Amid criticism from Laura Loomer, RFK Jr. says he won’t run for president in 2028
Democratic presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. speaks at a Hispanic Heritage Month event at Wilshire Ebell Theatre, Sept. 15, 2023, in Los Angeles. Mario Tama/Getty Images
(WASHINGTON) — Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on Friday ruled out running for president in 2028, apparently defending himself against accusations by conservative influencer Laura Loomer that he and top aides are quietly preparing for another White House bid as Kennedy runs America’s health apparatus.
“The swamp is in full panic mode,” Kennedy wrote in a lengthy post on X. “DC lobby shops are laboring fiercely to drive a wedge between President Trump and me, hoping to thwart our team from dismantling the status quo and advancing [Trump’s] Make America Healthy Again agenda.”
“They’re pushing the flat-out lie that I’m running for president in 2028. Let me be clear: I am not running for president in 2028.”
In the post, Kennedy also defended his longtime aide and deputy chief of staff at HHS, Stefanie Spear, whom Loomer accused in a Politico interview this week of trying “to lay the groundwork for a 2028 RFK presidential run.”
In his X post, Kennedy defended Spear, calling her “a fierce, loyal warrior for MAHA who proudly serves in the Trump Administration and works every day to advance President Trump’s vision for a healthier, stronger America.”
Spear served as press secretary for Kennedy’s failed presidential campaign, which ended last August with an endorsement of Trump.
Loomer, a staunch pro-Trump figure, has previously boasted of initiating the firings of government officials she deemed insufficiently loyal to the president. She did not immediately respond publicly to Kennedy’s post.
(WASHINGTON) — Dr. Kevin O’Connor, former President Joe Biden’s physician, didn’t answer questions when he briefly appeared before the House Oversight Committee on Wednesday for a closed-door, transcribed interview.
O’Connor was subpoenaed by Committee Chairman James Comer as part of a Republican-led investigation into Biden’s mental fitness and use of a presidential autopen while in office.
O’Connor’s lawyer, David Schertler, said in a statement that the doctor “asserted the physician-patient privilege, as well as his right under the Fifth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, in declining to answer questions from the staff of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform regarding his service as Physician to the President during the Biden Administration.”
Comer also said the doctor continuously pleaded the Fifth Amendment — a right to refuse to answer questions where someone might incriminate themself.
“This is unprecedented. And I think this adds more fuel to the fire that there was a cover up,” the congressman said.
O’Connor didn’t take any questions from reporters when he arrived and left the Rayburn House Office Building on Wednesday morning.
Doctors have a legal obligation to not talk about things like patient interactions, diagnosis, and treatments. Sharing this information can lead to civil and criminal penalties, according to the Department of Health & Human Services.
The House Oversight Committee has requested interviews with several of Biden’s former White House aides in light of a reports questioning his mental fitness in his final year in office and alleged efforts by those around him to conceal it — allegations Biden has vehemently denied.
Neera Tanden, who served as the director of the White House Domestic Policy Council under Biden, sat for testimony in late June. When asked after by reporters if there was an effort to disguise Biden’s condition, Tanden replied: “Absolutely not.”
Comer said on Wednesday the GOP probe will continue.
“We have several other witnesses that are going to come in for transcribed interviews,” he said.
The White House waived executive privilege for O’Connor ahead of his appearance. The House Oversight Committee previously requested O’Connor and aides sit for interviews while Biden was president, but Biden blocked the request.
Biden rejected reports of cognitive decline during an appearance on ABC’s “The View” in early May, before his office announced his cancer diagnosis.
“They are wrong. There’s nothing to sustain that,” Biden said at the time.
Former first lady Jill Biden, in the same interview, pushed back forcefully to accusations she shielded Biden from allies and the public.
“I did not create a cocoon around him. I mean, you saw him in the Oval Office. You saw him making speeches. He wasn’t hiding somewhere,” she said.
Since then, former president Biden has spoken at some events, including at the Society for Human Resource Management’s annual conference in San Diego last week, where he reflected on his leadership and career.
ABC News’ Eric Strauss contributed to this report.
(NEW ORLEANS) — Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, in her first public appearance since the Supreme Court sharply limited the ability of federal judges to check presidential power, said Saturday she believes recent rulings by the court’s conservative majority pose an “existential threat to the rule of law.”
