RFK Jr avoids saying Covid vaccines were successful as Bernie Sanders grills him
Bernie Sanders, the independent senator of Vermont, asked Robert F Kennedy Jr if he agreed that Covid-19 vaccines were successful in saving millions of lives.
Kennedy refused to be pinned down, saying there is no good surveillance system.
“If you show me science that shows that,” Kennedy said. Sanders replied:
You’re applying for the job – clearly you should know this. And the scientific community has established that Covid vaccines saved millions of lives and you’re casting doubt.
Key events
Hugo Lowell
Kash Patel, the nominee to be the FBI director, evades a hypothetical from senator Chris Coons whether he would open an investigation into a political opponent if requested by Donald Trump, or would stop a legitimate investigation into a Trump ally.
Patel says he will simply obey the law.
The questions touch on issues that came up during Trump’s first term: when the president asked former FBI director Jim Comey to end the investigation into his national security adviser. Comey declined — and was later fired by Trump.
But Patel also told Coons that the FBI would not engage in retribution against Trump’s political opponents, backpedaling from his past claims that even former FBI director Chris Wray should be prosecuted in part for his role in allowing the criminal investigation of Trump for his mishandling of classified documents. Patel said the FBI ‘will not go backwards”.
Hugo Lowell
Kash Patel, the nominee to be the FBI director, attempts to distance himself from verbatim quotes being read back at him by Senator Amy Klobuchar that don’t portray Patel as a nonpartisan official.
Klobuchar ticks through various remarks he has made on a number of podcasts, including that he would shut down the FBI headquarters and turn it into a museum of the so-called “deep state’.
Patel said her quotations were a “grotesque” mischaracterization, and at other times claimed not to remember the remarks being read back to him.
“I am quoting his own words,” Klobuchar said.
Patel says the FBI works for the justice department, and adds that the justice department reports to the White House.
Democratic senator Chris Coons notes that Trump’s attorney general nominee, Pam Bondi, gave a different response in her hearing: that the justice department reports to the constitution and the American people. It’s a notable difference.
David Smith
Wearing a dark blue suit, white shirt and red tie, Donald Trump entered the White House briefing room at 11.21am, accompanied by his defence secretary, Pete Hegseth, and the transportation secretary, Sean Duffy, both new to their jobs.
“I’d like to request a moment of silence for the victims and their families, please,” Trump said.
After the pause, and in softer, graver tones than usual, he resumed: “I speak to you this morning in an hour of anguish for our nation.”
Trump provided a description of the incident, noting: “Sadly, there are no survivors.” He described it as “a tragedy of terrible proportions” that has “really shaken a lot of people”.
The president added: “We are all heartbroken, we are all searching for answers. That icy, icy Potomac … cold water.”
Trump said “we have very strong opinions and ideas” about how the accident happened then reverted to taking political swipes at Barack Obama and Joe Biden over air traffic controller standards. “The word “talented”. You have to be naturally talented geniuses.”
In a harsher tone than before, he then complained about diversity and inclusion in FAA programs and described former transportation secretary Pete Buttigieg as a “disaster” who has a “good line in bullshit”.
Hugo Lowell
Kash Patel, the nominee to be the FBI director, is indignant at Democrats raising the list of deep-state actors that he considered to be Donald Trump’s political opponents.
Democrats have referred to the list, which appears as an appendix in his book Government Gangsters, as an enemies list.
“It’s not an enemies list,” Patel said. “It’s a total mischaracterization.”
But the list does effectively name anyone and everyone who Patel has viewed as disloyal to Trump’s agenda.
It includes people like the FBI agents who led the Russia investigation, and former attorney generals, FBI directors and CIA directors – but only those Trump has personally clashed with and has mused at various times about wanting to investigate.
Maya Yang
Donald Trump is delivering remarks from the White House briefing room on last night’s midair collision at Reagan National airport near Washington DC.
“The work has now shifted to a recovery mission. Sadly, there are no survivors,” Trump said.
This was a dark and excruciating night in our nation’s capital and in our nation’s history, and a tragedy of terrible proportions.
He said authorities have “some pretty good ideas” about what led to the crash.
RFK Jr won’t commit to keeping abortion pill mifepristone on market
Robert F Kennedy Jr was pressed to answer whether he would keep the abortion pill mifepristone on the market.
Tammy Baldwin, a Democratic senator from Wisconsin, noted that more than 100 peer-reviewed studies for the medication have confirmed that 99% of patients who took the pill had no complications.
Kennedy refused to commit to keeping mifepristone on the market and available to women, and said he would not get ahead of Donald Trump on the issue.
“President Trump has not chosen a policy,” Kennedy said. “I will implement his policy.”
