general of the Trump administration said over 2 million lives were saved because the MRNA technology. And you don't want to continue that. You don't want to continue that technology. So what country is going to now take up that technology lead? What country is going to do that, leaving us more vulnerable to some other country keeping the advantage on having the best technology? So I'm telling you, I represent a state that's about technology. I have two other quick questions for you.

[Robert F. Kennedy Jr.]

These questions or statements, because I can answer that question if it's actually a question.

[Senator Warner]

Do you believe in having the ACA and the support for the ACA that is about to expire? Do you believe in doing something about.

[Robert F. Kennedy Jr.]

That in terms of the advance of the enhanced premium tax credits?

[Senator Warner]

Yes.

[Robert F. Kennedy Jr.]

The Democrats had two chances to make them permanent and they didn't. And they didn't for a reason.

[Senator Warner]

We're the ones who delivered it.

[Robert F. Kennedy Jr.]

So I'm just asking for a reason.

[Senator Warner]

Do you want to do something about this?

[Robert F. Kennedy Jr.]

Yes, I want to fix the system. And that's what we're doing, fixing systematically to make premiums lower. That's what President Trump wants to do.

[Senator Warner]

Do you think the women on the steps of the Capitol were a hoax yesterday?

[Robert F. Kennedy Jr.]

I don't know about any women on the steps of the Capitol.

[Senator Warner]

The women who were talking about Epstein, do you think they were a hoax yesterday?

[Robert F. Kennedy Jr.]

Do I think they were.

[Senator Warner]

Do you think they were perpetrating a hoax yesterday?

[Robert F. Kennedy Jr.]

Perpetuating a hoax? Yeah, I have no idea what they were saying. This is the first I'm hearing about it.

[Senator Warner]

Your first that you're hearing about the women on the Capitol step saying that they believe that the Epstein imperial information should be made public. That's the first you're hearing about it. What I'm saying is you are perpetrating hoaxes. You as this Secretary of Health, so you're undermining the whole health care delivery system and you keep trying to point to chronic disease, but you're not putting solutions on the table to cover more Americans and you're taking away the science and technology that has made us the leader that has saved a quarter of to the first Trump administration Surgeon general, millions of lives. And you don't want to keep that going. So, no, I don't support your continued efforts as secretary. And I definitely think that our colleagues need to rally around science. If you want the Northwest to just to continue to lead on all innovation and all healthy people, okay, we'll do that. But it's a sad statement for the rest of America and America's leadership on technology. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

[Committee Chair (possibly Senator Crapo)]

Thank you. Thank you, Senator Warner.

[Robert F. Kennedy Jr.]

