As Robert F. Kennedy Jr. awaits his Wednesday Senate confirmation hearing to serve as head of the Department of Health and Human Services, at least one person has made her feelings about his potential appointment known: his cousin Caroline Kennedy. In a letter imploring the Senate not to confirm RFK Jr., the daughter of John F. Kennedy did not mince words, referring to the HHS nominee as a “predator” who “is addicted to attention and power.”
“I have known Bobby my whole life; we grew up together,” she wrote. “It’s no surprise that he keeps birds of prey as pets because he himself is a predator.” In the letter — which was first obtained by the Washington Post and posted in full by her son, Jack Schlossberg, on his Instagram account — Kennedy said that while she “never wanted to speak publicly about my family members and their challenges,” she felt compelled to do so after Trump’s nomination of RFK Jr. for HHS secretary, a position that would put him in charge of the health of the most “vulnerable” Americans.
She characterized RFK Jr. as a highly charismatic individual who, through “the strength of his personality,” was able to persuade people to do his bidding, even encouraging his family members to follow him “down the path of drug addiction” when he was younger. (RFK Jr. has been open about his past struggles with substance abuse.) Though she lauded him for overcoming his addiction, she also painted a damning portrait of his alleged behaviors as a young man: “His basement, his garage, his dorm room were the centers of the action where drugs were available, and he enjoyed showing off how he put baby chickens and mice in the blender to feed his hawks,” she wrote. “It was often a perverse scene of despair and violence.”
Kennedy went on to attack RFK Jr. for his long-standing criticism of childhood vaccines, accusing him of cynically capitalizing on parents’ concerns about their children’s health while vaccinating his own children. In her letter, she referenced his disastrous 2019 trip to Samoa, during which he met with health officials to discourage them from administering childhood vaccines, leading to a measles outbreak that caused the deaths of 83 adults and infants. She also accused him of having a financial conflict of interest with the HHS role, citing an ethics report showing that he maintains a financial stake in a lawsuit against manufacturers of the HPV vaccine, which has reportedly earned him more than $2.5 million in recent years. “He is willing to enrich himself by denying access to a vaccine that can prevent almost all forms of cervical cancer and which has been safely administered to millions of boys and girls,” she wrote.
This is not the first time Caroline Kennedy has spoken out against her cousin, though it is by far the most detailed and scathing statement she has made about him. Last year, she told an audience at the National Press Club in Australia that RFK Jr.’s views on vaccines were “dangerous” and out of step with those held by the majority of the American people. Her son, Jack, has used his formidable social-media platform to criticize RFK Jr., referring to him in an Instagram video last year as “an embarrassment” and to his campaign as a “vanity project.”
In her letter, Kennedy explained that she had largely stayed silent during her cousin’s presidential campaign because of her role in the U.S. government as ambassador to Australia. She described watching with horror as he “appropriated” her father JFK’s image and legacy, then “groveled to Donald Trump for a job” after halting his own campaign last August. “The American health-care system, for all its flaws, is the envy of the world,” she concluded. “Its doctors and nurses, researchers, scientists, and caregivers are the most dedicated people I know. Every day, they give their lives to heal and save others. They deserve a knowledgeable leader who is committed to evidence and excellence. [They] deserve better than Bobby Kennedy — and so do the rest of us.”