Robert F. Kennedy Jr’s confirmation hearings are set to begin Wednesday before the Senate Finance Committee and the Health, Education, Labor and Pension committee on Thursday.
Here's the latest:
Recommended Videos
The room is filling up ahead of Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s Senate confirmation hearing
Many are Kennedy’s supporters in “Make America Healthy Again” hats, as well as people donning white lab coats.
Kennedy’s two days of hearings on Capitol Hill are drawing plenty of attention, including from senators on both sides of the aisle who’ve said they’ll look to what Kennedy says in the hearings to decide whether to support his confirmation.
Kennedy will be in the finance committee Wednesday and the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions on Thursday.
House Speaker Mike Johnson endorses buyouts for federal workers
“I think it’s the right move,” Johnson said.
Johnson weighed in Wednesday during the House Republican annual policy retreat being held at one of Trump’s golf resorts in South Florida.
“The president is thinking outside the box. His team is thinking outside the box,” Johnson told reporters.
Johnson said one estimate has projected that 5% to 10% of the federal workforce “will take their golden parachute.”
“We could save $100 billion for taxpayers just with that downsizing of the size and scope of government,” Johnson asserted.
Lawmakers question Tulsi Gabbard’s meeting with Syria’s then-president Bashar Assad
When Gabbard returned to Washington from the clandestine sit-down with Assad eight years ago this month, she was greeted with a flurry of criticism.
Lawmakers and civil society groups chastised Gabbard, then a Hawaii congresswoman, for her meeting with an avowed U.S. adversary whose administration has been credibly accused of war crimes and major human rights abuses. A Republican congressman even called the meeting a “disgrace.”
At the time, Gabbard defended the trip by saying she had gone to try to find a peaceful resolution to a long and bloody conflict. But the details of what the pair discussed remain a mystery — dogging Gabbard to this day and has taken on new salience as rebels have swept Assad from power and Trump has nominated her to be the nation’s spy chief.
▶ Read more about Tulsi Gabbard’s trip to Syria
Calling her cousin a ‘predator’ Caroline Kennedy urges Senate to reject RFK Jr.'s nomination
Among the details in her letter to senators, Caroline Kennedy described her cousin’s basement, garage and dorm as being centers for drug use, where he would also put baby chickens and mice in blenders to feed to his hawks.
“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. Attempts to reach Robert F. Kennedy Jr. for comment were not immediately successful.
Kennedy now “preys on the desperation of parents of sick children,” she told senators, noting that he’s vaccinated his own children while discouraging others from vaccinating theirs.
▶ Read more about Caroline Kennedy’s letter
What US adults think of RFK Jr. and his views on vaccines and raw milk
Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s anti-vaccine advocacy is outside the mainstream. His previous statements on abortion could alienate Republicans. But a new poll finds that not all of his controversial health goals are unpopular.
As Kennedy’s Senate confirmation hearings begin Wednesday, his bid to become the nation’s top health official could depend on how staunchly he sticks to these personal beliefs during questioning. He has already softened some of his long-held views.
A new survey from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research shows only about 3 in 10 US adults approve of Trump nominating him to be secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services. About 4 in 10 disapprove, while about one-quarter are either neutral or don’t know enough to say.
▶ Read more about what Americans think of RFK’s views
Defense secretary pulls Trump critic Gen. Milley’s security clearance and protective detail
Pete Hegseth also has ordered the Pentagon’s inspector general to review Milley’s actions while serving as the nation’s top uniformed officer to determine if a demotion is warranted, two defense officials confirmed late Tuesday.
The inspector general review will include “an inquiry into the facts and circumstances surrounding Gen Milley’s conduct so that the Secretary may determine whether it is appropriate to reopen his military grade review determination,” said Pentagon spokesman John Ullyot.
“The Secretary informed General Milley today that he is revoking the authorization for his security detail and suspending his security clearance as well,” he said.
