Reacting to all the criticism piled on Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. during a combative hearing on Thursday, Politico’s Jonathan Martin focused on a statement read into the record by Sen. John Barrasso (R-WY), which could be interpreted to signal Kennedy may soon find himself out of the job.
In a clip shown on "Morning Joe,” the Wyoming conservative, who is also a medical doctor, came armed with written comments critical of Kennedy which Martin claimed should raise eyebrows.
"The biggest news, I thought in those clips you played was the role of John Barrasso,” he stated after MSNBC ran a supercut of Republicans challenging Kennedy.
"This is hugely important,” he continued. “John Barrasso is not just a Trump supporter, certainly, he's the number two ranking Senate Republican. He's the Republican whip and for him to sit up there reading from prepared remarks that was not off the cuff, he knew what he was doing.”
“It was a planned attack to sit and read those remarks from Wyoming, by the way, not exactly the Upper West Side of Manhattan,” he insisted. “I thought was very significant and reflected the profound frustration in the Senate GOP Caucus about Kennedy, and also just about confirming these folks who Trump then fires two weeks later.”
A conservative commentator's argument was belittled by another panelist after he defended President Donald Trump's decision to rename the Department of Defense.
The president intends to sign an executive order changing the agency's name to the Department of War, which it had been called from 1789 until its 1947 reorganization, and panelists on "CNN This Morning" debated the purpose and meaning of Trump's plans – which he might not even be able to do without congressional action.
"We know he cares deeply about branding, and as he said, he wants to come off as more offensive and more strong and mightier," said journalist Eugene Scott. "But I think it also draws attention to the fact that this president campaigned promising to end or decrease America's involvement in a number of global conflicts and just bringing people's attention to the word 'war,' I think, will bring their attention to the fact that he hasn't actually done that, and some things have, in fact, gotten worse in terms of America's involvement in wars."
New York Times podcast host Lulu Garcia-Navarro pointed out that Trump's biggest troop deployments so far have been in American cities, which made her question with whom the president believed he was at war, but her conservative foil Rob Bluey expressed excitement about the department's rebrand.
"It was a big topic at the National Conservatism Conference this week, not the name change, but the issue that Eugene talks about and the fact that this president is different than past Republicans in that he does want to be seen as the peace president," Bluey said, "and, I mean, that is clear from the first six months in office. I think it's why you have a move afoot on Capitol Hill with Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) and Congressman Greg Steube (R-FL) to put this in legislation and make this name change official. Obviously, it's one of those things that I think that this president wants to make sure that he leaves his mark, and this is one way that he's going to try to do it."
Host Audie Cornish pointed out the mixed message between the Department of War and Trump's transparent thirst for a Nobel Peace Prize, but Bluey argued that a more aggressive-sounding name might help improve national security.
"Perhaps, but I think at the same time, that deterrence that you talked about in terms of his peace-through-strength doctrine is what he's going for," said Bluey, executive editor of The Heritage Foundation's Daily Caller website. "We don't want to enter into war, but maybe it is the deterrent that the message that will send to those adversaries in the world, whether it be Russia or China, they want to provoke a war that may have them think twice."
Garcia-Navarro was far from persuaded by that argument.
"One could argue that this is a sign of weakness and not a sign of strength," she said. "I mean, if you need to carry a big sign saying, 'We are the Department of War and we will mess you up,' is that really kind of showing strength, and when we've had a long period in the United States since the end of World War II, where there has been pretty much peace, stability and prosperity, and so I don't know that the name change is exactly might be signaling the thing that he wants to be signaling. However, at the end of the day, war, defense – it's still soldiers, boots on the ground. It does what it does."
Vice President JD Vance’s rush to defend embattled Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. after his combative hearing before senators sitting on the Senate Finance Committee earned him a scolding from The Wall Street Journal on Thursday, and an MSNBC panel joined the pile-on Friday morning.
After the controversial Trump appointee battled with lawmakers from both sides of the aisle, Vance jumped on social media and wrote, “When I see all these senators trying to lecture and ‘gotcha’ Bobby Kennedy today all I can think is: You all support off-label, untested, and irreversible hormonal ‘therapies’ for children, mutilating our kids and enriching big pharma. You’re full of s--- and everyone knows it.”
