‘They deserve better then Bobby Kennedy, and so do the rest of us’: RFK’s cousin eviscerates the HHS nominee in blistering condemnation

In the midst of a hearing to confirm him as Health Secretary, RFK Jr.’s cousin, Caroline Kennedy, has urged the Senate to reject his nomination, describing him as “unqualified” and a “predator.” 

Kennedy — who served as U.S. ambassador to Australia and Japan, and is the daughter of the late President John F. Kennedy — made the plea in a letter sent to the Senate, which she then read aloud in a lengthy video shared to TikTok by her son, Jack Schlossberg. The letter sees Caroline eviscerate her cousin while relaying her fears for the health of Americans under RFK Jr., whose appointment as Health Secretary would oversee critical agencies like the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Food and Drug Administration. “He lacks any relevant government, financial, management, or medical experience,” Caroline said. 

“His views on vaccines are dangerous and willfully misinformed.” Elaborating on his unfitness for the role, Caroline said RFK Jr.’s inexperience should “alone disqualify him” from serving as Health Secretary, but she also expressed concerns on a personal level. She spoke at length about her cousin’s character as yet another disqualifying factor, drawing upon her own knowledge of him since “we grew up together.” Among other recollections, Caroline mentioned RFK Jr. “encourag[ing]” the Kennedy siblings and cousins “down the path of substance abuse,” saying his basement was “the center of the action.”

She also recounted RFK Jr. “showing off” by putting “baby chickens and mice in a blender to feed” to his exotic birds. “It’s no surprise that he keeps birds of prey as pets,” Caroline said, “because Bobby himself is a predator.” RFK Jr.’s relationship with animals has been a source of much commentary, following his admission that he once buried a bear cub in Central Park and decapitated a beached whale. “It was often a perverse scene of despair and violence,” Caroline said of her cousin’s keeping of exotic pets.

While Caroline said that “people can change” and she admires RFK Jr. “pull[ing] himself out of illness,” she nonetheless remains concerned that the role of Health Secretary will be filled by someone who continues to “misrepresent, lie, and cheat his way through life.” She said RFK. Jr. is “addicted to attention and power” and “preys on the desperation of sick children.”

Of particular concern for Caroline is her cousin’s anti-vaccination stance, which has been well-documented and which she claims is hypocritical. She criticized RFK Jr. for “vaccinating his own kids while building a following hypocritically discouraging other parents from vaccinating theirs.” Caroline went on to speak to this anti-vax stance on a broader level, saying RFK Jr.’s assumption of the Health Secretary role will “denigrate our healthcare system” and “cost lives.” 

Concluding the video, Caroline admitted that “none of that was easy to say” given the closeness of the Kennedy family, but said she couldn’t remain silent as RFK Jr. “distorted president Kennedy’s legacy to advance his own failed presidential campaign.” In perhaps the most searing take on her cousin, Caroline declared that her father and her uncle, former US Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy, would be “disgusted” by RFK Jr. 

While his nomination by Trump has been controversial, very few Republican senators have said publicly that they will vote against RFK Jr. for the role. RFK Jr. will face two senate hearings before his potential confirmation as Health Secretary, both of which are scheduled for this week.