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A day before Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s confirmation hearings for Health and Human Services Secretary, his cousin, Caroline Kennedy, sent a blistering letter to senators urging them to reject his nomination.
In the two-page letter addressed to committee leaders, the former U.S. ambassador to Australia described RFK Jr. as a “predator” whose actions have harmed the public and his own family. “It’s no surprise that he keeps birds of prey as pets because he himself is a predator,” she wrote.
Caroline Kennedy accused her cousin of exploiting vulnerable parents and children while profiting from vaccine misinformation. “Even before he fills this job, his constant denigration of our health care system and the conspiratorial half-truths he has told about vaccines, including in connection with Samoa’s deadly 2019 measles outbreak, have cost lives,” she stated.
She further alleged that, despite publicly discouraging vaccinations, RFK Jr. privately ensured his own children were vaccinated. “His crusade against vaccination serves to enrich him financially,” she wrote, citing his financial ties to Wisner Baum, a law firm suing the maker of the HPV vaccine Gardasil.
Caroline Kennedy also highlighted what she called her cousin’s long history of destructive behavior, referencing his well-documented struggles with substance abuse and his past treatment of animals. “His basement, his garage, and his dorm room were the centers of the action where drugs were available, and he enjoyed showing off how he put baby chickens and mice in the blender to feed his hawks,” she wrote.
Beyond her concerns about his public health stance, Kennedy also condemned RFK Jr. for what she called his exploitation of the Kennedy family legacy. “It wasn’t easy to remain silent last year when Bobby expropriated my father’s image and distorted President Kennedy’s legacy to advance his own failed presidential campaign—and then groveled to Donald Trump for a job.”
She concluded her letter with a sharp rebuke: “Bobby continues to grandstand off my father’s assassination, and that of his own father. It is incomprehensible that someone who is willing to exploit their own painful family tragedies for publicity would be in charge of American life-and-death situations.”
The letter, which Caroline Kennedy also read aloud in a social media post on X, adds to the growing bipartisan opposition to RFK Jr.’s nomination. While conservatives have expressed concern over his past support for abortion rights, Democrats and medical experts have criticized him for spreading vaccine misinformation, including about COVID-19 and polio.
RFK Jr. is scheduled to testify Wednesday before the Senate Committee on Finance, which will determine whether his nomination advances. On Thursday, he will face the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions. His confirmation remains highly uncertain as opposition mounts from both parties.