That led the WSJ editors to scold him with “Classy, as ever, Mr. Vice President,” before adding, ”None of this is true of Dr. Cassidy, Dr. Barrasso, and other Senators, and the Vice President knows it. Mr. Vance is trying to rally Republicans to RFK’s side by framing this dispute in a polarized partisan framework, either/or, us/them. That may serve his political purposes as he courts RFK’s supporters with 2028 in mind, but it won’t win over anyone paying attention to the health secretary’s contradictions as he attacks life-saving vaccines.”
After portions of the editorial were read on “Morning Joe” on Friday, MSNBC contributor Katty Kay interjected, “I mean, in some ways, it was a frustrating hearing because you had a lot of slipperiness going on, right? You had the secretary saying that he supported mRNA, while we know he's doing something else. He's saying that, yes, covid vaccines will be available to everybody, but also saying at the same time, but it's not recommended for certain people who are healthy, which then means that they may not be available in pharmacies and insurers may not have it.”
Co-host Joe Scarborough then returned the focus to Vance’s comments.
"Basically, JD Vance, one of the dumbest things that, you know, this administration always does, this MAGA base always does is they take an issue like this and say, ‘Oh, you must be with like trans, you must be with mutilating children for surgeries when they're transitioning,’” he exclaimed. “He did that, yes. Total lies. Is he really saying that about [GOP senator] John Barrasso? Is he really saying that about [GOP senator] Bill Cassidy? Is he really saying that about the 75 percent of Republicans who oppose what RFK Jr. is saying?”
“Does JD Vance really think that 75 percent of Republicans support, like, trans operations for minors?” he asked. “Because that's what he said yesterday, and I'm so glad the Wall Street Journal –– there's only so much stupidity you can put up with. I'm so glad the Wall Street Journal editorial page called him out. But I know it's going to be hard. I mean, but outside of the Know-Nothings, what other political movement has produced such backward-looking stupidity?”
Conservative lawyer George Conway revealed that President Donald Trump appears to be feeling significant pressure from the renewed attention on the Jeffrey Epstein files.
Conway joined The Bulwark's publisher, Sara Longwell, on the podcast "George Conway Explains It All (to Sarah Longwell)" to discuss Trump's recent moves since the press conference survivors of Epstein's crimes held at the U.S. Capitol this week. Since then, Trump has called the Epstein files a "Democrat hoax that just won't go away." He's also made a series of other seemingly rash decisions that Conway argued meant he was feeling the heat.
"I think also the pressure that he's feeling because of these files, the fear of being exposed," Conway said. "I don't know what exactly is in these files. I think it makes him more manic."
"And it also makes the people around him get the understanding that they can get more out of him and they can please him by saying, 'Let's do this,' 'Sign this,' and he gets kind of hyper," he continued.
Longwell argued that Trump's manic state could help explain his recent threats to send National Guard troops to Chicago, redistricting Texas' election map, and declaring "emergencies that don't exist."
"As far as I'm concerned, part of deploying the National Guard to D.C. when there was absolutely not an emergency happening was to change the conversation away from Epstein," Longwell said.
Conway added that Trump seems to be navigating a "mixed motive" because of his health.
"I do think he's worried about his own mortality," Conway said. "This bit about I want to go to heaven and I think he's feeling the pressure in a lot of different ways that's causing him to become more, I don't know if manic is really the right word, but hyper."
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg's hot mic moment during a dinner with President Donald Trump on Thursday was "quite a moment," according to one analyst.
Sara Fischer, media reporter for Axios, joined CNN's Kaitlan Collins on "The Source" to discuss the dinner, which was attended by business leaders like Zuckerberg, Apple CEO Tim Cook, and Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella. The press was invited to part of the dinner, and some business leaders gave thanks to Trump for his pro-business policies.
One reporter asked Zuckerberg what he thought about free speech issues in the United Kingdom. Zuckerberg seemed caught off guard by the question.
Zuckerberg, who was seated next to the president, leaned in toward Trump. A hot mic caught him saying, "I wasn't ready for our announcement. I wasn't sure what number you wanted to go with."
"I thought that was quite a moment," Collins said.
