Senate Majority Chief John Thune (R-S.D.) tried Thursday to distance himself from considered one of Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s wild well being claims, although he wouldn’t go as far as to name the well being secretary’s steering “harmful.”
Talking with MSNBC journalist Ali Vitali throughout an interview aired on the “Morning Joe” discuss present, Thune mentioned that if he have been a girl, he “wouldn’t be taking recommendation” from President Donald Trump’s Cupboard member, who’s a identified anti-vaccine conspiracy theorist.
Thune’s feedback got here after Vitali requested him whether or not Kennedy’s unscientific public well being recommendation, which has drawn significant controversy from medical and public well being specialists, is “harmful.”
“Properly, I’ve mentioned that I believe that if I have been a girl, I’d be speaking to my physician and never taking, you recognize, recommendation from RFK or some other authorities bureaucrat, for that matter,” Thune responded.
Final month, Kennedy and Trump made an announcement linking Tylenol use during pregnancy to autism. The American School of Obstetricians & Gynecologists slammed the administration’s unproven steering as “irresponsible” and “unsettling” in a statement.
Days after the Tylenol remarks, which weren’t prompted by any important new analysis, Thune mentioned he was “very concerned.”
Kennedy, who was appointed by Trump, has an extended historical past of spreading deceptive and false statements about well being, together with making repeated incorrect statements about vaccines which have raised doubts about their security.
Earlier in his interview with MSNBC, Vitali grilled Thune over whether or not he thinks the GOP is turning into a “social gathering of no dissent” and whether or not he would think about that to be “wholesome.”
“I imply, I’d argue and I’ve dissented numerous instances simply in the previous couple of weeks,” Thune mentioned, which prompted him to level to his earlier opposition of RFK Jr.’s Tylenol claims.
Thune went on to say that “there are topics and points on which we’ve got variations of opinion,” however that he sometimes prefers to “litigate these privately quite than publicly.”
“However I believe there are many examples and there are many instances I might level out to you the place we’ve got variations in opinion, and I make my voice clear,” he continued.
Thune famous that “in some instances it ends in a change and typically it doesn’t.”
“However I believe that’s our job is to try to current that verify and steadiness,” he added.
Knowledge analyzed by researchers on the conservative Institute for Legislative Evaluation reveals Thune voted in support of the GOP agenda 76% of the time in 2024.
