RFK Jr. rips NYT for publishing hit piece sourced by disgruntled ex- employees: Propagandists

Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F.Kennedy Jr.

launched an attack against The New York Times on Wednesday, accusing the paper of publishing a “hit piece” sourced by disgruntled former employees.Kennedy’s post on X comes after a report claimed Kennedy was “checked out” from his position amid the latest Ebola outbreak in Africa.Kennedy rejected the narrative as “propagandist” journalism.“In order to prove your preconceived case for my disengagement, you quote anonymous employees, some of whom I fired or who quit to avoid being fired,” Kennedy wrote Wednesday.“You had a preconceived thesis, and you set out to prove it,” he later added.The article, published earlier this week by New York Times correspondent Sheryl Gay Stolberg, was titled “Kennedy Shows Minimal Engagement With Vast Health Portfolio.”It questions Kennedy’s management of the department, focusing largely on his handling of the Ebola outbreak, which exposed at least six Americans.

The article argues Kennedy has “shown little interest” in actually managing the major health organization and instead is focused on advancing his top priorities.“Mr.Kennedy has shown little interest in managing the details of work in his department, according to multiple colleagues,” Stolberg wrote.

“Instead, they say, he is single-mindedly focused on his top priorities, including food recommendations and pesticide exposures, and hunting for evidence to support his long-held beliefs that vaccines are harmful.”The piece added that Kennedy has made one known visit to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention headquarters.The visit to the Georgia facility came after a gunman opened fire at its headquarters and killed a police officer.It went on to call him “deeply mistrustful” of career civil officials and in turn has surrounded himself with people who support his views, adding, “While major posts have sat vacant and a wave of veteran health experts and scienti...