3.8 • 3.7K Ratings
🗓️ 29 January 2025
⏱️ 50 minutes
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0:00.0 | If it's Wednesday, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., President Trump's pick to run the Department of Health and Human Services gets grilled on his vaccine skepticism, some of his controversial public health theories, and his changing views on abortion. |
0:17.1 | Plus, the Trump administration's surprise move to scrap a freeze on federal aid just a day after moving to implement it amid intensifying backlash from Democrats and confusion in government agencies. |
0:29.6 | And the Pentagon pulls the security detail for Trump adversary General Mark Millie and weighs a potential demotion in military rank for the former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. |
0:52.5 | Welcome to meet the press now. I'm Kristen Welker in Washington, where Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. faced off with senators today in the first of two confirmation hearings to be HHS secretary. |
1:03.1 | Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle pressed him on his well-established record as a vaccine skeptic and a pro-choice Democrat. |
1:10.5 | Kennedy also fielded questions about his ability to lead HHS, a sprawling department of more |
1:15.7 | than 80,000 employees and 13 divisions, including critical public health agencies like |
1:21.5 | the CDC, FDA, NIH, Medicare and Medicaid services. |
1:25.7 | In his opening statement and throughout his testimony, Kennedy said he was not anti-vaccine, |
1:31.7 | which led to some really testing exchanges with Senate Democrats who brought up his frequent |
1:37.2 | past public statements expressing doubts about vaccine safety. |
1:42.4 | News reports have claimed that I'm any vaccine or any industry. |
1:47.1 | I am neither. |
1:48.1 | I am pro-safety. |
1:50.2 | I believe that vaccines play a critical role in health care. |
1:56.4 | All of my kids are vaccinated. |
1:58.9 | I've written many books on vaccines. |
2:01.2 | I support the measles vaccine. |
2:03.2 | I support the polio vaccine. |
2:05.0 | I will do nothing as HHS secretary. |
2:08.3 | That makes it difficult or discourages people from taking it. |
2:11.8 | Anybody who believes that on a look at the measles book you wrote saying parents have been misled into believing |
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