"Quite a moment," Fischer said. "These guys all thought the free speech and censorship that was such a big deal during the first administration was behind them, so I really do think Mark Zuckerberg was caught off guard there."
"As long as they can focus on AI and innovation, they won't have to worry about all that Republican heat against them for what was so-called censorship," she continued.
Collins interviewed Dr. Demetre Daskalakis, an infectious disease expert, on her show "The Source" about Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy's hearing before the Senate Finance Committee. Experts have said Kennedy repeated multiple false claims about vaccines during the hearing, which resulted in some Republicans calling for him to be removed from the post.
Kennedy also made a number of false claims that caught Daskalakis's attention. Kennedy lied about people conducting research at the CDC, Daskalakis said, and the discussion he had with former CDC director Susan Monarez before Kennedy fired her.
"The head of the health agency for the United States is actively standing before Congress and making things up," Daskalakis said. "He did not tell the truth."
"So, you're saying he lied to Congress?" Collins asked.
"Yes, he lied to Congress," Daskalaskis said.
"Wow."
Kennedy also claimed during the hearing that he had been briefed by the people from the CDC's immunization group, which Daskalakis said is untrue.
"He was never briefed by anyone in the immunization group," Daskalaskis said.
Collins pushed Daskalakis for more details.
"He says he's being briefed by William Thompson, is one name, and you're saying this person is not an expert on immunizations?" she asked.
"He is not a part of the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, and he's not a spokesperson for [the center's] content area," Daskalakis said. "So, if he's getting his information from that individual, I am not sure how that person could have briefed him on material that they have no handle on."
Former Fox News host Geraldo Rivera raged Thursday at the Trump administration's deportation of "family people" alongside criminals who illegally migrated to the United States.
Rivera joined Piers Morgan on his YouTube show "Piers Morgan Uncensored" to discuss Trump's immigration policies. Morgan asked him to respond to an earlier interview with President Donald Trump's border czar, Tom Homan, who argued that the United States should not let anyone who illegally immigrates to stay in the country.
Rivera accused immigration officials of "racially profiling" Latinos in their deportation operations.
"They are racially profiling Latinos where Spanish-speaking people of brown skin are afraid to walk around for fear of a masked ICE agent stopping them and demanding their papers," Rivera said. "It is outrageous."
"Once they make it inside the United States and have been here for decades, god-fearing, law-abiding family people, for God's sakes, give them some compassion," he continued. "Give them some American spirit."
The Trump administration has claimed they are prioritizing deportations for violent criminals, but media reports suggest that is not true. There have been numerous instances where American citizens and people with legal immigration status have been swept up in the deportation operations.
Rivera also took issue with ICE agents wearing masks during the operations.
"If what he is doing is so noble, if what he is doing is so necessary for the fate of our republic, the United States, then why do his ICE agents wear masks?" he asked.
A former federal prosecutor said on Thursday that President Donald Trump's administration is "not even pretending" to provide equal protection under the law with its mortgage fraud investigations into Trump's opponents.
The Trump administration has publicly announced that they are investigating Sen. Adam Schiff (D-CA), Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook, and New York's Democratic Attorney General Letitia James for alleged mortgage fraud. Trump has also had standoffs with each of the people being investigated.
Schiff was one of the Democratic senators leading the impeachment proceedings against Trump during his first term. Cook has voted against raising interest rates, as Trump protests. James successfully prosecuted Trump for committing fraud while covering up hush money payments he made to a porn star during the 2016 election cycle.
Mimi Rocah, a former federal prosecutor, joined CNN's "Erin Burnett OutFront" to discuss the investigations.
"They are not even pretending like there is equal protection under the law," Rocha said.
Rocah added that mortgage fraud is a common crime charged by U.S. attorneys, but not the kind that the Trump administration is alleging. The Trump administration has said it is looking at whether people purchased properties with multiple primary residence mortgages.
Rocah said that the level of detail is almost "unheard of" for a federal investigation.
She was also stunned by the obviousness of the Trump administration's move to "single out" Trump's political opponents in these investigations.
"These people...have legitimate claims of vindictive prosecution," Rocah said.
