'Disingenuous': Ex-tea party Republican flags an 'incredible statement' from GOP lawmakers

Sens. Susan Collins (R-ME) and Dr. Bill Cassidy (R-LA) have both expressed fury over the staff firings at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) over the past few days. However, one former tea party Republican Congressman is saying that they're a little late to the problem.

Speaking to MSNBC on Friday, former Rep. Denver Riggleman called the senators' expression of concern "disingenuous."

Cassidy expressed reservations during the hearings for Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s nomination to be the Secretary of Health and Human Services, but ultimately passed him through committee. Collins and Cassidy both voted in support of Kennedy in the full Senate vote.

On Thursday, however, Cassidy demanded on X that the upcoming meeting of the vaccine advisory board be put on hold because whatever recommendations are put forward can't be trusted. Kennedy fired all 17 members of the board and has replaced them primarily with so-called "vaccine skeptics." The circumstances around the firing of CDC Director Susan Monarez are drawing attention among officials after it was revealed she was told to do something illegal and to approve something inconsistent with scientific fact, a colleague told MSNBC on Thursday.

"I find it interesting that [Republicans] are trying to put the toothpaste back in the tube six or seven months later," said Riggleman with a chuckle. "I mean, shouldn't there have been oversight on all the other things that RFK Jr. has already done? I thought it was a really incredible statement. When you're talking about the materials that were in vaccines taken out 20 years ago. And, it's really good to know, right, for people who want to be science and facts-based, that it wasn't causing autism. There was no oversight then. There wasn't any oversight or anybody else has been fired right down the line, because of RFK. Jr.'s mental instability. So I really think they're trying to put the toothpaste back in the tube right now. Seems pretty disingenuous."

Another fired CDC official told MSNBC that her office was never even allowed to brief Kennedy on the scientific facts her office had been collecting and studying.

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