Sen. Raphael Warnock (D-Ga.) on Thursday slammed Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as “the biggest threat to the health of the American people.”
“Listen, we are in a tragically ironic moment in which the biggest threat to the health of the American people is the secretary of Health and Human Services, and I can think of no obligation more sacred for an American president than making sure that the people of this country are safe,” Warnock told CNN’s Anderson Cooper on his show, “Anderson Cooper 360.”
“Robert Kennedy is a hazard to our health, and he needs to be fired. It couldn’t co— it couldn’t happen sooner,” the Georgia Democrat added.
Warnock’s remarks echo those he made earlier Thursday at an intense Senate hearing, during which he dubbed Kennedy “a hazard to the health of the American people.”
Kennedy defended his time as the U.S.’s top health official during the hearing, swinging back at lawmakers who pushed him over the recent upheaval at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), based in Warnock’s home state, and changes to vaccine policy.
During around three hours of testimony, Kennedy repeated vaccine misinformation, went after the CDC and gave differing explanations on his vision for reshaping the agency.
“Frankly, I have seen enough. Secretary Kennedy should be fired immediately. He’s destroying the agency responsible for keeping diseases (like measles and Ebola) under control. This is deadly serious,” Warnock said in a post on the social platform X Thursday.
The Trump administration quickly spoke in Kennedy’s defense following the hearing, with Vice President Vance saying the senators challenging the HHS secretary were “full of s— and everyone knows it.”
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt also defended Kennedy on X, saying that the HHS secretary “is taking flak because he’s over the target.”
“The Trump Administration is addressing root causes of chronic disease, embracing transparency in government, and championing gold-standard science. Only the Democrats could attack that commonsense effort,” Leavitt added.
The Hill has reached out to HHS for comment.