Congresswomen Ilhan Omar and Delia Ramirez on Thursday strongly condemned the Trump administration's deadly attack on a boat allegedly trafficking cocaine off the coast of Venezuela as "lawless and reckless," while urging the White House to respect lawmakers' "clear constitutional authority on matters of war and peace."
"Congress has not declared war on Venezuela, or Tren de Aragua, and the mere designation of a group as a terrorist organization does not give any president carte blanche," said Omar (D-Minn.), referring to President Donald Trump's day-one executive order designating drug cartels, including the Venezuela-based group, as foreign terrorist organizations.
Trump—who reportedly signed a secret order directing the Pentagon to use military force to combat cartels abroad—said that Tuesday's US strike in international waters killed 11 people. The attack sparked fears of renewed US aggression in a region that has endured well over 100 US interventions over the past 200 years, and against a country that has suffered US meddling since the late 19th century.
"It appears that US forces that were recently sent to the region in an escalatory and provocative manner were under no threat from the boat they attacked," Omar contended. "There is no conceivable legal justification for this use of force. Unless compelling evidence emerges that they were acting in self-defense, that makes the strike a clear violation of international law."
I condemn the Trump Admin’s lawless and reckless actions in the Southern Caribbean. Congress has not declared war on Venezuela, or Tren de Aragua, and the mere designation of a group as a terrorist organization does not give any President carte blanche to ignore Congress’s clear… https://t.co/aYORk2FjR2 — Rep. Ilhan Omar (@Ilhan) September 4, 2025
Omar continued:
They're now using the failed War on Drugs to justify their egregious violation of international law. The US posture towards the eradication of drugs has caused immeasurable damage across our hemisphere. It has led to massive forced displacement, environmental devastation, violence, and human rights violations. What it has not done is any damage whatsoever to narcotrafficking or to the cartels. It has been a dramatic, profound failure at every level. In Latin America, even right-wing presidents acknowledge this is true.
The congresswoman's remarks came on the same day that US Secretary of State Marco Rubiodesignated a pair of Ecuadorean drug gangs as terrorist organizations while visiting the South American nation. This, after Rubio said that US attacks on suspected drug traffickers "will happen again."
"Trump and Rubio's apparent solution" to the failed drug war, said Omar, is "to make it even more militarized," an effort that "is doomed to fail."
"Worse, it risks spiraling into the exact type of endless, pointless conflict that Trump supposedly opposes," she added.
Echoing critics, including former Human Rights Watch director Kenneth Roth, who called Tuesday's strike a "summary execution," Ramirez (D-Ill.) said Thursday on social media that "Trump and the Pentagon executed 11 people in the Caribbean, 1,500 miles away from the United States, without a legal rationale."
"From Iran to Venezuela, to DC, LA, and Chicago, Trump continues to abuse our military power, undermine the rule of law, and erode our constitutional boundaries in political spectacles," Ramirez added, referring to the president's ordering of strikes on Iran and National Guard deployments to Los Angeles, the nation's capital, and likely beyond.
"Presidents don't bomb first and ask questions later," Ramirez added. "Wannabe dictators do that."
President Donald Trump announced on Thursday that he intends to sign an executive order to change the name of the Department of Defense to the Department of War, a move that was roundly criticized by legal and military analysts.
The rebrand speaks to the "warrior ethos" that Trump has asked Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to restore in the military, according to reports. Trump has also previously expressed interest in the name change.
Legal and military experts responded to Trump's planned rebrand on social media.
"The files must be really bad," former GOP congressman Adam Kinsinger posted on X. "Also the money allocated to department of defense… not the dept of war. But all in all it’s a pointless distraction that will be reversed in 3 years."
"Just complete idiocy," historian Kevin Kruse posted on Bluesky.
"Remember all the MAGA voters who thought they were getting an end to global interventionism?" geopolitics lecturer Stuart Hopper posted on X. "Another slap in the face delivered courtesy of TRUMP: The Department of War."
"Worth remembering IMO that the people who came up with the Department of Defense were not namby-pamby peaceniks; they were the hardened leaders who had just annihilated Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan, and were gearing up to face down the Soviet empire," defense analyst Tom Shugart posted on X.
"Again, a reminder that the law of the United States creates and names executive departments, not the president at any given time," constitutional law professor Anthony Michael Kreis posted on X. "The executive order is unlawful."
