Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is battling several fires.
A day before the health secretary was set to appear before the Senate Finance Committee to discuss President Donald Trump's 2026 healthcare agenda on Sept. 4, more than 1,000 current and former Health and Human Services officials called for Kennedy to step down from his position saying he was “endangering the nation’s health by spreading inaccurate health information.”
The letter follows the ouster of CDC director Susan Monarez just one month into her tenure after a disagreement over vaccine policy with Kennedy, a vaccine skeptic who has promoted a controversial and unfounded theory that links vaccines to autism. Monarez’s dismissal was followed by resignations from three other top CDC officials in protest of Kennedy's leadership.
Meanwhile, part of Kennedy’s core "Make America Healthy Again" constituency is frustrated by the Trump administration for not doing enough to regulate pesticides, especially glyphosate, the main active ingredient in Roundup.
Citing a provision in a congressional appropriations bill that would provide immunity to pesticide makers, Zen Honeycutt, one of Kennedy’s staunchest supporters and the founder of Moms Across America, an organization that raises awareness about toxins in the food supply and environment, warned Trump in a letter she co-signed that it would be a “poison pill for Republicans.”
