Fact-checking RFK Jr.’s claims on vaccines, pesticides at confirmation hearing
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(WASHINGTON) — Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s confirmation hearing on Wednesday to lead the Department of Health and Human Services saw senators question the environmental lawyer about his views on vaccines, abortion, pesticides and even Lyme disease.
Senators asked Kennedy about views he has frequently promoted on vaccines that are at odds with the consensus of public health researchers and the mainstream scientific community, despite saying he is “supportive of vaccines” on Wednesday.
The nominee was also questioned about his past comments, including claiming that pesticides cause children to become transgender.
Additionally, senators asked Kennedy about comments he made in support of abortion rights when he was a registered Democrat and a 2024 presidential candidate in contrast with recent comments, supporting President Donald Trump’s views and believing that laws regulating the procedure should be left up to the states.
Here are a few medical claims made by Kennedy that are missing context or include falsehoods:
Claim: CDC approved COVID-19 vaccines “without any scientific basis.”
Context: COVID vaccines are among the most studied accines in history, with large clinical studies showing the health benefits far exceed any potential risks.
Claim: Kennedy says he had nothing to do with the measles outbreak in American Samoa
Context: The 2019 measles outbreak led to more than 5,700 cases and 83 deaths. The Ministry of Health cited Kennedy’s visit and rhetoric as exacerbating vaccine hesitancy at a crucial moment
Claim: Kennedy: ‘I probably did say, Lyme disease is “highly likely a militarily engineered bioweapon”‘
Context: Lyme disease is caused by a type of bacteria and spreads through the bite of blacklegged ticks
Claim: Kennedy says he has never claimed pesticides lead children to become transgender
Context: Kennedy has repeatedly suggested environmental toxins, including those in drinking water, are linked to gender identify in children. These claims are unfounded.
Claim Sen. James Lankford: The FDA has discouraged people from submitting safety reports about abortion medication mifepristone unless the person died.
Context: Anyone is welcome to submit a safety report on any medication using a publicly available database.
(WASHINGTON) — Seven sitting governors are throwing their support behind Wisconsin Democratic Party Chairman Ben Wikler’s run for Democratic National Committee chair. Four of them are eligible to vote in the party’s officer elections.
In endorsements first shared with ABC News, Govs. Gretchen Whitmer of Michigan, Tina Kotek of Oregon, Andy Beshear of Kentucky, Laura Kelly of Kansas, Michelle Lujan Grisham of New Mexico, Maura Healey of Massachusetts, and Janet Mills of Maine lauded Wikler as an experienced organizer and unifier. Kelly, Beshear, Lujan Grisham and Whitmer are among the 448 DNC members who can vote for chairperson next week on Feb. 1.
The governors urged their state’s delegations to join them in their support, which would tighten the gap between Wikler and the other leading candidates in this race, Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party Chairman Ken Martin and former Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley.
Kelly said Wikler is a “commonsense leader” the party needs and urged “all Kansas voting members to join” her in voting for him.
“As Democratic governors continue to show we can win in battleground and deep red states, we need a DNC Chair who understands the importance of ensuring Democratic governors are some of the strongest voices in our party and who will prioritize investing in our critical 38 races for governor in the next two years. We also need someone who knows that if we’re going to win back essential voters, we need to get back to talking about core issues … in a way that will actually resonate,” Kelly said.
Michigan’s Whitmer said she believes Wikler can generate victories for Democrats at all levels of government.
Whitmer, a two-term Democrat who has repeatedly succeeded in a state twice won by President Donald Trump, has been mentioned as a possible 2028 presidential contender and was discussed as a replacement for President Joe Biden in 2024.
“As Governor of Michigan, I’ve seen Ben fight and win for working people in our neighboring state. Our next Chair needs to be a leader who can do exactly that: get our party unified, organized, and talking to voters to deliver wins up and down the ballot,” Whitmer said. “Ben has my vote, and I encourage my fellow Michiganders to join me in supporting him next week.”
Another name floated as a possible party leader is Beshear, who was on former Vice President Kamala Harris’ running mate short list. Beshear said he believes Wikler can unify the rebuilding Democratic Party and raise the resources needed to win.
