Democrats continue to attack presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. with baseless accusations of antisemitism and racism.
This comes after Kennedy Jr. claimed that COVID-19 was “ethnically targeted,” with Caucasian and Black people being most susceptible and Ashkenazi Jews and Chinese people being the most immune.
Prominent Democrats and even Kennedy Jr.’s family immediately denounced the presidential hopeful’s remarks.
“The claim made on that tape is false. It is vile,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said. “They put our fellow Americans in danger if you think about the racist and antisemitic conspiracy theories that come out of saying those types of things. It’s an attack on our fellow citizens, our fellow Americans. So it’s important that we speak out.”
“My feelings about my brother Bobby’s recent statement regarding Covid and ethnic targeting are very much aligned with my brother Joe, sister Kerry, and nephew Joe III – all of whom I admire for speaking out against him. There is a great deal of hate in the world and remarks like Bobby’s only serve to fuel that hate,” his sister Rory Kennedy wrote in an emailed statement.
During a hearing on Thursday, Kennedy Jr. defended himself and said that the federal government is “weaponizing” his comments in order to stop him from running for president.
“I am being censored here through this target, through smears, through misinterpretations of what I’ve said, through lies, through association,” he said. “If you think I said something that’s antisemitic, let’s talk about the details.”
“I denounce anybody who uses the words that I have said to imply something that is negative about people who are Jewish,” Kennedy Jr. added.
House Democrats have recently tried to remove Kennery Jr. from a hearing on federal government censorship. Republican Ohio Rep. Jim Jordan, however, allowed the presidential hopeful to speak.
Additionally, Democrats also attempted to cut down on Kennedy Jr.’s remarks by pointing out that Jordan had set aside 10 minutes for him to speak. Stacey Plaskett, the Democratic delegate from the Virgin Islands, questioned why he should be given an extra 10 minutes when witnesses typically only get five.
