There are few people left in American politics with Caroline Kennedy’s pedigree, name recognition and dignity. The daughter of an assassinated president and the practically canonized Jacqueline Kennedy, and then Caroline had to bury her only sibling, John Jr., when his plane crashed into the sea in 1999. Caroline has never been a very public person, although she served as the US ambassador to Japan and Australia under President Obama and President Biden respectively. When she does speak publicly, it always gets attention, and with the “old guards” of the Kennedy family gone, the family often looks to Caroline to speak on their behalf on family matters. So it is with Caroline’s first cousin, Robert Kennedy Jr. Last year, when Kennedy Jr. was running for president, some of the family did come out and very publicly cut ties with him and his campaign, but not Caroline directly (she was still an ambassador at the time). Now Caroline has come out to give a public statement to the United States Senate ahead of Robert Kennedy’s confirmation hearing for head of the Department of Health and Human Services.
Caroline Kennedy is speaking out against her cousin Robert F. Kennedy Jr. ahead of his confirmation hearings to head the Department of Health and Human Services. In a scathing letter to senators on Tuesday, Jan. 28, the daughter of John F. Kennedy, 67, called her cousin Bobby a “predator,” asserting that he is “addicted to attention and power” and ultimately “unqualified” to shape the nation’s health policy. Prior to the letter, Caroline was less outspoken about her cousin than some relatives, even as Bobby’s siblings publicly denounced him for promoting conspiracy theories and siding with Donald Trump.
“I did not comment, not only because I was serving in a government position as United States Ambassador to Australia, but because I have never wanted to speak publicly about my family members and their challenges,” said Caroline, who resigned as ambassador in November. “But now that Bobby has been nominated by President Trump to be Secretary of Health and Human Services — a position that would put him in charge of the health of the American people — I feel an obligation to speak out.”
The letter began by addressing what Caroline views as a lack of “government, financial, management or medical experience” on Bobby’s résumé, which she said “alone should be disqualifying” for a powerful administrative role.
“But he has personal qualities related to this job, which, for me, pose even greater concern,” she continued of Bobby, 71. Caroline — who said she has known Bobby her entire life — detailed his history of drug addiction, claiming his basement, garage and dorm rooms were “always the center of the action where drugs were available” and adding that he was “able to attract others through the strength of his personality. He enjoyed showing off how he put baby chickens and mice in a blender to feed to his hawks,” Caroline alleged. “It was often a perverse scene of despair and violence.”
Caroline went on to criticize her cousin’s vocal conspiratorial crusade against vaccinations, saying that Bobby “preys on the desperation of parents of sick children” by advocating against scientifically sound vaccines while vaccinating his own kids. “Even before he fills this job, his constant denigration of our health care system and the conspiratorial half-truths he’s told about vaccines — including in connection with Samoa’s deadly 2019 outbreak of measles — have cost lives,” she said.
Caroline also added that his anti-vaccination efforts demonstrate that he “is willing to profit and enrich himself” — evidently referencing a New York Times report which found that Bobby would keep his financial stake in litigation against Merck, a manufacturer of a vaccine that protects against HPV, even as he ascends to the presidential Cabinet as health secretary.
She concluded her letter by condemning Bobby for invoking the legacy of the Kennedy name throughout his presidential campaign last year, claiming that he “continues to grandstand off my father’s assassination and that of his own father.”
“It’s incomprehensible to me that someone who is willing to exploit his own painful family tragedies for publicity would be put in charge of America’s life and death situations,” she said. “Unlike Bobby, I try not to speak for my father, but I am certain that he and my uncle Bobby, who gave their lives in public service to this country, and my uncle Teddy, who devoted his long Senate career to the cause of improving health care, would be disgusted.”
So Robert Kennedy Jr. regularly killed small animals, he decapitates whales, he sexually abuses women, he’s a massive fraud, his vaccine lies kill people and he has a macabre obsession with using his family members’ assassinations for political clout. Honestly, I bet he gets more Republican votes than Pete Hegseth.
Ambassador Caroline Kennedy’s statement to the US Senate on RFKJr’s nomination for HHS Secretary
This is a reading of a letter she just sent to Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions
I’m so proud of my courageous mother, who’s lived a life of dignity,… pic.twitter.com/feysNA0Wwp
— Jack Schlossberg (@JBKSchlossberg) January 28, 2025
Photos courtesy of Cover Images.
