Vice President JD Vance blasted senators who clashed with Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. during a heated Senate Finance Committee hearing Thursday, saying they are “full of s— and everyone knows it.”
The clash centered on sharp criticism from Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), who accused Kennedy of endangering children with reckless, conspiracy-driven policies and pursuing what he called a “fundamentally cruel” agenda.
Kennedy pushed back, citing Wyden’s decades in office during which chronic disease rates have risen to 76%.
Vance later took to X with a profane defense of Kennedy, a move that stunned political observers and underscored the acrimony surrounding the session.
“When I see all these senators trying to lecture and ‘gotcha’ Bobby Kennedy today all I can think is: You all support off-label, untested, and irreversible hormonal ‘therapies’ for children, mutilating our kids and enriching big pharma,” Vance wrote on the social media platform.
“You’re full of s— and everyone knows it.”
Following Vance’s post, RFK Jr. took to the X platform as well to thank him, adding: “You put your finger squarely on the preimminent problem.”
Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt also took to the X platform to push back on the Democratic senators and support the HHS secretary.
“Secretary [Kennedy] is taking flak because he’s over the target. The Trump Administration is addressing root causes of chronic disease, embracing transparency in government, and championing gold-standard science. Only the Democrats could attack that commonsense effort,” she wrote.
Deputy White House Chief of Staff Taylor Budowich also defended Kennedy, saying Democrats at the hearing failed to address substantive healthcare issues. “Democrats are getting absolutely TORCHED by @SecKennedy,” Budowich wrote.
“They seem uninterested in health or human services, just parrots of a failed medical orthodoxy that has made America less healthy. Great hearing and preparation by the Sec,” he added.
The heated Senate hearing occurred just one day after more than 1,000 current and former HHS employees publicly called for Kennedy’s resignation from his position, Fox News reported.
Meanwhile, a former aide to RFK Jr. accidentally crashed into his car after being abruptly fired from her post, officials said.
Hannah Anderson, who had served as deputy chief of staff for policy, was dismissed in June after only a few months on the job.
Anderson was dismissed along with then–Chief of Staff Heather Flick Melanson in a broader leadership shakeup at HHS, which has seen a string of high-profile departures as Secretary Kennedy realigns the department with President Trump’s policy agenda, the Daily Beast reported.
After her firing, Anderson was so distraught that she accidentally backed her car into Kennedy’s, the Wall Street Journal noted, citing sources familiar with the incident.
The minor crash was included in a WSJ profile highlighting turmoil inside the “Make America Healthy Again” movement, which has also seen the ouster of Dr. Vinay Prasad, the FDA’s top vaccine official and head of the Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research.
Dr. Vinay Prasad was forced out in July following a pressure campaign led by independent investigative journalist Laura Loomer. During his tenure, he clashed with biotech firm Sarepta Therapeutics and halted shipments of a drug for Duchenne muscular dystrophy, a rare muscle-wasting disease.
He was later reinstated after Kennedy Jr. and FDA Commissioner Marty Makary persuaded White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles to approve his return, said the WSJ.