‘They Used To Be My Friends’: Democrats Scream At RFK In Confirmation Hearing

Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s first confirmation hearing in the Senate Committee on Finance was a raucous, at times explosive, affair as Democrats grilled the nominee over his past.

The hearing over Kennedy’s nomination to lead Health and Human Services (HHS) lasted roughly three-and-a-half hours before Republican chairman Sen. Mike Crapo had to cut the hearing to rush for a vote. Democrats continued to question and, at times, berate Kennedy up to the final minute.

“All these Democrats are opposed to me for partisan issues, they used to be my friends,” Kennedy said at one point. “They agreed with all the issues I’ve been working on my whole career. Now, they’re against me because anything President Trump does has to be discredited, derided, and vilified.”

RFK JR: "All these Democrats are opposed to me for partisan issues, they used to be my friends. They agreed with all the issues I've been working on my whole career. Now they're against me because anything President Trump does has to be discredited, derided, and vilified." pic.twitter.com/TrdBcAumED

— TheBlaze (@theblaze) January 29, 2025

Kennedy’s left-wing activist past has raised alarms among conservatives and Republican lawmakers. To allay those concerns, the nominee repeatedly promised to enforce President Trump’s agenda. He said he would follow the president’s lead on abortion policy, including the abortion drug mifepristone, and denied attacks that he is “anti-vaccine.”

“President Trump has asked me to end the chronic disease epidemic and make America healthy again … and that is what I’m doing,” Kennedy said under questioning from Democratic Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto, laying out his top priority if confirmed to lead HHS.

“If we don’t solve that problem, senator, all of the other disputes we have about who’s paying — whether it’s insurance companies, whether it’s providers, whether it’s HMOs, whether it’s patients or families — all of those are just moving deck chairs around on the Titanic,” Kennedy said.

The nominee also said his approach to the expansive health care bureaucracy would be guided by “radical transparency,” noting his long career of suing the federal government over public records.

Republicans were receptive to RFK Jr. despite having, at times, radical disagreements with the nominee’s past statements.

Democrats grilled Kennedy over interpretations of his past statements, at various times accusing the nominee of being a flip-flopper, a “rubber stamp” for Trump, anti-vaccine, and dishonest. Multiple Democratic senators yelled at Kennedy.

“Are you supportive of these onesies?” Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders at one point yelled, questioning Kennedy about merch being sold by a group with which he used to be involved but has since severed ties with.

“Look, no one should be fooled here,” an irate Sen. Elizabeth Warren at one point said. “As secretary of HHS, Robert Kennedy will have the power to undercut vaccines and vaccine manufacturing across our country. And for all of his talk about ‘follow the science’ and his promise that he won’t interfere with those of us who want to vaccinate [our] kids, the bottom line is the same: Kennedy can kill off access to vaccines and make millions of dollars while he does it.”

Republican Sen. Ron Johnson lamented the partisanship of the hearing in comments outside the hearing room.

“One thing I’ve learned in, you know, working with all these doctors, whether it was talking about our response to Covid and, you know, the Make America Healthy movement, it’s completely nonpartisan. Most of the doctors that testified in my events were from the other side of the aisle,” Johnson said.

“We’re all focused on trying to accomplish what the American people want. We want to understand what’s causing chronic illness. What caused autism? Let’s restore integrity to science. That’s all that Bobby Kennedy is about,” he said.

Senator Ron Johnson talks to the press about the MAHA movement:

"We're all focusing on trying to accomplish what the American people want…. Let's restore integrity to science." pic.twitter.com/dX3kX9BlDU

— Daily Caller (@DailyCaller) January 29, 2025