RFK Jr. Says Trump Promised Him ‘Control’ Of CDC And Other Health Agencies

Robert F. Kennedy Jr., whose anti-vaccine history attracted right-wing followers to his failed presidential bid, said Donald Trump has pledged to give him “control” of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and other agencies if victorious in the election.
The former independent candidate, whose own political family dynasty disavowed his views on COVID-19, made the stunning remark in a livestream to followers, according to CNN. The network said it obtained video of it.
Kennedy named umbrella agencies over which he’d preside in some fashion, including the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
“The key that I think I’m ― you know, that President Trump has promised me is ― is control of the public health agencies, which are HHS and its sub-agencies, CDC, FDA, NIH and a few others, and then also the USDA, which is ― which, you know, is key to making America healthy. Because we’ve got to get off of seed oils, and we’ve got to get off of pesticide intensive agriculture,” Kennedy said.
Trump, the Republican nominee, has said he was considering Kennedy, who’s currently campaigning for him, for a role in health administration. He ominously told a rally at Madison Square Garden on Sunday he would let Kennedy “go wild on the medicines” in a potential second Trump White House.
Kennedy’s reputation as a vaccine skeptic and conspiracy theorist would not bode well for a role in the CDC, which provided guidelines during the pandemic.
Kennedy floated a baseless conspiracy theory last year that COVID-19 was “ethnically targeted” to attack Caucasians and Black people while “people who are most immune are Ashkenazi Jews and Chinese.” (He later said he did not mean to imply it was “deliberately engineered” that way.)
Kennedy used comparisons to Nazi Germany to criticize health mandates to curb the spread of COVID-19 (though he denied it) and his own perceived persecution as someone who questions vaccines.
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He also falsely claimed” that evidence “confirms” the COVID-19 shot “is the deadliest vaccine ever made.”
Trump and Democratic nominee Kamala Harris are just days away from their Nov. 5 showdown for the presidency.
HuffPost has reached out to Trump’s office for comment.