Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'S Nomination Clears Senate Committee, Heads To Floor Vote

(MENAFN- Live Mint) US President Donald Trump's embattled health secretary pick, vaccine conspiracy theorist Robert F. Kennedy Jr, squeaked through a crucial vote in his confirmation bid on Tuesday as senators advanced his nomination to the floor.

With Republicans having a one-seat advantage on the Senate Finance Committee, Kennedy's future hinged on Bill Cassidy, a physician who has clashed with the former Democrat over unfounded claims linking vaccines to autism.

But Cassidy backed Kennedy after the 71-year-old environmental lawyer -- and nephew of former president John F. Kennedy -- was given a vote of confidence from Trump, who urged support for the man whom just nine months ago he was calling "one of the most Liberal Lunatics ever to run for office."

"20 years ago, Autism in children was 1 in 10,000. NOW IT'S 1 in 34. WOW! Something's really wrong. We need BOBBY!!!" Trump posted on his Truth Social platform ahead of the vote.

Cassidy is a rare occasional rebel in the Republican ranks but faces reelection next year in Louisiana and risked picking up a challenger from the Republican Party's Trumpist far right if he upset the president.

Kennedy's nomination has faced myriad concerns from both parties, with Republicans particularly eying his past support for abortion, his record suing big business as an environmental lawyer and his 2023 run for president as a Democrat.

Beyond vaccines, Democrats point mainly to sexual misconduct allegations, Kennedy's suggestion that Covid-19 was designed to spare Jews, his linking of school shootings to antidepressants and his alleged mistreatment of animal corpses.

The New York Post, a reliably Trump-supporting newspaper, wrote a scathing editorial arguing that there was "too much wackiness" in Kennedy's background to trust him with America's health.

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