Caroline Kennedy letter to senators: RFK Jr. is a 'predator'
FILE-U.S. Ambassador to Australia Caroline Kennedy addresses the crowd at the U.S. Exhibitors Opening Ceremony on February 28, 2023 in Avalon, Australia. (Photo by Asanka Ratnayake/Getty Images)
Caroline Kennedy wrote a scathing letter Tuesday encouraging the U.S. Senate to deny the nomination of her cousin, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., to be President Donald Trump's health secretary.
In the letter to senators obtained by the Associated Press, she called Robert F. Kennedy Jr. a "predator" who is addicted to power.
RELATED: Trump nominates RFK Jr. for health secretary
The Washington Post first reported news of the letter.
Caroline Kennedy shares personal details in letter
Caroline Kennedy also explained in the letter that her cousin’s stances on vaccines are invalidating, and she even offered the senators personal details from their lives growing up together that she noted pose a bigger worry.
She described RFK Jr.’s basement, garage and dorm as a hub for drug use, where he would also put baby chickens and mice in blenders to feed to his hawks, the AP reported.
RELATED: 15 members of Kennedy family endorse Biden in rebuke to RFK Jr.
What they're saying:
In the letter, Caroline Kennedy wrote, "It was often a perverse scene of despair and violence," she wrote. She also read the letter in a video recording, sharing it on social media. She shared that RFK Jr. had openly talked about his heroin use, and he pleaded guilty to bringing it on an airplane in 1984.
Kennedy now "preys on the desperation of parents of sick children," she told senators in the letter, adding that he has vaccinated his own children while discouraging others from vaccinating theirs.
Citing the letter, the AP noted that Caroline Kennedy also mentioned RFK Jr.’s plans to still profit off a lawsuit against pharmaceutical company Merck over Gardasil, its human papillomavirus vaccine that prevents cervical cancer. In 2024, he made more than $850,000 from the arrangement.
"In other words, he is willing to enrich himself by denying access to a vaccine that can prevent almost all forms of cervical cancer and which has been safely administered to millions of boys and girls," she wrote. She had previously not spoken about his candidacy or nomination for health secretary.
Who is Caroline Kennedy?
Caroline Kennedy served as a U.S. ambassador to Australia and Japan and is the daughter of former President John F. Kennedy.
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The Associated Press noted that her father was assassinated in 1963 when she was a young girl. Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s father, Robert F. Kennedy, was assassinated in 1968 during his presidential campaign event.
When is Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s confirmation hearing?
What's next:
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. will appear before the Senate Finance Committee on Wednesday in his attempt to become President Donald Trump’s health secretary.
Another hearing for Kennedy’s nomination will be held on Wednesday in front of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pension committee, the Associated Press reported.