“There are other good leaders in this race but I will be voting for Ben for DNC Chair and will be encouraging the entire Kentucky delegation to join me — because we need a leader who gets what’s needed to compete not just in blue states but in deep-red and battleground areas too,” Beshear said. “As Chair of WisDems, Ben Wikler has shown that when you unite our party, raise the historic resources needed to invest in governor’s races and every other level of the ballot, and talk to voters about the challenges they’re facing every day, Democrats can win everywhere.”
Lujan Grisham echoed the sentiment that Wikler will value and invest in governors.
“I will be voting for Ben Wikler for DNC Chair because he has shown that he knows how to raise historic funds for candidates up and down the ballot — all while standing up for working families and the year-round organizing we need to fight and win across the country,” Lujan Grisham said.
Kotek offered similar praise, saying Wikler is the “changemaker the Democratic Party needs.”
“The next leader of the DNC needs to be someone with the experience to get our party back and deliver for working people. I urge DNC members from Oregon and across the country to join me in supporting Ben for DNC chair,” Kotek said.
Earlier in the race, Gov. Tony Evers of Wikler’s home state of Wisconsin also endorsed Wikler’s run.
Two governorships will be up for grabs this year, and Democrats are looking to play competitively in both — namely by keeping control of New Jersey and flipping Virginia. These races will be the first large-scale electoral tests for the party since its sweeping losses last November.
The support from the slate of governors also points to a late-stage surge for Wikler after both Martin’s and O’Malley’s teams indicated that the Wisconsin party chairman was lagging behind them in support. Earlier this month, O’Malley’s team asserted, “This is a three-way race and we are not in third place.”
These endorsements also come just days after Martin said he has garnered support from 200 voting members, by far the highest private whip count announced in the race thus far, rapidly approaching the 225 votes needed to win. (Martin currently has the majority of public endorsements.)
But Wikler and O’Malley disputed the assertion, calling Martin’s count inflated and accusing him of muddying the process. Wikler received the backing of four powerful public sector unions and the Senate’s top Democrat, Chuck Schumer.
Wikler also came forward with his team’s internal whip count for the first time during the race earlier this week, claiming to have 131 members supporting him. O’Malley’s campaign says he has 100 supporters.
Wikler had previously said he would not release details about his internal whip count. But in a series of social media posts on Wednesday night, Wikler said he was changing course, taking a veiled swipe at Martin and citing a statement from O’Malley’s campaign.
“Until tonight, I’d held back from releasing my whip count,” Wikler said. “But another candidate released a count so inflated that, as another campaign rightly said, it was ‘disrespectful to the 448 voting members of the DNC — many of whom are still making up their minds.'”
He continued, “In a moment of national crisis, DNC members deserve the chance to choose the next Chair based on vision and record, not based on whisper campaigns and attempts to manufacture an illusion of inevitability.”
Nevertheless, no campaign has provided a full list of exactly who is backing their bids, and there are a number of other long-shot candidates who have qualified to run and could peel off a handful of members along the way. It’s unclear, too, if any candidate will clinch a majority of votes to win on the first ballot, opening up the race and allowing members to reconsider their choice in subsequent ballots.
Wikler said he is “honored” to have the backing of these governors, who he said are “some of the most important Democratic voices in the country.”
“Democratic governors present the model for how Democrats can compete and win in the toughest states in the country,” Wikler said, “and we need to invest in their leadership in a way that reflects their invaluable power as messengers and leaders. I’m ready to expand the map and win, together.”
(WASHINGTON) — Scott Bessent, a billionaire hedge fund manager who has helped fundraise for Donald Trump, is the president-elect’s choice to lead the Department of Treasury.
Bessent has advised Trump on economic policy and has been a frequent presence at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago club over the last two weeks.
The announcement for the job, which needs Senate approval, was supposed to come earlier but had been stalled due to intense infighting among Trump’s top advisers — including transition co-chair Howard Lutnick — about who should get the job.
