Cassidy accuses RFK Jr. of building public health "upon a foundation of lies" [View all]

Source: CBS News

Updated on: June 28, 2026 / 9:49 AM EDT


Washington — Sen. Bill Cassidy strongly criticized Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. over his vaccine skepticism and handling of the nation's public health, despite having delivered the key vote to advance Kennedy's nomination last year.

Cassidy, a medical doctor who chairs the Senate health committee, said on "Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan" that it's "easy to surmise" that Kennedy made promises to him to win his vote, and since then, the commitments that the HHS secretary made to him and the country "have been violated."

"If you build public health upon a foundation of lies, then you're going to have the absence of adequate public health," he said. Brennan's interview with Cassidy was conducted on June 25. Cassidy explained that he cast the vote to help confirm Kennedy because the alternate scenario was having him installed in a czar-type role without any congressional oversight.

"Bobby Kennedy was going to have the ear of the President. The President seems to be fascinated with the Kennedys," Cassidy remarked. "Either he was going to be in a position where there were guardrails, and I did have commitments made as to kind of guardrails. Or he was going to be appointed White House health czar, in which case he would have the president's ear without the guardrails," Cassidy said. "You can criticize it, but I chose to have the one with the guardrails."

Read more: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/bill-cassidy-rfk-jr-public-health-foundation-of-lies-face-the-nation/