Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr., appears before the Senate Finance Committee, on Capitol Hill in Washington, Thursday, Sept. 4, 2025. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)
Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr., appears before the Senate Finance Committee, on Capitol Hill in Washington, Thursday, Sept. 4, 2025. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)
Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., listens as Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr., appears before the Senate Finance Committee, on Capitol Hill in Washington, Thursday, Sept. 4, 2025. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)
RFK. Jr’s family members say he is a ‘threat’ to Americans’ health and call for his resignation
WASHINGTON (AP) 鈥 Members of Robert F. Kennedy Jr.‘s family are calling for him to step down as health secretary following a contentious congressional hearing this past week, during which the Trump Cabinet official faced bipartisan questioning about his tumultuous leadership of federal health agencies.
Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr., appears before the Senate Finance Committee, on Capitol Hill in Washington, Thursday, Sept. 4, 2025. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)
WASHINGTON (AP) 鈥 Members of Robert F. Kennedy Jr.‘s family are calling for him to step down as health secretary following a contentious congressional hearing this past week, during which the Trump Cabinet official faced bipartisan questioning about his tumultuous leadership of federal health agencies.
Kennedy’s sister, Kerry Kennedy, and his nephew, Joseph P. Kennedy III, issued scathing statements Friday, calling for him to resign as head of the Health and Human Services Department.
The calls from the prominent Democratic family came a day after Kennedy had to defend his recent efforts to pull back COVID-19 vaccine recommendations and fire high-level officials at the Centers for Disease Control at a three-hour Senate hearing.
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鈥淩obert F. Kennedy Jr. is a threat to the health and wellbeing of every American,鈥 Joseph P. Kennedy III said in a post on X. The former congressman added: 鈥淣one of us will be spared the pain he is inflicting.鈥 His aunt echoed those claims, saying 鈥渕edical decisions belong in the hands of trained and licensed professionals, not incompetent and misguided leadership.鈥
This is not the first time Kennedy has been the subject of his family’s ire. Several of his relatives had objected to his presidential run in the last campaign, while others wrote to senators earlier this year, calling for them to reject his nomination to be Trump’s health secretary due to views they considered disqualifying on life-saving vaccines.
Kennedy, a longtime leader in the anti-vaccine movement, has spent the last seven months implementing his once-niche, grassroots movement to the highest level of America鈥檚 public health system. The sweeping changes to the agencies tasked with public health policy and scientific research have resulted in thousands of layoffs and the remaking of vaccine guidelines.
The moves 鈥 some of which contradict assurances he made during his 鈥 have rattled and officials in several Democratic-led states, which have responded with their own .
