Republicans Use Robert Kennedy to Go After Biden

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. will be the central witness in a hearing by the GOP-led House Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government, giving the Democratic presidential candidate a platform to attack one of his political opponents—Joe Biden.

Kennedy said Friday in a release that he will testify next Thursday at the panel's hearing examining the federal government's role in "censoring Americans, the Missouri v. Biden case, and Big Tech's collusion with out-of-control government agencies to silence speech." He was referring to recent revelations that officials with federal agencies like the Department of Health and Human Services worked with companies such as Facebook to identify and remove misinformation about topics like COVID-19 vaccines.

Kennedy, a vaccine skeptic, has faced a series of high-profile bans over content shared by himself and his nonprofit regarding vaccine safety. In August 2022, Facebook and Instagram removed the nonprofit, Children's Health Defense, after the group "repeatedly" violated platform guidelines regarding medical misinformation. Kennedy himself had been suspended from the platforms since 2021 for "repeatedly sharing debunked claims about the coronavirus or vaccines."

The companies later reinstated his personal accounts after the announcement of his presidential campaign. But Kennedy would later see content published on YouTube removed from the platform following a video interview with podcast host Jordan Peterson when Kennedy Jr. allegedly violated YouTube policy prohibiting vaccine misinformation.

Kennedy's case was cited in the Missouri v. Biden decision by a federal judge last week, which bars the Biden administration from contacting social media companies to try to get misinformation removed. Now Kennedy is on the attack and will have the opportunity to take his case directly to Capitol Hill.

"Recent revelations in the Twitter Files and Missouri v. Biden show how deeply institutionalized government censorship has become," Kennedy said. "It is dressed up in euphemisms like 'working with our partners in tech,' but make no mistake, this is a systematic program to control what Americans can say and think. As such, it is antithetical to democracy. In a democracy, the people tell the government what to think, not the other way around."

Newsweek reached out to Kennedy's campaign via email for comment.

For the Weaponization of the Federal Government panel—which has regularly featured chaotic and often one-sided airings of conservative grievances against agencies like the FBI and the Justice Department—it is not an unusual step to host a political figure as a key witness.

Former Representative Tulsi Gabbard of Hawaii—now a Fox News contributor and a frequent critic of the Biden administration—was among the first witnesses called by the committee. GOP Senators Ron Johnson of Wisconsin and Chuck Grassley of Iowa were also called to testify in the early days of the committee's work.

However, it is an unusual step for a committee led by one party to give a platform to a member of the opposite party to air grievances against a political rival—even if that candidate has enjoyed immense popularity among conservatives.

As a presidential candidate, Kennedy has enjoyed the backing of groups connected to conservative causes. He has regularly made the Biden administration's approach to addressing COVID-19 misinformation a central plank of his campaign platform, regularly attacking him and his administration in speeches and on social media in commentary often echoing conservative talking points.

Kennedy's campaign communications have covered topics that congressional Republicans want him to discuss on Capitol Hill next week.

"The Biden admin just won't give up on censorship," Kenney tweeted from his campaign account after last week's Missouri v. Biden decision. "They've gone to an appellate court seeking a stay of the injunction so they can continue pressuring social media companies to suppress political viewpoints they don't like."

Newsweek has reached out to the offices of the subcommittee's chairman, Jim Jordan, and ranking member Stacey Plaskett via email for comment.