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Ahead of Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s (RFK) Senate confirmation hearing for Secretary of Health and Human Services, his cousin Caroline Kennedy issued a scathing letter calling on senators to reject his nomination.
Some shit you should know before you read: Shortly after President-Elect Trump defeated Vice President Kamala Harris in the 2024 presidential election, President-Elect Trump nominated RFK to lead the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). For Kennedy to be confirmed, he requires a simple majority in the 100-member Senate, meaning he needs at least 51 votes. The current Senate consists of 53 Republicans and 47 Democrats. If all 47 Democrats oppose Kennedy, as many expect, he would need the support of at least 51 Republican senators to secure confirmation, allowing for no more than two defections within the GOP ranks. As of right now, concerns are beginning to mount that RFK will not have the votes to be confirmed, with influential republican commentators, like Bill O’Reilly, saying the votes are not there.

What’s going on now: In a letter to Senate lawmakers, Caroline Kennedy, former US ambassador to Australia and cousin of RFK, called for lawmakers to block his confirmation as secretary of health and human services, describing him as a “predator” who has harmed his own family and the public. She wrote, “I have known Bobby my whole life; we grew up together. It’s no surprise that he keeps birds of prey as pets because he himself is a predator,” she wrote. Caroline accused her cousin of exploiting the desperation of parents of sick children for financial gain, citing his “crusade against vaccination” as a prime example. She stated, “Even before he fills this job, his constant denigration of our health care system and the conspiratorial half-truths he has told about vaccines, including in connection with Samoa’s deadly 2019 measles outbreak, have cost lives.”
She also claimed that his actions have enriched him through lawsuits targeting vaccine manufacturers, such as his financial ties to the firm Wisner Baum, which sues pharmaceutical companies like the makers of the HPV vaccine Gardasil.
Caroline also leveled more personal allegations, describing RFK as “addicted to attention and power” and accusing him of influencing family members “down the path of drug addiction,” leading to “addiction, illness, and death.” She alleged that his behavior over the years involved cruelty, claiming, “His basement, his garage, and his dorm room were the centers of the action where drugs were available, and he enjoyed showing off how he put baby chickens and mice in the blender to feed his hawks. It was often a perverse scene of despair and violence.”
Additionally, she called out his “hypocrisy” for discouraging parents from vaccinating their children while vaccinating his own and said that her father, President John F. Kennedy, and her uncle, former Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy, “would be disgusted” by his actions.
This all comes as Robert F. Kennedy Jr. faces significant opposition from both parties ahead of his Senate confirmation hearing. With bipartisan criticism over his anti-vaccine activism and past statements, the Trump administration is reportedly preparing for the possibility that his nomination may fail.