LIVE REACTION: RFK JR. Faces HEATED Questioning in Senate Hearing
Bulwark Takes
The Bulwark
4.7 • 1.1K Ratings
🗓️ 4 September 2025
⏱️ 53 minutes
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Summary
Under siege already for scaling back government support for vaccines, and for pushing out top leadership at his and other health agencies, Kennedy received a skeptical welcome from members of both parties. At times, it seemed to bother him, as he accused his detractors of being in the pocket of the pharmaceutical industry and rambled on incoherently about his views on the COVID vaccine, and Donald Trump’s handling of it. His explanation for why he fired now-ex CDC Director Susan Monarez left one Senator visibly confused. After three hours, Kennedy’s standing seemed as shaky as ever, with Republicans even expressing some alarm over the damage he was causing.
Sam, Will and Jonathan broke down Kennedy’s testimony in front of the Senate Finance Committee, while answering two fundamental questions: what does it mean for his own future and for the future of public health in America.
Transcript
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| 0:25.8 | that RFK had before the Senate Finance Committee. This morning, it's Thursday. It comes in the wake of |
| 0:31.5 | incredible controversies at the CDC and HHS. And it promised to be a pretty combustible hearing, a lot of fireworks, and |
| 0:41.2 | frankly, I don't think it disappointed. |
| 0:43.2 | I was talking in one of our Slack chats, and we're going to get into recaps of the |
| 0:47.4 | hearing, so if you haven't seen it, don't worry. |
| 0:49.9 | I was talking to Slack chat, I can't recall a recent hearing, I suppose, where there was so much |
| 0:56.7 | skepticism shared across the aisle for the person who was sitting there. |
| 1:01.7 | And in this case, such a senior person in administration, he took a lot of very tough questions, |
| 1:09.7 | not just from Democrats, but from some notable Republicans, too. |
| 1:13.6 | And, you know, I thought his performance was pretty shaky, honestly. |
| 1:17.9 | I don't think it's going to doom him in the eyes of Donald Trump, which is what ultimately matters. |
| 1:22.1 | But it's hard to see him coming out of this hearing with a better standing. |
| 1:27.1 | If anything, he probably raised |
| 1:28.3 | a number of very difficult follow-up questions that he's going to have to deal with going |
| 1:34.3 | forward. |
| 1:35.3 | Before we get into the specifics of it, what is your, what was your big picture takeaway, Jonathan? |
| 1:40.3 | Yeah, so I had three. |
| 1:41.3 | So first of all, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. still lying all the time about laxing safety. |
| 1:48.7 | Just repeating claims that have been discredited, shed a little bit more light on some of the people he's listening to and not listening to, some of his conversations with Susan Menares, the former CPC director who he pushed out, |
| 2:03.6 | both confirming a lot of the reporting out there and also making very clear that what we've all suspected |
| 2:08.6 | that the people he's listening to are largely fringe voices, peddling theories that just |
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