Mr. Secretary. I agree with a lot of my colleagues statement. I actually had hoped. I didn't support you. I thought taking on chronic illnesses was going to be important. I've got two kids, as we discussed when we met, that have chronic illnesses. I'm not sure that the focus on red dye and seed oils are going to fully solve that problem. Of course they won't. I would say this. That seems where your emphasis is. I want to go back to just again some basic facts. Do you accept the fact that a million Americans died from COVID I don't know how many. You're the Secretary of Health and Human Services. You don't have any idea how many Americans died from COVID I don't think anybody knows because the there was so much data chaos coming out of the CDC and there was incentives and these are. You don't know the answer of how many Americans from COVID This is the Secretary of Health and Human Services. Do you think the vaccine did anything to prevent additional deaths? Again, I would like to see the data and talk about the data. You had had this job for eight months and you don't know the data about whether the vaccine. The problem is that they didn't have the data. The data by the Biden administration absolutely does. So when Ada who is politicizing, you're saying the Biden administration politicized all the data. Go back to what Cantwell just fired Dr. Trump, surgeon general. They fired Dr. Grant. They fired all all the people who question the orthodoxy. They fired Dr. Gruber, Dr. Kaus chairman. The Secretary of Health and Human Services doesn't no matter how many Americans died from COVID let them know if the vaccine helped prevent any deaths. And you were sitting as Secretary of Health and Human Services. How can you be that ignorant? Like you know, I remember when we went through the hearing with you, I asked you about community health centers. You didn't know what role they play. I've been visiting community. I'm glad you got to one think in April. I tell you what I hear in community health centers. They are terrified. With all due respect to my good friend, the chairman of the big awful bill because they are going to lose health care across the board. They already live in food deserts. They can't get to a nutritionist because Medicaid doesn't do enough reimbursement. If you're going to want Americans to get healthier, should they have access to nutritionists should they have access to good science about healthy food? Absolutely. Well, then how is that going to happen with the Medicaid cuts that are taking place? There are no cuts to Medicaid, sir. That is an absurd. There is not a single, some of my Republican colleagues, but there is not a single study that does not. I can tell you I was in Franklin, Virginia a couple days ago. The rural hospital is going to close. The hospital system was so afraid they wouldn't even let me have the meeting there. But that rural hospital is going to close and they are looking for where those folks are going to go. I mean, you're supposed to be doing health care policy, not being the doctor in residence for all of America. I hope I can say I'm still going to trust my doctors doctor rather than your health advice. And obviously Tom Cotton's gonna, who knows who he's gonna trust. But let me, let me go back to policy for a couple. So maybe we'll lower the temperature a little bit. I got a bipartisan bill that would be a systemic fix, not a vote buying mechanism when Medicaid's getting cut than what was put in on the rural hospitals. One of the things we could do, Mr. Secretary, is.

[Host/Commentator (possibly Steve Bannon)]

Let me have this for a second. We get, we have a couple things we have to get to. Is Viva Fry still with us? So Viva, I had to cut short the yesterday, but right there you saw Cantwell come right at Bobby Kennedy because President Trump did say immediately afterwards this is all a hoax. You've been covering this and I consider you a steady Eddy, safe pair of hands. You call them as you see them. I think some people sent me things on Twitter yesterday. You were less than impressed by the, by the victims, by the victim's presentation yesterday. And I want to just add that I think we're the only at least conservative channel that showed it in its entirety because I wanted the audience to hear it all without any commercial interruptions or without any editorial comment. What are your thoughts, Viva Frye? We'll start with certain premises, one of which is that Pam Bondi's rollout of the Epstein files has been an utter debacle. It's been disastrous. It's compromised Trump goodwill unnecessarily. So. And I am of the opinion that Pam Bondi should have been fired even before the Epstein files for her lack of dealing with the Douglas mackey case. The doctor, I forget his last name. Dr. Morris case. Continuing Biden era prosecutions of people under the Trump administration. The rollout has been a debacle I support the full disclosure of everything related to the Epstein files to the extent it can be legally disclosed. Which is why back in the day, Massie putting forward that motion with Ro Khanna is good. I support it. There's no but to that. The hearing yesterday, if I'm Douglas Massie, I'm watching that and I'm saying this is what happens when you get into bed with strange political bedfellows like that hearing yesterday now makes the discharge petition look like a absolute partisan, I should not say witch hunt. It looks like it's become a partisan tool. It's been hijacked and co opted by forces that I think are not after transparency for the Epstein documents because if they were, they would have taken that bullhorn and that podium that they had yesterday and named the names that they admit and know that they have of their own abusers. So the everything that we saw yesterday sent like promotion, promotion of podcasts, promotion of, I don't know, hit lists that they're going to be preparing internally and not even of abusers of anyone in orbit. It sounds exactly like what they. Hang on one second. I want to hold you through the break. This is important because you wanted to hear at least some names, right? So let's. We're going to take a short break. We're going to return. We got Viva Fry, we've got Jan from Epic Times. We're going to get back to the hearing. I promised you a star chamber. I promised you an inquisition on Bobby Kennedy. The Democrats can't help themselves. Lie after lie after lie. But big farmers getting their money's worth today. Short break. Back in the war in a moment.

[Senator Wyden]

America's home.

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