“Scott is widely respected as one of the World’s foremost International Investors and Geopolitical and Economic Strategists. Scott’s story is that of the American Dream,” Trump said in his announcement statement.
Bessent, 62, has been involved in financial firms for over 35 years.
Born and raised in Conway, South Carolina, Bessent graduated from Yale University in 1984.
After graduating from Yale in 1984, Bessent went to work for different investment companies.
He worked for Democratic megadonor George Soros from 1991 to 2000, where he was a managing partner. Later, he returned to Soros Fund Management (SFM) – the private investment firm that manages assets for the Open Society Foundations – as chief investment officer from 2011 to 2015.
Bessent has also been associated with Brown Brothers Harriman, The Olayan Group, Kynikos Associates and Protégé Partners.
Economists from both sides of the aisle believe Bessent is a middle-of-the-road pick.
Bessent made large donations supporting Trump and served as an economic adviser. He has also made several television appearances on behalf of the president-elect.
Bessent spoke at a conference run by the Manhattan Institute in June, where he laid out a three-point economic plan that he intended to propose to Trump.
“Well, I might even advise him to campaign on three arrows,” Bessent said. “It would be 3% real economic growth, and how do you get that? Through deregulation, more U.S. energy production, slaying inflation and forward guidance on competence for people to make investments — so that the private sector can take over from this bloated government spending.”
Bessent, who is gay, resides in New York City with his partner and two children.
As the highly anticipated treasury pick lingered, Elon Musk threw his support behind Howard Lutnick over Scott Bessent.
“Would be interesting to hear more people weigh in on this for @realDonaldTrump to consider feedback. My view [for what it’s worth] is that Bessent is a business-as-usual choice, whereas @howardlutnick will actually enact change,” Musk wrote on X. “Business-as-usual is driving America bankrupt, so we need change one way or another.”
(WASHINGTON) — Migrants allowed into the U.S. temporarily under certain Biden administration programs can be quickly expelled, according to a memo sent by the Trump administration’s acting secretary of homeland security.
The memo, sent out Thursday night by Acting Department of Homeland Security Secretary Benjamine Huffman and obtained by ABC News, says that a migrant who has “been granted parole under a policy that may be paused, modified, or terminated” could be subject to expedited removal.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has the freedom to deport migrants covered by such “parole” programs — used to grant entrance to migrants under which for urgent humanitarian reasons.
The Cuban, Haitian, Nicaraguan, Venezuela (CHNV) parole program allowed for certain migrants from those counties to apply for parole status into U.S. for up to two years. There were, however, conditions on the applicants, for example they needed to have a sponsor in the U.S. and be able to pass security vetting.
Both programs were swiftly done away with when President Donald Trump came into office earlier this week.
“The Biden-Harris Administration abused the humanitarian parole program to indiscriminately allow 1.5 million migrants to enter our country,” a DHS spokesperson said on Tuesday. “This was all stopped on day one of the Trump administration. This action will return the humanitarian parole program to its original purpose of looking at migrants on a case-by-case basis.”
The memo, first reported by The New York Times, says it is up to an ICE agent to review an individual case and determine what enforcement is necessary.
“Take all steps necessary to review the alien’s case and consider, in exercising your enforcement discretion, whether any such alien should be placed in removal proceedings; and Review the alien’s parole status to determine, in exercising your enforcement discretion, whether parole remains appropriate in light of any changed legal or factual circumstances,” according to the memo.
The memo says for any person in the country legally who ICE is “aware of,” agents should take “all necessary steps to determine if they should be in the country
“Take all steps necessary to review the alien’s case and consider, in exercising your enforcement discretion, whether to apply expedited removal. This may include steps to terminate any ongoing removal proceeding and/or any active parole status.”
The administration expanded its expedited removal authority to its “statutory maximum” — meaning someone who is in the country for less than two years can be removed without an immigration hearing — an interpretation of the law that immigration advocates say has never been used before.
“To maximize efficiency in the short term, DHS components may wish to prioritize aliens eligible for expedited removal who failed to apply for asylum within the statutory deadline,” the DHS memo said.