Glad she spoke out. He’s a dangerous madman.
I remember years ago there was a Vanity Fair article about his family. His wife had
committed suicide and there were photos of him snuggled up to a younger woman. Other photos had her snuggled up to him. I remember thinking – man he moved on quickly. Upon reading the article it was his DAUGHTER. The body language was so wildly inappropriate and concerning.
Extremely disturbing vibes and he’s freaked me out ever since…
He’d been cheating on Mary with Cheryl Hines, so I’ve been side-eyeing her since before they married. Mary’s life ended before the divorce was finalized. I say “ended,” because I’m not certain a woman dressed to go to the gym suddenly decides to detour to the barn to hang herself. Not certain at all.
Very happy she spoke out & very happy her words are getting so much attention. What happened in Samoa–due to HIS anti vax efforts–was disgusting. This man should NOT be placed in charge of any health-related agency, or any agency at all.
other than his history of being a Democrat, he’s a perfect fit for TrumpWorld.
He is a disgusting person and I am horrified that the Republicans want him in any position of power.
The Republicans seem to like “disgusting “. This really isn’t new — it’s just, potentially, impacting a wider group of people now.
Sigh, unfortunately that’s true. Predator? Check. Liar & cheat? Check. Rinse & repeat.
I found her speech, both shocking and amazing. Who knows you better then your cousins. I believe her, but sadly, it won’t matter, he’ll still get the votes.
Of course he will. They see this as “owning” the quintessential lib.
Spot on Koko. All this fanfare is just to make us think there is some sort of checks and balance and opposition to him as if democracy still works – when we know damn well whose pocket they are all in. Cowards.
He is getting confirmed. History will. not look kindly on everyone who fell in line. He is a massive threat to public health – which is exactly what they want: Americans poor, sick, destitute, brainwashed – so much easier to capitulate when you’re weak or near death from some virus he didn’t believe in vaccinating against.
I was there for this until she mentioned Uncle Teddy wouldn’t be happy with him…. the man left a girl dying in a mostly submerged car at Chappaquiddick….. I have read in length ab it…how that man went on to have a career in politics my God…. Oh the Kennedy’s…..Her grandfather ran the Securities Exchange Commission for awhile…he was appointed bc it was famously said by “it take’s a crook to catch a crook”
If you want to delve into it, none of the Kennedy men have treated women decently.
I have deep respect for her taking this public stance against him.
Those with a platform, money, and/or power speaking out, suing, etc. are all we have left to fight what is happening since they control all branches of government.
She has been one of the few with courage enough to formally stand up against this administration’s constant threats to democracy.
I quite agree. Much respect for her courage in speaking truth to power.
I could get past him selling drugs in college etc., because people can reform from that. But he killed small animals and seemed to get off on violence? Yikes, he really is scary AF. I’m glad she said something because she does have some clout.
But it wasn’t just college when he was selling drugs/providing drugs. He was a grown ass adult with children. And there’s nobody saying he currently is drug-free. Addictions are powerful and his has an addictive personality.
Wow!! Just wow it’s worse than I thought which was pretty bad already!!! Unfortunately I don’t think it will matter to the maga fanatics!!
As someone from an Irish-American family, I know how hard that must’ve been for her. We tend to have a “keep it in the family” attitude to an extreme.
I have no idea what is even going anymore (well I do it’s just flabergasting).. Everyone’s lost their freaking minds.
I blame the brain worm that ate half his brain…or the Kennedy curse…for his lying, cheating, anti-science, anti-logic ways j/k. He needs to take accountability for his actions.
He was a heroin addict from the age of 15 to 29. Those 14 years are not insignificant, as those are some of the most important brain development years. That can’t be rectified like it can with someone who started after the age of 20 or so.
Not the many years of drug abuse?
Like with Trump, here we have another entitled wealthy white male run amok — with the power to wreak havoc — permanently impacting the lives and well-being of millions of Americans, and using our tax dollars to do it. Maybe he “needs to take accountability for his actions “ — but that’s unlikely to happen at this late date, don’t you think?
He was a monster long before the brain worm — violent, drug-addicted and sociopathic.
Ofcourse, the Republithugs will vote for him. The more depraved he is, the better the appeal to them.
Good for her. These are probably all pluses for repubs but good for her. I appreciate when people still speak out, even if it won’t matter. Makes me feel less crazy.
