Category Archives: Robert F Kennedy Jr

Trump declares administration ‘just getting started’ in address to Congress

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President boasts about efforts to slash federal workforce and reorient foreign policy as Democrats protest from chamber

Donald Trump on Tuesday declared that his administration was “just getting started”, boasting in a marathon address to Congress that his efforts to slash the size of the federal workforce, reorient US foreign policy and escalate a risky trade war marked the beginning of the “most thrilling days in the history of our country” as Democratic lawmakers protested with placards that read “lies” and “false”.

“America is back,” Trump declared, opening his primetime speech to a joint session of Congress, the first of his second term and the longest in American history. Republicans broke into a boisterous chant of “USA”.

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Trump cuts reach FDA workers focused on food safety and medical devices

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Positions cut also appeared to focus on agency’s centers for tobacco products, including oversight of e-cigarettes

The Trump administration’s effort to slash the size of the federal workforce reached the Food and Drug Administration this weekend, as recently hired employees who review the safety of food ingredients, medical devices and other products were fired.

Probationary employees across the FDA received notices on Saturday evening that their jobs were being eliminated, according to three FDA staffers who spoke to the Associated Press on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly.

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MLK’s family fear new batch of assassination files will have FBI ‘smears’

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Family of Martin Luther King Jr says Trump mandate could revive J Edgar Hoover’s efforts to discredit revered activist

The family of Martin Luther King Jr has expressed concern over Donald Trump’s executive order to release records surrounding the civil rights leader’s assassination, saying the president’s mandate could revive efforts to discredit the revered activist with the public.

Speaking to Axios, a friend of the King family said: “We know J Edgar Hoover tried to destroy Dr King’s legacy, and the family doesn’t want that effort to prevail,” referring to the late former FBI director and his agency’s years-long surveillance of King as well his associates.

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Republican senator who voted for RFK Jr balks at Louisiana anti-vaccine move

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Republican Bill Cassidy calls state surgeon general’s halt to promotion of mass vaccination a disservice to parents

Bill Cassidy, the Republican US senator, has said his home state of Louisiana’s recent decision to cancel the promotion of mass vaccination against preventable diseases is a disservice to parents who want to keep their children healthy.

Nonetheless, before those remarks, the medical doctor-turned-politician who has clashed with Donald Trump joined 51 of his fellow Republicans in voting to confirm anti-vaccine conspiracy theorist Robert F Kennedy Jr as secretary of the US’s health and human services department. Cassidy had also previously voted to advance Trump’s nomination of Kennedy as national health secretary from the committee level to the full Senate.

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‘I’m picturing my death’: alarm as RFK Jr closes in on health secretary role

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The Trump ally’s health plans have delighted his supporters – but others are horrified by the potential for harm

Americans suspicious of modern medicine and the status quo are watching Robert F Kennedy Jr’s nomination to secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) with a mixture of glee, astonishment and skepticism.

Last week, Kennedy used his confirmation hearing before the Senate Finance Committee to demonstrate how fully his wellness agenda, Make America Healthy Again, and Trumpism had fused – often to the delight of supporters.

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Trump orders release of thousands of classified files on JFK assassination

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Executive order also aims to declassify federal records on killings of Robert F Kennedy and Martin Luther King

Donald Trump has ordered the release of thousands of classified governmental documents about the 1963 assassination of John F Kennedy, which has fueled conspiracy theories for decades.

The executive order the president signed on Thursday also aims to declassify the remaining federal records relating to the assassinations of Robert F Kennedy and the Rev Martin Luther King Jr. The order is among a flurry of executive actions Trump has quickly taken the first week of his second term.

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Trump’s health department cancels meetings and pauses communications

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Health and Human Services is expected to be overhauled as Robert F Kennedy Jr waits to take department’s reins

Trump administration appointees are asserting control over the enormous US federal health department after the president’s inauguration this week – pausing public communications and abruptly canceling scientific meetings.

While temporary communications pauses are not entirely abnormal as new administrations find their feet, the orders come at a time of high anxiety for US scientists and public health workers.

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Even in blue Colorado, vaccine advocates worry about RFK Jr’s appeal and ‘medical freedom’ movement

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Growing rates of infectious disease in state’s most populous region could indicate increased ‘vaccine hesitancy’

In deep blue Colorado, one of the only states that did not shift right in the 2024 presidential election, vaccine advocates see openings for Robert F Kennedy Jr.

An environmental lawyer and the nation’s most prominent propagator of vaccine misinformation, Kennedy is now the embodiment of where left meets right – the scion of a political dynasty who first ran as a Democratic presidential candidate and is now slated to join president-elect Trump’s administration as the nominee to head the Department of Health and Human Services.

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RFK Jr will cut prescription drugs and increase weed and psychedelics access

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Trump’s health department pick has expressed distrust of pharmaceuticals and attacked ‘suppression of psychedelics’

Public health experts are concerned that, if confirmed, Donald Trump’s choice for secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) – Robert F Kennedy Jr – could upend access to pharmaceutical drugs in favor of more experimental treatments.

Kennedy, who the president-elect picked earlier this month, has repeatedly expressed distrust for pharmaceuticals, and criticized the FDA for its “aggressive suppression of psychedelics”. On his podcast, he called the US “the sickest country in the world”, blaming its healthcare system for devoting billions to “the pills and the potions and the powders rather than on actually getting people healthy, building their immune systems”.

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‘A Russian asset’: Democrats slam Trump’s pick of Tulsi Gabbard as director of national intelligence

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Some of his other nominees – Matt Gaetz for AG and Peter Hegseth for defense head – were also condemned

Democratic lawmakers are slamming Donald Trump’s nominee for director of national intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard, saying their former House colleague is a vocal supporter of Russia who poses a threat to US national intelligence.

