Robert F. Kennedy Jr. decried Democrats who “used to be my friends” until President Donald Trump nominated him to be a part of his administration, arguing that both sides of the aisle need to “unite” to make the U.S. healthier.
While speaking during his first round of Senate confirmation hearings for Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) secretary on Wednesday, Kennedy stressed the need for “radical transparency” and bipartisanship in the agency:
“My approach to HHS, as I said before, Senator, is radical transparency. Democrats and Republicans ought to be able to come in and get information that was generated at taxpayer expense, that is owned by the American taxpayer,” he said to Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI).
“They shouldn’t get redacted documents. Public health agencies should be transparent … If we want Americans to restore trust in the public health agencies, we need transparency,” Kennedy continued, before saying that his 2024 presidential campaign “was about uniting Americans — Democrats and Republicans.”
According to the former Democrat presidential candidate, there is “no issue that should unite us more than this chronic health epidemic,” and there is “no such thing as Republican children or Democratic children.”
WATCH — RFK Jr: I Have Prayed to God Every Day for 20 Years to Be Able to Help America’s Children:
He then proceeded to point out “explosions” in cases of several medical and mental health conditions, including diabetes, rheumatoid arthritis, neurological diseases, and depression.
“All of these things that are related to [the] toxic environment,” argued Kennedy. “Why can’t we just agree with each other to put differences about so many issues, intractable issues, aside?”
Kennedy, who left the Democrat party and continued his campaign as an Independent before dropping out of the race and endorsing Trump, then proceeded to list reasons why he believes he is the best choice to lead the HHS:
We’re going to end this. I don’t think anybody is going to be able to do this like I am, because of my peculiar experience, because I’ve litigated against these agencies. When you litigate against them, you get a PhD in corporate capture and how to unravel it. I’ve written six books about these agencies. I know a lot about them, and I know how to fix it, and there’s nobody who will fix it the way that I do because I’m not scared of vested interest. I don’t care. I’m not here because I want a position or a job. I have a very good life, a happy family. This is something I don’t need. I want to do this because we’re going to fix it.
He concluded that portion of his statements before the Senate Finance Committee with a criticism of formerly supportive Democrats who turned his back on him.
“All these Democrats are opposed to me for partisan issues — they used to be my friends,” Kennedy said, claiming that they once “agreed with me on all the environmental issues I’ve been working on for my whole career.”
“Now they’re against me because anything that President Trump does, any decision he makes, has to be lampooned, derided, discredited, marginalized, vilified,” the health secretary hopeful added.
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