I don’t know if people realize how RARE this is for Caroline Kennedy Schlossberg to speak publicly about ANYTHING, much less about her family and their ‘business’. She (and the Kennedy’s as a whole) keep things buttoned up. Obviously, RFK Jr. is the exception. This was extremely difficult for her to do which makes her statement all the more reliable IMO. Sadly, it won’t matter. He’ll skate by and then universe help us.
Here’s what her statement also does for me: I have absolutely no respect for RFK, Jr’s current wife.
Agree. I used to enjoy Cheryl Hines as an actress but I will NEVER watch anything with her in it from now on. I think until we start speaking with our dollars, nothing will change with this current admin. Morals and common decency are obviously anathema to them.
Extremely difficult for her when she refers to his actions resulting in death. She and Maria found their cousin David’s body when he died from a heroin overdose.
And I’ve always questioned his former wife’s ‘death by suicide’ situation. If he didn’t do it himself, he for sure drove her to it. Just a disgusting person.
There is a reason why Jackie kept Caroline and John as far away from the Kennedys as possible (especially from Ethel’s kids) and raised them more like Bouviers
I read that she did that and specifically Ethel’s kids and she did them a FAVOR. JFK, Jr was somewhat like the RFK Jr/Ethel kids in terms of being reckless and taking unnecessary risks. His last unnecessary risk not only took his life, but his wife and her sister’s life as well.
Yes, decency and honor are no longer respected. Disgusting behavior and illegality trump them both. I would love to see this turn around. But when?
Maria Shriver and several other Kennedys have come out in support of Caroline today. She speaks for them. This had to have been excruciatingly difficult for her. She hates public speaking, she is extremely protective of her privacy, and she found the body of David Kennedy, RFK’s younger brother, when he died from a heroin overdose. She references that in her statement but doesn’t name him.
I have met Caroline many times at JFK Library events. She is gracious, self-deprecating, hilarious, warm, and extremely conscious of her family’s place in history and her role in carrying on the legacy of both her parents.
Oh Christ on a cracker! The Daily Beast just posted this from Mother Jones. MJ got their hands on secret recordings of RFK, jr. with Mary, blaming her for the 37 affairs he had during their marriage. It’s an enlightening read, albeit disgusting…
https://www.thedailybeast.com/bombshell-secret-rfk-jr-audio-recordings-unearthed/
It would be interesting to know who provided the Daily Beast with this “secret” recording. It’s not a secret now.
I get that the three Kennedy men of her father’s generation certainly had intensely negative aspects to their personalities, but they dedicated their lives to the greater good.
The same cannot be said of this guy and I’m glad she spoke up.
Caroline Kennedy deserves a great deal of credit for stepping up here to enumerate just how unfit RFK Jr. is for the position of HHS secretary. The detail about putting small animals in a blender to feed his hawks was particularly shocking. As a Kennedy, I’m sure she was raised not to speak ill of other Kennedys, even the sociopaths. But that gets me to another point. Her father and Uncle Ted were not without cruel tendencies of their own. There is a darkness running through the Kennedy lineage which seems to have come to its logical conclusion in Bobby Jr.
I am old enough to remember when RFK jr. blamed an innocent Black teenager for Martha Moxley’s murder, when he knew damn well his cousin (Michael Skakel) did it. So yeah Brainworm will be confirmed. This is not just about owning the Libs anymore. It’s White Supremacy on steroids. His values line up with theirs period. This is who we are now as a country. I’m actually surprised how quickly everyone bent their knee and kissed the ring. I thought it would take 3 months. Nah a week. One fucking week.
Putting small animals in a blender. I am literally sick to my stomach. I commend her for speaking out, and also, for pointing out WHY she could not speak earlier – she took legacy media’s ammunition before they could load it.
He will be confirmed. I guarantee it. We are truly in the sunken place.
I am old and I recall many news stories when JFK was president of his nephews via RFK getting picked up for throwing rocks and stones at passing cars. They were about 6 and 4 at the time. Not a big deal, maybe, until they repeatedly did it. And then did it some more.
Wowza. That’s some degenerate stuff. Given their full family support of Teddy Kennedy and his Chappaquiddick scandal and William Kennedy Smith, this says mountains about RFK Jr. Glad she made it clear it’s a combination of not having the qualifications as well as an ethical issue. Abusing small animals will be as much to damage him as his anti-vaxxer stance.
