By President Trump on Sunday defended Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who has come under increasing criticism from Republicans and Democrats on Capitol Hill over his handling of vaccines and other issues.
Trump has given somewhat conflicting messages over the last several days about Kennedy, defending his Cabinet member while also defending vaccines, including those for polio and COVID.
In his remarks on Sunday, Trump continued with this trend, describing Kennedy as an outside-the-box thinker, but also suggesting he didn’t agree with everything Kennedy said by describing him as a “different kind of guy” who has a “lot of ideas” that “normal people” might not have.
“He’s a different kind of a guy. He’s got a lot of good ideas, but he’s got a lot of ideas,” Trump told reporters outside the White House as he left to make a trip to New York to see the U.S. Open final.
“You know, normally, they don’t have any ideas and that’s why we have problems with autism and so many other things, because we’re coming up with the answers for autism, you watch,” Trump continued. “We’re coming up with the answers for other things that normal people, regular people, easy-to-get-along-with people wouldn’t be able to do.”
Trump, responding Friday to a decision in Florida to end all mandates on vaccines for children, said “I think we have to be very careful.”
“You have some vaccines that are so incredible. I think you have to be very careful when you say some people don’t have to be vaccinated,” Trump continued. “It’s a very tough position. Just initially I heard about it yesterday, and it’s a tough stance.”
“Look, you have vaccines that work. They just pure and simple work. They’re not controversial at all, and I think those vaccines should be used, otherwise some people are going to catch it, and they endanger other people,” Trump added. “And when you don’t have controversy at all, I think people should take it.”
Hours after Kennedy was subjected to tough questions at a Senate hearing, Trump said Kennedy’s “got a different take, and we want to listen to all of those takes.”
“But it’s not your standard talk, I would say. And that has to do with medical and vaccines. But if you look at what’s going on in the world with health, and look at this country also with regard to health, I like the fact that he’s different.”
At the hearing on Thursday, Kennedy defended his decision to push out the head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, a move that led to other resignations by senior officials.
The hearing was notable for the sharp criticism of Kennedy from senior Senate Republicans, such as Sen. John Barrasso (Wyo.), an orthopedic surgeon and the Senate GOP whip.
“I support vaccines. I’m a doctor. Vaccines work,” said Barrasso, the Senate’s No. 2-ranking Republican leader.
“Secretary Kennedy, in your confirmation hearings, you promised to uphold the highest standards for vaccines,” he said. “Since then, I’ve grown deeply concerned.”
Kennedy has repeatedly suggested a link exists between autism and vaccines. He told Trump last week that the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is on track to identify “interventions” that are “certainly causing autism” along with possible ways to address them by September.
A national coalition of health professionals and scientists, Defend Public Health, warned last week that the public should work to confirm any new information released from HHS with other sources before accepting it as fact, especially if it related to a possible link between vaccines and autism.
“Kennedy has been peddling nonsense about vaccines and autism for years,” said Elizabeth Jacobs, a professor of epidemiology at the University of Arizona and a member of Defend Public Health.
“He’s clearly on the hunt for anything that seems to back up his views, no matter how much he has to stretch the truth to get it.”