U.S. Ambassador to Australia Carolyn Kennedy speaks at the AFR Business Summit in Sydney, Australia, on Tuesday, March 7, 2023.
Brent Lewin | Bloomberg | Getty Images
Robert F. Kennedy Jr.US Ambassador to Australia Carolyn Kennedy has spoken of her president-elect cousin’s “dangerous” views on vaccines and rejection by her family. Donald Trump has been chosen to lead the department health and human services.
Speaking at the National Press Club of Australia on Monday, the ambassador said she believed most Americans also disagreed with Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s views. Well-documented history of spread of skepticism and conspiracy theory about vaccine.
“I’m the current ambassador and I’m not supposed to comment on politics…and now you’re asking me to comment on family too, so this is really too much,” she said when a reporter asked if she was worried about RFK Jr.’s views becoming mainstream.
“I think Bobby Kennedy’s views on vaccines are dangerous,” she said. “But I don’t think most Americans share those views. So, we’ll just have to wait and see what happens.”
“I grew up with him, so I knew all this early on, whereas other people were just learning about him,” she added, eliciting laughter from the audience.
Caroline Kennedy made the remarks as she prepared to leave office to make way for the incoming Trump administration.
Caroline Kennedy, 66, is the only surviving child of former Democratic President John F. Kennedy and first lady Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis.
As a U.S. diplomat, she did not join other members of the Kennedy family in condemning Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s slim run for president and subsequent decision. Support Trump. The group includes her son, Jack Schlossberg.
Trump enthusiastically embraced Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s endorsement on the campaign trail and vowed before the election that if he won, he would make the Kennedy scion “crazy healthy.”
RFK Jr., 70, environmental lawyer and founder of anti-vaccine group The battle for children’s health. As he encouraged voters to support the Trump-Vance Republican presidential nominee, he also advocated for putting himself in charge of efforts to “make America healthy again.”
If confirmed to the Cabinet post, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. would be responsible for the Food and Drug Administration, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the National Institutes of Health and many other agencies.
He said in a recent interview that some “entire departments” within HHS, such as the FDA’s Department of Nutrition“Gotta go.”
Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s support of Trump and the Republican Party has drawn attention to his break with other members of the Kennedy family, which has been close to Democrats for decades.
After denouncing Robert Kennedy Jr.’s views on vaccines, Carolyn Kennedy praised the public health care achievements of other members of her family in the same response Monday.
She noted that her uncle, former Sen. Ted Kennedy of Massachusetts, “spent 50 years fighting for affordable health care in the Senate,” while her aunt, Eunice Kennedy Shriver, founded Special Olympics.
“The National Institute of Maternal and Child Health is now named after her,” said Caroline Kennedy. “So I would say our family is united in our support of the public health sector and infrastructure and has the greatest admiration for our country’s medical profession.”
“Bobby Kennedy had a different perspective,” she said.