I went to high school in the 70s with a nephew of Joan Kennedy’s, and they pulled him from school to help campaign for Teddy’s failed run for President.
I’ve spent the last hour or so contemplating if I should tell this story. I’ve decided, what the hell, so here goes.
During the 90s, I was the executive assistant and speech writer for Sargent Shriver, then the Chairman and CEO of Special Olympics International in D.C. In November of ’95, he turned 80, and his secretary and I were in charge of the party at their Potomac home. There were 350 guests for the sit-down dinner in an enormous tent attached to the back of the house. I had come up with both the theme and dress code: Around the World in 80 Years (he was the founding director of the Peace Corps, had been the Ambassador to France under LBJ, and when he took over SOI, he increased its presence in several more countries), and dress in the manor of the decade in which you met the host. Maria was born in the 50s, so she wore a puddle skirt and Angora sweater, Timmy (middle child) dressed as an infant, Anthony (younger) wore 60s garb etc. Most guests got into it, and because of his lengthy career, decades from the 40s up to the 90s (me) were represented. Then in walked RFK, jr…in a full NASA astronaut suit, you know, from the events of more than a decade after he’d met his uncle. My first thought was, “WTF?” I was irked that he would so try to pull focus. Even Arnold insisted on a table at the very back (he and Maria were sill married), as he was the biggest movie star in the world at the time. Even Arnold had the class to step back (I don’t like him). BUT, when Ethel turned and saw Bobby, she rolled her eyes in clear disgust.
He swanned around that tent, going table to table as if HE were the guest of honor. I ignored him, and kept deliberately getting up to talk with others every time he came near my table. He was and remains pathologically addicted to attention. Never liked him, never trusted him.
There. I’ve said it, and I don’t care who knows. I’ve been the soul of discretion regarding my years with the family, but I’m sure I’m not the only one who saw Ethel’s face, so whatever. He can fucking rot!
Thank you for sharing that insight. It’s so sad the level of greed, depravity, attention-seeking, and sadism every single person in the Trump camp openly expresses; and yet the right, in their manufactured fear and ignorance, are so seduced by what they perceive as this menacing and parochial power. Anyone from the outside looking in can see how grossly underestimated these men are by their base-in terms of their absolute hatred and utter contempt for anyone who isn’t a 0.5%er but here we are. They want us dead, destitute, or bound to their servitude for the rest of our days. They want our kids college funds, our meager assets, our savings, our resources. We’re merely obstacles to them to tapping into the cash flow of the US government and complete control on the US economy. The American people are just another resource to them to tap into, and siphon off of. I’m sure he’ll get the nomination. Republicans are lock step with the undoing and disassembling of this country, while we’re watching as it’s sold for parts to the highest bidder and fascism fills the vacuum. It’s just so sad.
That was supposed to be poodle skirt!
I did wonder, I was trying to think how puddle might work–it flows out when you sit down? It puddles around you? But got the reference, anyway. 😉 Clearly, Jr did not understand the assignment; or rather did, but chose to ignore it. What an *sshole. I hope Sargent had a nice day in spite of that. Sounds like it was an otherwise fun event.
Yes, BeaniBean, he had a wonderful time! The weather went nuts that day, so midway through the electricity went out, but we had candles. The floor covering was getting soaked, so Ethel, wearing a beautiful gown, went up to Mrs. Shriver’s room and came back wearing her very ugly, beige snow boots! She did not care.
Next door was the Altman home, otherwise known As Lynda Carter’s home (Wonder Woman). They had a rotting tree right next to the fence, and when the heavy, we snow began falling, the tree fell over onto the Shriver’s property, on top of five cars. All totaled. Imagine having five fingers, and having something fall over sideways, hitting all five knuckles. It was all in the Washington Post the next day!
Thank you for sharing this piece of history with us, even if it’s because of a raging narcissistic nightmare. Ethel sounds like she was a hoot. Love the gown and snow boots.
He’s their token Kennedy, of course the republicans are going to massively vote for him.
This literally turns my stomach. This is serial-killer level brutality.
Too little… Too late… Strange how she managed to find her conviction before a Senate confirmation but not when it was obvious he was in tight with the Trump campaign. Almost as if she was waiting it out to see if Harris would win and she could stay silent