Caroline Kennedy, daughter of former US President John F Kennedy, has sent a scathing letter about her cousin Robert F Kennedy Jr to US senators, ahead of his senate confirmation hearing tomorrow.
She said he was completely unqualified to be Secretary of Health, called him a "predator" and said his anti-vaccine rhetoric has cost many lives.
RFK Jr ran for president but dropped out and endorsed Donald Trump, who has now nominated him to be Secretary of Health and Human Services. Mr Kennedy will appear in front of a senate committee tomorrow, which must approve his appointment.
Caroline's son Jack Schlossberg posted a video of his mother reading the letter to senators.
"He lacks any relevant government, financial, management or medical experience. His views on vaccines are dangerous and willfully misinformed," Ms Kennedy said.
She added: "These facts alone should be disqualifying but he has personal qualities related to this job, which for me pose even greater concern."
She went on to accuse her cousin, a recovered heroin user, of leading some of his siblings and cousins down the path of addiction causing illness and death.
Mr Kennedy's younger brother David died in Palm Beach County in May of 1984 of "multiple ingestion" of three drugs found in his body fluids, authorities said at the time.
Ms Kennedy outlined that his anti-vaccine message had cost many lives and caused a deadly outbreak of measles in American Samoa in 2019.
"It’s no surprise that he keeps birds of prey as pets because Bobby himself is a predator," she said of her cousin. She detailed how he used to revel in putting mice and chickens in a blender to feed to his hawks.
She also cited Mr Kennedy’s decision to keep a financial stake in the lawsuit against Merck’s HPV vaccine which is used to protect against cervical cancer, saying he is planning to "enrich himself".
As former US President Joe Biden’s ambassador to Australia, Ms Kennedy was actively involved in promoting the HPV vaccine.
She finished by pleading with US Senators to reject his appointment on behalf of America's most vulnerable adding, "They deserve better than Boddy Kennedy and so do the rest of us".
If confirmed, Mr Kennedy would oversee a roughly $1.7 trillion (€1.6 tn) mandatory and $130.7 billion (€125.2bn) discretionary budget as the head of HHS, with more than half of the spending going toward major entitlement programs like Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid.
Read more:
Trump nominates Robert F Kennedy Jr for role as US health secretary
