"You are a charlatan": Senator Maria Cantwell excoriates Robert F. Kennedy Junior in dramatic Senate committee hearing

After the phenomenal success of Operation Warp Speed, which developed and deployed vaccines against COVID-19, chaos has enveloped medical research in America and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Such was the subject of a chaotic, contentious Senate Finance committee hearing on Thursday.

Secretary of Health & Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Junior, a vaccine skeptic who embraces conspiracy theories, clashed with senators of both parties over canceled research grants, firings, and restrictions imposed on access to vaccines.

Rare for a Cabinet secretary, Kennedy treated lawmakers, including Senator Maria Cantwell, D‑Washington, with open contempt.

Cantwell sharply questioned Kennedy Junior over the cancellation of $500 million in grants on vaccine research with deployment of mRNA technology — in her words, “to be ready for the next pandemic, the next pandemic.”

https://www.nwprogressive.org/weblog/2025/09/you-are-a-charlatan-senator-maria-cantwell-excoriates-robert-f-kennedy-junior-in-dramatic-senate-committee-hearing.html