Democrats tear into RFK Jr. during weaponization hearing

Democrats on the newly created House Judiciary select subcommittee on the “weaponization” of the federal government Thursday blasted Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a Democratic candidate for president, as he testified at a hearing on censorship, tech companies and free speech.

Del. Stacey Plaskett (D-Virgin Islands) in her opening statement ran through a list of some of Kennedy’s claims related to COVID-19 and vaccines, including “that COVID-19 is targeted to attack Caucasians and Black people, [and] the people who are most immune are Ashkenazi Jews and Chinese;” and implications that “Jews in Nazi Germany had more freedoms than unvaccinated Americans during the COVID-19 pandemic.”

The Democrat, who is the ranking member on the panel, dismissed the idea that Republicans invited Kennedy before the committee in an attempt to protect his free speech. She argued that Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) and House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) have “affirmatively chose” to give Kennedy’s “hateful, evidence-free rhetoric” a platform.

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“They intentionally chose to elevate this rhetoric to give these harmful dangerous views a platform in the halls of the United States Congress. That’s endorsing that speech. That’s not just supporting free speech. They have co-signed on idiotic bigoted messaging,” Plaskett said. 

“There’s no doubt as to why they’re making the choice. It’s not to guard free speech or to ensure equality for all. All of this … is to show us by their conduct, over and over again, that any attack on Joe Biden to get Donald Trump back in the White House, is what they need to do.”

After Kennedy’s opening statement, Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.) made a motion to move the committee into executive session, arguing “Mr. Kennedy has repeatedly made despicable antisemitic and anti-Asian comments” in violation of a rule against testimony that would tend to defame or degrade. The motion failed.