Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is due to give evidence on Capitol Hill to a House subcommittee on the 'weaponization of the federal government' on Thursday. The session comes just days after Kennedy caused outrage after footage emerged of him suggesting COVID-19 could be "ethnically targeted" to avoid "Ashkenazi Jews and Chinese."
The hearing, which will be broadcast live on YouTube, is due to begin at 9 a.m. ET in the Rayburn House Office Building, located just across the street from Congress.
Kennedy, an environmentalist turned vaccine sceptic campaigner, is running against Joe Biden for the 2024 Democratic Party presidential nomination, though polling indicates he is significantly behind the incumbent. Despite his party affiliation Kennedy has built up a fan base within the Republican Party, with GOP supporters giving him a favorability rating of plus 29 according to a recent YouGov poll.
According to the website of the House Judiciary committee, of which the "weaponization of the federal government" is a select subcommittee, Thursday's hearing will "examine 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."
Since Republicans seized control of the House at the November 2022 midterm elections, a number of new subcommittees have been formed targeted at the Biden administration, and even the president's immediate family and their business dealings.
The Missouri v. Biden case was brought by the states of Missouri and Louisiana, which alleged the U.S. government had been violating the First Amendment by putting pressure on social media companies to remove what it deemed to be misinformation.
A preliminary ruling, issued on July 4 by Judge Terry A. Doughty, prohibited several government agencies from "urging, encouraging, pressuring, or inducing in any manner the removal, deletion, suppression, or reduction of content containing protected free speech" from social media.
Along with Kennedy, Thursday's subcommittee hearing will feature Breitbart News political editor Emma-Jo Morris and lawyer D. John Sauer, who serves as a special assistant attorney general for the Louisiana Department of Justice.
On Saturday, the New York Post released video taken from a Q&A with Kennedy which took place during a press event at an Upper East Side restaurant.
During the event, Kennedy commented: "COVID-19. There is an argument that it is ethnically targeted. COVID-19 attacks certain races disproportionately.
"COVID-19 is targeted to attack Caucasians and Black people. The people who are most immune are Ashkenazi Jews and Chinese."
Kennedy's remarks were condemned by his sister, Kerry Kennedy, who leads the Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights organization.
She wrote: "I strongly condemn my brother's deplorable and untruthful remarks last week about Covid being engineered for ethnic targeting.
"His statements do not represent what I believe or what Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights stand for, with our 50+-year track record of protecting rights and standing against racism and all forms of discrimination."
On Twitter Kennedy later insisted the New York Post story was "mistaken" commenting: "I have never, ever suggested that the COVID-19 virus was targeted to spare Jews. I accurately pointed out—during an off-the-record conversation—that the U.S. and other governments are developing ethnically targeted bioweapons and that a 2021 study of the COVID-19 virus shows that COVID-19 appears to disproportionately affect certain races since the furin cleave docking site is most compatible with Blacks and Caucasians and least compatible with ethnic Chinese, Finns, and Ashkenazi Jews."
The @nypost story is mistaken. I have never, ever suggested that the COVID-19 virus was targeted to spare Jews. I accurately pointed out — during an off-the-record conversation — that the U.S. and other governments are developing ethnically targeted bioweapons and that a 2021…
— Robert F. Kennedy Jr (@RobertKennedyJr) July 15, 2023