“Sometimes we have cases that have those kinds of implications, and, you know, are there cases in which there are issues that have that kind of significance? Absolutely,” Jackson told ABC News Live Prime anchor Linsey Davis during a wide-ranging conversation at the Global Black Economic Forum.
The court’s newest justice and member of the liberal minority first leveled the charge last month in a remarkable solo dissent in the case Trump v Casa, which partially lifted nationwide injunctions against President Donald Trump’s executive order to effectively end birthright citizenship.
Jackson also wrote in her dissent that she has “no doubt that executive lawlessness will flourish because of the decision” and that she predicts “executive power will become completely uncontainable.” The unusually blunt and sobering assessment drew sharp criticism, including from her colleagues.
Justice Amy Coney Barrett accused Jackson of a “startling line of attack that is tethered neither to [precedent and the Constitution] nor, frankly, to any doctrine whatsoever.”
While Jackson did not directly address the case or specific criticism, she defended her right to express her views on the law and suggested that public scrutiny of the debate is welcomed.
“I am actually heartened that people are focused on the court and the work that we’re doing on the state of the government,” she told Davis. “As a democracy, the people are supposed to be the rulers. The people are supposed to be leading in terms of the policies and the way in which our government operates. And so, the more that people are engaged with our institutions the better.”
Jackson’s appearance came at the ESSENCE Festival of Culture in New Orleans, Louisiana, and was part of a promotional tour for her new memoir, “Lovely One,” which chronicles her journey from south Florida to the Ivy League and on to the high court.
President Joe Biden appointed Jackson in 2022 to replace retiring Justice Stephen Breyer. She is the first former public defender, for Florida-raised judge, and first Black woman to serve as a justice.
“I’m aware that people are watching,” Jackson told Davis. “They want to know how I’m going to perform in this job and in this environment, and so I’m doing my best work as well as I can do, because I want people to see and know that I can do anything just like anyone else.”
In her recently-concluded third term on the court, Jackson wrote more than 24 opinions — second only to Justice Clarence Thomas — and was the justice most often in dissent.
“We have very different opinions,” Jackson said, “and it’s a tradition of the Court that justices get to voice their opinions in the context of their opinions and writings.”
During oral arguments, Jackson was also among the most vocal on the bench — by one count uttering 79,000 words, more than any other colleague.
“It’s funny to me how much people focus on how much I talk in oral argument,” Jackson said. “It’s been a bit of an adjustment because as a trial court judge, you have your own courtroom so you can go on as long as you want. So, trying to make sure that my colleagues get to ask some questions has been a challenge for me, but I’ve enjoyed it.”
Jackson said she believes the justices are “good at separating out the work” and maintaining cordial personal relationships with each other despite their disagreements.
In an aerial view, the Texas Capitol is seen on August 04, 2025 in Austin, Texas. Brandon Bell/Getty Images
(AUSTIN, Texas) — Texas House Democrats confirmed on Monday morning that they are returning to Austin after a two-week standoff with Republicans over proposed congressional maps, potentially clearing the way for Republicans to approve changes that could net Republicans as many as five new House seats next year.
The Democrats did not confirm any specific action they plan to take on or off the House floor, but they say that they are going to build a “legal case against the discriminatory map”. The new maps are widely expected to be hit by lawsuits if they pass the legislature.
“We killed the corrupt special session, withstood unprecedented surveillance and intimidation, and rallied Democrats nationwide to join this existential fight for fair representation — reshaping the entire 2026 landscape,” Democratic Caucus chair state Rep. Gene Wu said in a statement. “We’re returning to Texas more dangerous to Republicans’ plans than when we left.”
After the Texas state legislature began a second special legislative session on Friday and failed still to meet quorum, Republican legislators are expected to try for a quorum Monday and then to work to advance proposed new congressional maps, which will have to once again pass through the House’s redistricting committee and procedural votes.
Separately, in California, days after Gov. Gavin Newsom formally announced plans to get new congressional maps to go before voters in November in a counter to Texas, the state legislature will convene on Monday from recess and is set to rapidly work on passing legislation to get the maps on the ballot. Republicans and anti-gerrymandering advocates plan to protest and to call out what they say is an unfair process.
