House Democrats criticized Robert F. Kennedy Jr. this week before his testimony before the Republican-led House subcommittee on federal government arms.
“He’s said some very troubling things about the Covid-19 virus disproportionately affecting Caucasians and African-Americans and then claiming that he seems to be specifically targeted,” Rep. Mark Takano, D-Calif., told Fox News Digital. “Certain populations such as Asians and Ashkenazi Jews are somehow more immune – these are all very dubious claims.”
“I question the decision of the Republican leadership to invite him to the Hill as a credible witness. I think it perpetuates more misinformation and does not move our country forward,” he said.
Takano was part of a group of House Democrats who urged House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., and committee chair Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, to recuse Kennedy in the wake of comments that appeared in a New York Post video. The video featured the 2024 presidential candidate suggesting that “COVID-19 disproportionately attacks certain races” and that “those most immune are Ashkenazi Jews and Chinese.”
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House Democrats are firing Robert F. Kennedy Jr., center, as a credible hearing witness. (Getty Images/Fox News Digital)
Kennedy, who is challenging President Biden for the 2024 Democratic presidential nomination, was accused of anti-Semitism by Democrats, including Biden allies, on Capitol Hill ahead of his scheduled testimony on Thursday. He is scheduled to testify about allegations that the Biden administration colluded with social media companies to censor speech during the pandemic.
“Speaker McCarthy likes to tweet about Israel, you know how antisemitism doesn’t belong in Congress,” said Rep. Eric Swalewell, D-Calif. “He’s bringing antisemitism to Congress by allowing RFK Jr. to come on Thursday. The responsible thing to do is not give him that platform.”
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He added, “It’s just hurtful what RFK is doing on health care, on the anti-Semitic comments. It’s just not helpful, and it has no business being here at the Capitol.”
Representative Mark Takano is among a group of Democrats who wrote a letter to GOP leaders urging them to withdraw Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as a witness. (Fox News Digital/Elizabeth Elkind)
Rep. Richard Neal, D-Mass, the top Democrat on the House Ways and Means Committee, told Fox News Digital, “I strongly disagree with what he’s been proposing for a long time, and I think his comments about racism, recently, I think were ludicrous words … There’s not a lot of evidence that supports his position.”
But Neal added that Republicans “will choose who the witnesses are, and they’re calling it free speech.”
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Freshman Democrat Rep. Jeff Jackson, DN.C., laughed when asked about Republicans inviting Kennedy to Thursday’s hearing.
“I think it’s going to be fun, and probably contain some misinformation,” Jackson said.
Representative Richard Neal accused Robert F. Kennedy Jr. of spreading antisemitism with his recent comments on COVID-19 and race. (Fox News Digital/Elizabeth Elkind)
Others mocked his 2024 presidential campaign. When asked about his candidacy, Neal simply said: “I’m for Joe Biden.”
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“Not much,” Takano said when asked what he thought of Kennedy’s campaign.
“I don’t think he’s going to get very far, and I think the more people find out about his sloppy thinking, his habit and tendency to make unsubstantiated and just crazy claims that divide our country, that it will stand, I think, in stark contrast to the general ways in which Joe Biden has been united,” he said.
Reached for comment by Fox News Digital, the Kennedy campaign said it was ironic that fellow Democrats opposed speaking at the censorship hearing on Capitol Hill.
“How ironic that House Democrats are trying to censor testimony about censorship. Apparently, the form of censorship known as ‘deplatforming’ is reaching its dangerous tentacles into the US Congress,” the campaign said.
Source by [Fox News]
