House Republicans recently announced they would allow Democratic presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to be a witness for a House Select Subcommittee hearing on the Weaponization of the Federal Government, despite Democrats begging to disinvite him.
House Democrats ask Kevin McCarthy and Jim Jordan to disinvite Robert F. Kennedy Jr. from testifying before Jordan's weaponization of government subcommittee. pic.twitter.com/fcjjuwPFA9
— Sarah Reese Jones (@PoliticusSarah) July 17, 2023
Reps. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL), Daniel Goldman (D-NY), and Judy Chu (D-CA) recently signed a draft letter calling for Kennedy to be disinvited.
“Mr. Kennedy has repeatedly and recently spread vile and dangerous antisemitic and anti-Asian conspiracy theories that tarnish his credibility as a witness and must not be legitimized with his appearance before the U.S. Congress nor given the platform of an official committee hearing to spread his baseless and discriminatory views,” the letter states.
Democrats’ latest calls to disinvite Kennedy comes after the presidential candidate discussed one argument concerning the COVID-19 pandemic, which he said is “ethnically targeted” and “attacks certain races disproportionately.”
Kennedy later responded to a story by The New York Post regarding his off-the-record comments on COVID-19. He said the “story is mistaken.”
Kennedy said he never suggested that the COVID-19 pandemic was specifically targeted to spare Jews. The Democratic presidential candidate added that during an off-the-record conversation, he accurately pointed out that the U.S. and other countries are creating ethnically targeted bioweapons.
Kennedy continued by citing a 2021 study of the COVID-19 pandemic, which appears to show that the virus disproportionately affected certain races, namely American Blacks and Caucasians.
“In that sense, it serves as kind of proof of concept for ethnically targeted bioweapons. I do not believe and never implied that the ethnic effect was deliberately engineered.”
.@LevineJonathan exploited this OFF-THE-RECORD conversation to smear me by association with an outlandish conspiracy theory.
— Robert F. Kennedy Jr (@RobertKennedyJr) July 15, 2023
Although House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) disagreed with everything Kennedy said in the New York Post’s story, he said the presidential candidate would not be disinvited.
“The hearing that we have this week is about censorship,” McCarthy added. “I don’t think censoring somebody is actually the answer here.”
WATCH: Speaker McCarthy (R-Calif.) defends inviting RFK Jr. to testify after a NY Post video of Kennedy's alleged Covid remarks.
"I disagree with everything he said. The hearing we have this week is about censorship. I don't think censoring someone is actually the answer here." pic.twitter.com/Fk60qf3g5x
— Meet the Press (@MeetThePress) July 17, 2023
House Judiciary Chairman Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) echoed McCarthy’s sentiment, saying, “Yeah, I totally disagree with what he said, but he’s a Democrat. I disagree with other things he said too. But we’re having him because of censorship.”