Andrew Roth
Tulsi Gabbard has said that if she is nominated she won’t advocate for a pardon for Edward Snowden.
In response to a question by Senator Susan Collins, Gabbard said:
If confirmed as the director of national intelligence, my responsibility would be to ensure the security of our nation’s secrets, and would not take actions to advocate for any actions related to Snowden. So the answer is no.
”I would work to make sure that we don’t have any disclosures or vigilantes taking it upon themselves [to disclose intelligence],” she continued, pointing to “legal routes” for whistleblowers to raise complaints.
She also denied reports in the New York Times that she had met with a senior member of Hezbollah, the Iran-backed militant group in Lebanon, calling it an “absurd accusation”.
RFK Jr avoids saying Covid vaccines were successful as Bernie Sanders grills him
Bernie Sanders, the independent senator of Vermont, asked Robert F Kennedy Jr if he agreed that Covid-19 vaccines were successful in saving millions of lives.
Kennedy refused to be pinned down, saying there is no good surveillance system.
“If you show me science that shows that,” Kennedy said. Sanders replied:
You’re applying for the job – clearly you should know this. And the scientific community has established that Covid vaccines saved millions of lives and you’re casting doubt.
Tulsi Gabbard: ‘no love for Assad, Gaddafi, or any dictator’
Andrew Roth
Tulsi Gabbard, in her opening remarks at her confirmation hearing for national intelligence chief, said that she has “no love for Assad, Gaddafi, or any dictator, I just hate al-Qaida”.
Gabbard was pushing back against criticism for her 2017 meeting with the then Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad during a visit to Damascus, Syria, that will become a focal point of questioning during the hearing.
”I hate that we have leaders who cozy up to Islamist extremists, minimizing them to so called rebels,” she said, indicating the former national security adviser Jake Sullivan.
Gabbard has come under attack for her public remarks saying that Syria did not use chemical weapons against civilians and that Russia was provoked into invading Ukraine, and for her defense of Edward Snowden.
If confirmed, Gabbard has said that she will “check my own personal views at the door”.
In her opening remarks, she attacked Biden-era intelligence officials for leading to a crisis of confidence in the US intelligence community. Gabbard said she was “committed to delivering intelligence that is collected, analyzed and reported without bias, prejudice or political influence”.
Gabbard said her military service and work in Congress on the homeland security, foreign affairs and armed services committee means that “I know first-hand how essential accurate, unbiased, timely intelligence is to the president, to Congress, to our war fighters. I also know the heavy costs of intelligence failures and abuses.”
Gabbard also attacked those who raised concerns about her ties to the Science of Identity Foundation, which some critics have said is a cult.
“Unfortunately, they’re once again using the religious bigotry card, but this time, trying to foment religious bigotry against Hindus and Hinduism,” she said.
If anyone is sincerely interested in knowing more about my own personal spiritual path, Hinduism, I welcome you to go to my account on X, where I’ll share more on this topic.
Robert F Kennedy Jr, in his opening statement on Thursday before the Senate health committee, said he was “humbled” to be Donald Trump’s nominee to see the Department of Health and Human Services.
The overall health of Americans is in “grievous condition”, Kennedy said, noting that more than 70% of adults and a third of children are overweight or obese.
The United States has worse health than any other developed nation. We spend more on healthcare, sometimes double, sometimes triple, as other nations.
Kennedy said that if he is confirmed, he will do “everything in my power to put the health of America on track.”
Hugo Lowell
Kash Patel, Donald Trump’s pick to be the next FBI director, distances himself from criticism relating to the January 6 Capitol attack under questioning from Dick Durbin, the top Democrat on the Senate judiciary committee.
Patel says he has always rejected violence against law enforcement officers, including on January 6, and that he did not agree with any commutations for people who attacked police.
“I have repeatedly, often publicly and privately, said there can never be a tolerance for violence against law enforcement,” Patel said.
But he sidestepped entirely Durbin’s question about whether he thought Donald Trump made the country safer by pardoning 1,600 January 6 rioters, including many who were convicted of assault against law enforcement.
And he distanced himself from his involvement in the jailhouse recording of the so-called “January 6 choir” singing the national anthem that was repeatedly played at Trump rallies during the election campaign.
Multiple members of the choir had been in custody specifically for violently attacking police during the riot.
David Smith
I’m in a crowded White House press briefing room where Donald Trump is expected to hold a briefing at 11am about last night’s plane crash at Reagan Washington National airport.
A presidential seal has been added to the briefing room lectern and there are two flags on the podium.
Joe Biden made only one appearance here during his four years in office, whereas Trump regularly held briefings during the Covid-19 pandemic, most notoriously when he speculated on the merits of bleach as a cure.
