Video newly uncovered Tuesday showed Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Donald Trump’s pick to run the nation’s public health agencies, entertained the possibility that the government orchestrated the COVID-19 pandemic:
“Many people argue that this pandemic was a ‘plandemic,’ that it was planned from the outset, that it’s part of a sinister scheme,” Kennedy, the former Democratic and then independent candidate for president, said in an August 2020 speech. “I can't tell you the answer to that. I don't have enough evidence. A lot of it feels very planned to me, but I don’t know.”
“I will tell you this: If you create these mechanisms for control, they become weapons of obedience for authoritarian regimes, no matter how beneficial or innocent the people who created them,” Kennedy said.
The speech was not the first time RFK Jr. floated the baseless “plandemic” claim: Last year, he reportedly said COVID-19 may have been used to “attack Caucasians and Black people,” while “the people who are most immune are Ashkenazi Jews and Chinese.”
Kennedy, who was already rising in popularity for his anti-vaccine advocacy, gained much more followers for his conspiracy theories during the COVID-19 pandemic. He argued against the safety of the vaccines and vaccine mandates, and has even falsely claimed “autism comes from vaccines.” Trump last week, though, nominated Kennedy to be secretary of the Health and Human Services Department, following Kennedy’s support for his presidential campaign.
