Ahead of Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s confirmation hearing as President Donald Trump’s pick for Health and Human Services Secretary, Caroline Kennedy has issued a stark message urging senators to reject her cousin’s nomination, warning of his “dangerous” healthcare views and past behavior.
Caroline Kennedy is the daughter of former U.S. president John F. Kennedy and is an accomplished author, attorney, and former U.S. ambassador to Australia. In a letter addressed to senators, she stated she never wanted to speak publicly about her family members and their challenges. “We are a close generation of 28 cousins who have been through a lot together,” she said, “We know how hard it’s been, and we are always there for each other.” Despite this, Kennedy says she felt “an obligation to speak out” in light of RFK Jr.’s Health Secretary nomination and confirmation hearing.
The letter penned by Kennedy was released on January 28, in which she warns “[RFK Jr.] himself is a predator.” Her son, Jack Schlossberg, also posted a video of his mother’s reading of the letter that she addressed to senators on TikTok, where it’s now garnered over a million likes.
“Overseeing the FDA, the NIH, the CDC, and centers for Medicare and Medicaid services–agencies that are charged with protecting the most vulnerable among us–is an enormous responsibility and one that [RFK Jr.] is unqualified to fill,” Kennedy said in her opening statement. She cites RFK Jr. lacks any relevant government, financial, management, or medical experience and maintains “dangerous” and “willfully misinformed” views on vaccines.
“These facts alone should be disqualifying,” Kennedy notes, “but [RFK Jr.] has personal qualities related to this job which, for me, pose even greater concern.” In speaking of what it was like growing up with her cousin, Kennedy bluntly states, “It’s no wonder he keeps birds of prey as pets because [RFK Jr.] himself is a predator.” She goes on to recall her cousin’s charisma and “willingness to break the rules” and says she watched as brothers and younger cousins “followed him down the path of drug addiction.”
“His basement, his garage, his dorm room were always the center of the action,” she continued, stating drugs were always available and RFK Jr. “enjoyed showing off how he put baby chickens and mice in a blender to feed to his hawks.” Kennedy’s words conjure a gruesome mental image, indeed, one she described as “a perverse scene of despair and violence.”
Kennedy goes on to clarify this was a long time ago and people can certainly change. She lauds her cousin’s strength and discipline through illness, disease, and the loss of his father, but doesn’t discredit the experiences of family members who have “suffered addiction, illness, and death” as a result of RFK Jr.’s actions.
Kennedy then goes on to say that her cousin, while encouraging younger generations to attend AA meetings, is “addicted to attention and power” and goes on to “lie, misrepresent, and cheat his way through life.” She criticizes RFJ Jr. for preying on the parents of sick children, vaccinating his own kids while “building a following hypocritically discouraging other parents” who vaccinate theirs.
Though RFK Jr. claims he is not “anti-vaccine,” in 2019, he visited Samoa following a vaccination suspension, as reported by NBC News. He echoed concerns of vaccine safety after two Samoan babies died as a result of improperly prepared vaccines. At the time, RFK Jr. was the chairman of Children’s Health Defense, an anti-vaccine nonprofit. The “natural experiment” that followed led to the deaths of 83, leaving thousands more Samoans sick and unvaccinated during a deadly measles outbreak brought on by low vaccination rates.
Caroline Kennedy notes RFK Jr. is now keeping his financial stake in a lawsuit against HPV vaccine, which prevents all forms of cervical cancer, sharing her concerns of the “real-world consequences” to her cousin’s “irresponsible” beliefs. RFK Jr. has already refused to clearly answer whether he believes healthcare is a human right. Though Kennedy’s decision to speak out “wasn’t easy,” it was necessary, especially after Trump’s federal aid freeze. Hopefully, U.S. senators will heed the former ambassador’s warning.
Published: Jan 30, 2025 6:30 AM UTC