Milley served as chairman during President Donald Trump’s first term in office. While the relationship initially went well, it soured deeply and fast, as Milley tried to advise and contain the president on a host of issues.
▶ Read more about Gen. Mark Milley
Buckley Space Force Base in Colorado to hold immigrants detained by ICE
That’s according to the Department of Defense.
U.S. Northern Command said through a spokesperson Tuesday that immigration authorities will “stage and process criminal aliens” at base facilities that include a temporary holding location. The former bombing range west of Denver is home to Space Force operations including a missiles tracking and warning unit.
The immigration processing facilities will be staffed by ICE senior leaders, special agents, analysts and members of other federal law enforcement agencies.
Aurora last year became a focus of President Donald Trump’s dire warnings about reputed migrant gangs, after a widely viewed video showed showed six armed men entering an apartment shortly before a fatal shooting outside the complex.
It’s unclear how many migrants might pass through the new military-base processing center. A separate, privately operated immigrant detention center at Aurora has the capacity to hold about 1,500 people.
Trump moves to expand his power, sparking chaos and a possible constitutional crisis
Just a little over a week into his second term, President Donald Trump is taking steps to maximize his power, sparking chaos and what critics contend is a constitutional crisis as he challenges the separation of powers that have defined American government for more than 200 years.
The new administration’s most provocative move came this week, as it announced it would temporarily halt federal payments to ensure they complied with Trump’s orders barring diversity programs. The technical-sounding directive had enormous immediate impact before it was blocked by a federal judge, potentially pulling trillions of dollars from police departments, domestic violence shelters, nutrition services and disaster relief programs that rely on federal grants.
Legal experts noted the president is explicitly forbidden from cutting off spending for programs that Congress has approved.
Democrats and other critics said the move was blatantly unconstitutional.
While some Republicans were critical, most were supportive.
▶ Read more about Trump’s latest moves to expand his power
RFK Jr.’s famous name and controversial views collide in his bid for top health job
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has said vaccines are not safe. His support for abortion access has made conservatives uncomfortable. And farmers across the Midwest are nervous over his talk of banning corn syrup and pesticides from America’s food supply.
The 71-year-old, whose famous name and family tragedies have put him in the national spotlight since he was a child, has spent years airing his populist — and sometimes extreme — views in podcasts, TV interviews and speeches building his own quixotic brand.
A son of a Democratic political dynasty, Kennedy is seeking to become the nation’s top health official. To get there, he’s softening those long-held beliefs, hoping to win approval from the Republican Party.
At stake is Kennedy’s control of the nation’s sprawling $1.7 trillion U.S. Health and Human Services agency, which oversees food and hospital inspections, health insurance for roughly half of the country and vaccine recommendations.
With a strong resemblance to his father and lawyer credentials to match, he found ardent followers who embrace the critiques he’s lodged against unhealthy foods, pharmaceutical companies and chemicals.
But he couldn’t get Democrats on his side, with some of his relatives shunning him over his vaccine views. His has been a flexible ideological journey, part liberal Democrat, part libertarian, and now, an adherent of the MAGA agenda after dropping out of the race last year to back Trump.
▶ Read more about how RFK Jr’s family and controversial health views
Things to look for in RFK Jr’s confirmation hearings
Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s famous name, populist stances and loyal following have earned him President Donald Trump’s support, but will that get him the votes he needs from the Republican-controlled Senate to become the nation’s top health official?
If approved, Kennedy will control a $1.7 trillion agency that oversees food and hospital inspections, hundreds of health clinics, vaccine recommendations and health insurance for roughly half the country.
Here’s what to watch during his confirmation hearings:
1. How will he explain his vaccine views?
2. Watch for overtures to the anti-abortion movement
3. There are Democrats he’s trying to woo, too
4. Will that letter from Caroline Kennedy come up?
▶ Read more about what to watch for in RFK Jr.’s confirmation hearings