Jason Crow, a House Democrat from Colorado and a member of the House intelligence committee, told NBC News that he has “deep questions about where her loyalties lie”.

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Trump skips FBI background checks for controversial cabinet picks – report

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Bypassing the standard procedure comes as president-elect’s choices of RFK Jr and Matt Gaetz send shockwaves

Donald Trump’s transition team has bypassed standard background checks by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) on some of his controversial cabinet nominees, it has been reported, minimising the chances of them being rejected for Senate confirmation based on any past transgressions or conflicts of interest.

Such background checks – a longstanding tradition for incoming presidential nominations dating back decades to the early cold war – have instead been outsourced to private investigators.

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Trump names Karoline Leavitt as White House press secretary – live

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Leavitt was Trump campaign’s national press secretary and assistant press secretary in first administration. This blog is now closed.

Republicans are set to take control of the Senate next year, where one of their first jobs will be to confirm Donald Trump’s nominees for cabinet posts. Should they object to the president-elect’s picks, he has threatened to make use of recess appointments, an archaic tactic that would allow him to circumvent the chamber and its objectors. Here’s more on how that would work, from the Guardian’s Joan E Greve:

Several Republican senators expressed shock on Wednesday when Donald Trump announced he would nominate Matt Gaetz, the hard-right congressman known for instigating fights with members of his own party, as attorney general.

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Trump announces RFK Jr as his pick to lead US health department

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A scion of Democratic dynasty, RFK Jr is known for embrace of anti-vaccine beliefs and other conspiracy theories

Donald Trump announced on Thursday he will nominate former independent presidential candidate Robert F Kennedy Jr as the US secretary of health and human services (HHS) in his administration.

Kennedy, an anti-vaccine activist, will be a contentious pick to lead the US health department, and the role will need to be confirmed by the Senate.

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RFK Jr says Trump would push to remove fluoride from drinking water

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Kennedy, who Trump promised to let lead health programs, makes claims against fluoride, which strengthens teeth

Robert F Kennedy Jr, a prominent proponent of debunked public health claims whom Donald Trump has promised to put in charge of health initiatives, said Saturday that the former president would push to remove fluoride from drinking water on his first day in office if elected.

Fluoride strengthens teeth and reduces cavities by replacing minerals lost during normal wear-and-tear, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The addition of low levels of fluoride to drinking water has long been considered one of the greatest public health achievements of the last century.

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Supreme court rejects RFK Jr plea to remove name from battleground ballots

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Kennedy, who suspended campaign and endorsed Donald Trump, will remain on ballot in Michigan and Wisconsin

The supreme court on Tuesday rejected an emergency appeal to remove Robert F Kennedy Jr from presidential ballots in Wisconsin and Michigan.

Kennedy wanted to remove himself from the ballot in the two crucial swing states after dropping his independent bid and endorsing Donald Trump. He argued that keeping him on violated his first amendment rights by wrongly implying he still wanted to be elected president.

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Olivia Nuzzi leaves New York magazine after revelation of RFK Jr relationship

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Publication said decision was mutual and found ‘no inaccuracies nor evidence of bias’ in Nuzzi’s coverage

The politics writer Olivia Nuzzi and New York magazine have parted ways just over a month after she was placed on leave following the disclosure that she had engaged in a “personal” relationship with Robert F Kennedy Jr.

The departure was announced in a statement from New York magazine on Monday afternoon.

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Ethel Kennedy, human rights advocate, recovering from stroke

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The widow of US senator Robert F Kennedy is ‘getting best care possible’, her family said in a statement on X

Ethel Kennedy, a human rights advocate and widow of US Senator Robert F Kennedy, is recovering from a stroke she suffered last week, according to a statement her grandson, the former representative Joseph P Kennedy III, shared on X on Tuesday.

“Unfortunately on Thursday morning she suffered a stroke in her sleep,” her grandson posted on X. “She was brought to an area hospital where she is now receiving treatment.” His aunt, Kerry Kennedy, later posted the same statement.

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Trump says he won’t run for president again in 2028 if he loses in November

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Republican nominee says in interview that he ‘doesn’t see that at all’ and he hasn’t made deals with Musk or RFK Jr

Donald Trump said in an interview released on Sunday that he did not think he would run for president again in 2028 if he loses this year’s race for the White House.

In an interview on the Full Measure television show with Sharyl Attkisson, the former US president – who ran in 2016 and 2020 – was asked whether he saw himself running yet again in four years time.

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RFK Jr’s name will remain on ballot in swing state Wisconsin, judge rules

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Law states that candidates who submit nomination papers cannot be removed from ballot unless they die, says judge

Robert F Kennedy Jr’s name will remain on the ballot in the swing state of Wisconsin, a judge ruled on Monday.

Dane county circuit judge Stephen Ehlke ruled that Wisconsin law clearly states presidential candidates who have submitted nomination papers can’t be removed from the ballot unless they die. Kennedy’s campaign submitted nomination papers before the state’s 6 August deadline.

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Advisers worry whether ‘happy Trump’ or ‘angry Trump’ will show up to debate

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Sources say campaign is concerned that Trump may engage in the kind of self-sabotage that turned off voters in 2020

Donald Trump’s campaign is most concerned going into the debate against Kamala Harris with the former president’s mood, afraid that the mercurial Trump could engage in the kind of self-sabotage that turned off voters in the 2020 presidential election, according to people familiar with the situation.

The campaign’s internal refrain is whether they get “happy Trump” or “angry Trump”, the people said, as they count down the days to perhaps the final presidential debate this cycle.

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