Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) lowered the boom on Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy during a hearing on health care costs.
Sanders and others in the hearing room Thursday laughed incredulously when Kennedy told Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) that he had fired Susan Monarez as director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention after he asked whether she was a truthful person, and she replied she was not.
Sanders followed up in his turn for questioning.
"Are you telling us that the former head of CDC went to you, you asked her, 'Are you a trustworthy person?' and she said, 'No, I am not a trustworthy person,'" Sanders asked.
Kennedy clarified that she never said she was untrustworthy. He claimed that she said "no" when asked that question, and Sanders then challenged him on the COVID-19 vaccine and asked him to identify the groups that advised him on the related policy, because the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Public Health Association, and other organizations said the COVID-19 vaccine and vaccines in general are safe and effective.
"You are casting doubt on that," Sanders said. "Who are your scientific — who are the organizations that are agreeing with you and casting aspersions on vaccines?"
Kennedy identified a handful of individual advisers – Marty Makary, Jay Bhattacharya and Mehmet Oz – who advised him on policy, adding that he believes the medical establishment had been corrupted by the pharmaceutical industry. Sanders pointed out that every Republican, including the president, accepted donations from those companies.
"When you ran for president, you know, we have a corrupt campaign finance system," Sanders said. "Maybe you agree with me on that. Okay, when you ran for president, you got a billionaire behind it, you received $300,000 from people, not from the industry, people in it, as I did, from individuals – you corrupt? President Trump got $3 million; every Republican got corporate PAC money from the pharmaceutical industry, Democrats as well. Everybody is corrupt but you. Is that what we're looking at? I don't think so."
Kennedy protested that he didn't even know what Sanders was talking about. The senator then zeroed in on his vaccine advisers.
"You have given the names of a few people; I have given you the names of organizations representing hundreds of thousands of doctors and scientists," Sanders said.