"We are living in the dumbest of times," Republicans Against Trump posted on X.
Former speechwriter to President George W. Bush, David Frum, said that if the U.S. Supreme Court hands power to President Donald Trump to wage his trade war, then they're effectively killing the Constitution.
Speaking to MSNBC's Nicolle Wallace on Thursday, Frum called Trump's tariff actions "the most extreme thing that he's ever done in this way."
"If there's one idea that runs through the American legal tradition and before that, the English legal tradition, it's that the executive cannot impose taxes without the consent of the legislature," he noted. "When Charles I in England, did it in the 1600s, the English cut off his head. When George III tried to do it in his own way, the United States started the American Revolution. This is the foundational idea."
Frum also explained that it was so important to the Founding Fathers that it was written as Article I of the Constitution.
"Taxes have to be approved by Congress, and tariffs are taxes. Donald Trump has invented this completely ludicrous theory about how he is entitled to impose this massive tax."
He compared the huge amount of "illegal taxes" Trump is collecting to the "no tax on tips" agreement that he included for a few years under the 2026 budget, known as the "big, beautiful bill."
"To give you an idea of how big the taxes he imposed illegally are, you've heard a lot about this no tax on tips promise? Now, most people don't know that the promise expires at the end of 2028. But the total value of the no tax on tips commitment is about $32 billion before it expires at the end of 2028. The Trump administration has taken that much money in illegal tariffs just in the month of August; $30 billion in illegal taxes in August, which entirely offset the holiday they claim to have given to working Americans. And so there's a lot at stake here," said Frum.
"If the court lets Donald Trump get away with this, you just might as well take Article I out of the Constitution. Because Congress has lost control of the taxing power," he closed.
CNN anchor Kasie Hunt snapped at Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-OK) on her show "The Arena" on Thursday over his comments about vaccines.
Mullin argued that vaccines are ineffective because Americans suffer from higher rates of chronic illnesses today than they did in the 1950s. He also suggested that the prevalence of autism can be linked to the increased number of vaccines children are asked to take to attend public school.
The debate happened just hours after Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s hearing before the Senate Finance Committee, one that prompted calls for Kennedy to either resign or be impeached.
Hunt listed off the vaccine regimen that kids in Mullin's home state of Oklahoma are expected to get before attending school. The vaccines include polio, hepatitis A, hepatitis B, and the measles, mumps, and rubella shot.
"If kids don't take this regimen, other kids around them are more likely to get sick, no?" Hunt asked.
"How many vaccines are we giving out today to our children? Mullins replied.
Hunt guessed the number is more than 70.
"And what was it in 1980?" Mullins replied, suggesting that a higher number of vaccines today means they are less effective at preventing diseases.
"That is misleading!" Hunt replied. "That total counts up all of the courses; say there are three courses for MMR, meaning you need three shots over the years to be vaccinated for MMR."
"It's also misleading because the number of diseases you're vaccinating against is around 20," she continued.
MSNBC's Nicolle Wallace and Dr. Jeremy Faust, assistant professor of emergency medicine at Harvard University, agreed that something isn't right with Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
Kennedy appeared before the Senate on Thursday morning to address questions about his firing of top officials at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and removal of the entire vaccine advisory board.
Calling Kennedy "Donald Trump's leading public health official," Wallace noted that Kennedy was "unable to defend his own conspiracy theories in front of Democrats and Republicans in the United States Senate."
"It was disturbing, frankly, to have a health secretary mouth breathing through the whole thing. I spent the whole time wondering what his ailment is in terms of a respiratory, or I don't know, the whole thing was distracting," criticized Wallace. "It was rude. It was non-linear, in terms of his responses. Within one question and answer, he seemed to take multiple positions. What happened today in the United States Senate?"
Faust said he saw the country's top health official was unable to answer "in a clear way that vaccines save lives. That all the vaccines in the pediatric series that have long been recommended by the CDC and other expert groups are safe and effective."
He also sounded the alarm about the new appointees to the vaccine board who share Kennedy's anti-vaccine views and who have already "made recommendations that aren't scientific."
However, Faust predicted that the recommendations they will provide in the upcoming weeks will be far worse.
