President-elect Trump tried to downplay considerations about Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on Monday, telling reporters that the nominee for Well being and Human Companies secretary received’t be “radical.”
“I think he’s going to be much less radical than you would think,” Trump stated throughout a wide-ranging information convention at Mar-a-Lago. “He’s going to have an open mind, or I wouldn’t have put him there.”
Trump’s feedback got here as Kennedy kicked off every week of conferences with GOP senators to shore up assist for his nomination. Some GOP senators have expressed considerations over Kennedy’s historical past of vaccine skepticism, and wished to listen to straight from the previous Democrat about what he believes.
Opposition to Kennedy facilities totally on his coverage stances, lots of which run counter to conventional GOP orthodoxy. He has an extended historical past of questioning vaccines and has promoted the debunked concept that vaccines trigger autism.
Kennedy argues the rise of continual illnesses in America might be traced to ultra-processed meals, environmental toxins and chemical components. He desires to ban fluoridated water and improve entry to uncooked milk.
Kennedy has argued he’s not anti-vaccine however thinks that childhood photographs aren’t secure and that the federal government hasn’t executed sufficient research to show in any other case.
However on the similar time, Trump on Monday appeared open to a few of Kennedy’s most controversial views.
Throughout the press convention, Trump hinted that his administration would examine the debunked hyperlink between vaccines and autism.
It’s a place Trump has flirted with for years, however it’s just lately come to the forefront because the president-elect has allied with Kennedy.
“If you look at autism, so 30 years ago we had I heard numbers like 1 in 200,000, 1 in 100,000. Now I’m hearing numbers like 1 in 100. So something’s wrong. There’s something wrong. And we’re going to find out about it,” Trump stated.
Trump additionally sought to reassure the drug trade that Kennedy wouldn’t upset the market, regardless of his earlier feedback railing in opposition to the trade. Trump famous he informed trade executives as a lot once they traveled to a dinner he hosted at Mar-a-Lago just lately.
First as an impartial candidate for president after which as a surrogate for Trump, Kennedy has stated federal well being regulators are “sock puppets” held captive by trade particular pursuits.
Trump stated he informed the executives he desires to work with the trade on stopping the “middlemen” within the prescription drug provide chain — the pharmacy profit managers (PBMs).
“We spent more time talking about that than anything else,” Trump stated. “We’re going to knock out the middleman. I don’t know who these middlemen are, but they’re rich as hell.”