It’s the first test of Trump’s second term in the role of consoler-in-chief, one that Ronald Reagan played after the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster, Bill Clinton often performed with aplomb and Biden delivered with characteristic empathy. What could go wrong?
Bernie Sanders, the independent senator of Vermont, congratulated Robert F Kennedy Jr for the phrase “Make America healthy again”.
Speaking at Kennedy’s confirmation hearing in front of the Senate health committee, Sanders asked if the nominee would work to lower the cost of prescription drugs and guarantee family leave if confirmed.
“I’m not quite sure how we can move to making America healthy again unless we have the guts to take on the insurance companies and drug companies and guarantee healthcare for all people,” Sanders said.
How do you have a healthy country when women are forced to go back [to work after having babies]? That’s not making America healthy again.
Hugo Lowell
Dick Durbin, the top Democrat on the Senate judiciary committee, notes that Kash Patel has complained that he was hamstrung by bad-faith actors at every position he has held – including in the first Trump White House, at the justice department and at the defense department.
Durbin says that this is conspiratorial thinking and that he “does not meet the standard” to lead the FBI.
Andrew Roth
Senator Mark Warner, a Democrat and the vice-chair of the Senate intelligence committee, said that he “continues to have significant concerns about [Tulsi] Gabbard’s qualifications”.
Warner, one of Gabbard’s most vocal critics, has said that Gabbard’s public questioning of Syria’s use of chemical weapons and her position that Russia was provoked into launching its invasion of Ukraine “raises serious questions about your judgment”.
“It also leads me to question whether you can develop the trust necessary to give our allies confidence that they can share their most sensitive intelligence,” he said.
Make no mistake about if they stop sharing that intelligence, the United States will be less safe.
He said that intelligence sharing between the United States and Australia helped prevent a terrorist attack at a Taylor Swift concert.
Warner also attacked Gabbard for her support of the NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden, who leaked files from the intelligence agency and then fled to Russia, where he has remained a fugitive since 2013.
Her support for Snowden gave him “serious concerns about confirming” Gabbard.
He also attacked her for her opposition FISA Section 702, a law that gives the US sweeping powers to collect intelligence of non-Americans outside the United States.
Republican chair of Senate committee has ‘some reservations’ on RFK Jr vaccine positions
Bill Cassidy, the Republican chair of the Senate health committee, opened the confirming hearing of Robert F Kennedy Jr by saying that he had “some reservations” on Kennedy’s past positions on vaccines.
Cassidy spoke about his experience as a doctor, and told a story about a patient he treated who needed an emergency liver transplant.
“I thought $50 of vaccines could have prevented this all. And that was an inflection point in my career,” Cassidy said.
He said vaccines “save lives. I know they’re a crucial part of keeping our nation healthy.”.
He noted that Kennedy has an “tremendous” following, and that there are people who trust him more than their own doctors.
“The question is, what will you do with that trust?”
Andrew Roth
Tom Cotton, the Republican chair of the Senate intelligence committee and a vocal supporter of Tulsi Gabbard, begins by telling a packed room that the nomination has “generated a bit more interest and attention than do most nominees before this committee”.
But I want to stress Miss Gabbard has been and will be treated with the exact same respect, consideration and professionalism that were extended to every nominee, no more, no less, no better, no worse.
Cotton said that Gabbard had undergone five FBI background checks and that he had spent two hours reviewing the report, which comes to 300 pages. “It’s clean as a whistle,” he said.
He also defended Gabbard’s military record and loyalty to the US, saying he was “dismayed” by attacks against Gabbard, saying that Hillary Clinton had “smeared” her by calling her an “asset of a foreign nation”.
RFK Jr’s second day of confirmation hearings begins
Robert F Kennedy Jr’s Senate confirmation hearing to become America’s top health official has also started at the health committee.
The independent senator Bernie Sanders, who on Wednesday confronted Kennedy over anti-vaccine merchandise sold by his former organization Children’s Health Defense, is expected to continue probing the nominee’s controversial vaccine statements that have drawn fierce opposition from the medical community.
Kennedy’s nomination to lead the Department of Health and Human Services has sparked unprecedented pushback, with more than 15,000 medical professionals and 75 Nobel laureates mobilizing against his confirmation.
Tulsi Gabbard hearing begins for intelligence chief
Andrew Roth
Tulsi Gabbard has arrived at the Dirksen Senate building for a confirmation hearing as director of national intelligence that is expected to be one of the most contested of the early Trump administration.
She was accompanied by her family, as well as supporters including the recently confirmed attorney general, Pam Bondi.
Supporters began to chant “USA! USA! USA!” before the hearing began.
