Wednesday’s hearing before the Senate health committee promises to be a referendum on the health secretary’s leadership and expose a rocky time at the nation’s public health agency.
The removal of Susan Monarez as director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention less than a month after her Senate confirmation stunned public health leaders.
Senator Bill Cassidy, a Republican physician and vaccine proponent who is facing a primary challenge from the right, has a fraught relationship with the health secretary.
Senator Bill Cassidy will be in the spotlight on Wednesday, when Dr. Susan Monarez will appear before his committee at his invitation to tell her story publicly for the first time.
While there is no evidence of a break between them, Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has caused consternation among President Trump and some of his aides.
The video, which appears to be old, features Dr. Mark Geier and his son David, who together published numerous studies purporting to show the connection.
President Donald Trump and Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy, during a news conference earlier this year. The president has been sending conflicting signals about Mr. Kennedy and vaccines after his confrontational testimony before the Senate Finance Committee last week.
By promoting suspicions about the institutions he oversees, critics say Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is jeopardizing public health. He says he is pursuing transparency.
A three-hour hearing before the Senate Finance Committee revealed that the health secretary was on uncertain ground even with some Republicans who voted to confirm him.
Health Secretary Robert Kennedy Jr. at Thursday’s hearing, which descended into a free-for-all, in part over Mr. Kennedy’s approach to vaccination, the turmoil at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and especially his decision last week to fire Susan Monarez, the C.D.C. director.
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