RCP’s Wegmann: Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Very Confident In His Mandate, White House Believes His Hearing Went Well
RealClearPolitics White House correspondent Philip Wegmann on Thursday’s “Special Report” commented on Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy’s performance at a Senate hearing.
AISHAH HASNIE, FOX NEWS CHANNEL CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: The White House seems to be supporting their Health and Human Services secretary still. This is J.D. Vance, the vice president on X, writing “When I see all these senators trying to lecture and gotcha Bobby Kennedy today, all I can think is you all support off label, untested, and irreversible hormonal therapies for children, mutilating our kids and enriching big pharma. You are full of” — I won’t say the word — “and everybody knows it.” Phil, what are your sources telling you about what is going on inside the White House and their view of all of this? PHILIP WEGMANN, REAL CLEAR POLITICS: The big question surrounding MAHA was if or when President Trump would yield to outside pressure and reign in RFK Jr. And look, if MAHA was just about banning food dyes or making gym class great again, we wouldn’t see these kinds of controversies. Instead, what we saw on Capitol Hill was a secretary who is very confident in his mandate. And my sources inside the White House and over at HHS, they say that Kennedy came loaded for bear. He knew he was going to face criticism not just from Democrats but also Republicans. And what they’re counting as a win right now is they believe he was able to deflate this controversy about the fired CDC director being fired not for standing up for science, but for leaking to the press. So, in their mind, they think that this went well. And that tweet from the vice president is validation.
