RFK Jr. Names First Targets in Chilling Speech as Health Secretary

Now that he has been confirmed as secretary of Health and Human Services, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. plans to put his frightening ideas about public health into action.

Kennedy made a speech to HHS staff at the Washington, D.C., headquarters Tuesday and announced that he planned to begin investigations into whether anti-depressant medications and the childhood vaccine schedule are responsible for chronic diseases in the United States. The speech was intended for staff only, although a livestream link was distributed.

“Nothing is going to be off limits,” Kennedy said, and urged staff to keep an “open mind.”

“We will convene representatives of all viewpoints to study the causes for the drastic rise in chronic disease,” Kennedy added. “Some of the possible factors we will investigate were formally taboo or insufficiently scrutinized.”

Kennedy’s comments on childhood vaccines contradict his testimony during his Senate confirmation hearings, where he told the Senate Finance Committee, “I support vaccines. I support the vaccine schedule. I support good science.”

Several medical studies have debunked claims that vaccines and SSRI anti-depressant medications are linked to chronic illnesses or conditions such as autism. But now that Kennedy has been confirmed, it seems that he can stop pretending to support such health measures.

Over the weekend, several thousand probationary federal health employees were fired, only one day after Kennedy’s confirmation. With fewer employees to oppose him, Kennedy can put his debunked theories about public health into practice, and the consequences could be disastrous.

Promises kept? Not quite.

Donald Trump signed an executive order Tuesday purporting to expand access to in-vitro fertilization, but the mandate falls short of his actual campaign promise to make IVF free.

“🚨PROMISES MADE. PROMISES KEPT: President Trump just signed an Executive Order to Expand Access to IVF! 👶” announced Karoline Leavitt, Trump’s emoji-happy press secretary, in a post on X.

“The Order directs policy recommendations to protect IVF access and aggressively reduce out-of-pocket and health plan costs for such treatments.” she wrote.

Crucially, the order does not mandate any of these things, only recommends them. The order’s “recommendations will focus on how to ensure reliable access to IVF,” according to a fact sheet about the order obtained by NOTUS.

In August, Trump claimed that if elected to a second term, he would have either the government or insurance companies cover the cost of IVF, which can cost thousands of dollars.

“We are going to be, under the Trump administration, we are going to be paying for that treatment,” Trump said in an August interview with NBC. “We’re going to be mandating that the insurance company pay.”

When pushed to clarify exactly who would shell out for these procedures, he said that one option would be to make insurance companies pay “under a mandate.”

A White House official told NOTUS Tuesday that this order was the Trump administration’s “first step” toward realizing that promise.

During a press conference on Tuesday, Trump bragged about the toothless order. “I’ve been saying that we’re gonna do what we have to do,” he said. “And I think that the women, AND families—husbands, are very appreciative of it.”

It should come as no surprise that Trump is going to do what he has to do, just not what he said he would do.

White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller threw a temper tantrum on live television Tuesday while tunelessly singing the praises of Elon Musk’s disastrous Department of Government Efficiency.

When faced with even the simplest questions about DOGE, Donald Trump’s former immigration ghoul couldn’t keep his cool long enough to make it through an interview on CNN.

Host Brianna Keilar asked Miller to clarify who was responsible for removing 300 employees at the National Nuclear Security Administration on Thursday, before the Department of Energy had frantically rescinded the terminations the next day.

“So then, who is it making those decisions of which federal employees are terminated?” Keilar asked.

“Well, in that case the secretary of energy would be the one. So, what you’re describing would be the cuts in the Department of Energy, those are directed by the Senate-confirmed secretary of energy,” Miller replied.

“OK, so that was the secretary of energy’s mistake?” Keilar pressed.

“Well, I wouldn’t use the term mistake,” Miller said about the obvious error.

“I would say that it’s pretty standard when you’re downsizing government, you make cuts, you assess those cuts. You see who needs to be rehired, you see who needs to be kept, who needs to be reevaluated,” Miller continued, adopting Musk’s inane view that the best way to downsize was to cut off limbs of the system, and then simply wait to see whether it stops working—or something blows up.

“That’s not what happened here, though, Stephen. You know that. They were rescinded,” Keilar said.

“These are all normal things,” Miller continued.

“These aren’t normal things,” Keilar pushed.

“I understand that even a temporary interruption in federal employment is a great crisis and catastrophe for you, and for CNN,” Miller bit back, his mask slipping with a cold grin.

Keilar continued pushing back on Miller’s assertion that the DOGE cuts were a personal crisis, but an incensed Miller struggled to let her get through another question.

“Well, if I don’t think it’s a crisis, and you don’t think it’s a crisis, then why are we talking about it?” Miller fumed.

“It’s not my crisis, Stephen. I’m not a federal employee,” Keilar said.

As Miller continued to tout the supposed success of DOGE, he started screaming when Keilar wouldn’t say what he wanted her to.

“You may assert there’s no waste in the Pentagon!” he said. “You may assert there’s no waste in Treasury! You may assert—”

“Oh, Stephen, I’m not asserting, [I] don’t think anyone would assert that, Stephen,” Keilar interjected.

“Then WHY ARE YOU NOT CELEBRATING THESE CUTS? If you agree there is waste, if you agree there is abuse, if you agree there is corruption, why are you not celebrating the cuts, the reforms that are being instituted?” Miller cried. “Every day that no action is taken the entire salary of American workers that are taxed disappears forever.”

“Stephen, let’s calm down,” Keilar said. “We’re not having a debate—”

“Well, you are clearly trying to debate ME!” Miller glowered. “And I will be… as excited as I want to be about the fact that we are saving Americans billions of dollars.”

Keilar tried to ask Miller about whether DOGE employees would be able to access taxpayer bank accounts and personal information at the Internal Revenue Service. But again, he lost it.

“They will not be able to access anything that any other appropriately authorized federal employee could access,” Miller snapped. “When you keep talking about ‘DOGE employees,’ you’re just talking about federal workers!”

“Your question may as well be ‘can federal workers do their job?’” Miller fumed.

“No, that’s not what I’m asking,” Keilar interjected.

“Well, I’m telling you that that’s actually what you are asking!” Miller spit back.

When asked whether the research information systems (RIS) data would be used in Trump’s massive deportation scheme, Miller ranted a resounding, and incredibly hostile, yes.

“I’d have imagined that CNN, which has endlessly talked about the importance of democracy and the rule of law would say that no class in this country should be above the law, least of all illegal aliens who have trespassed on our territory!” he shouted.

“Stephen, I’m just asking,” Keilar said. “I wanted to get your position on some things, we’re not taking a position here.”

“It doesn’t sound to me like you are in fact indifferent or unbiased on these questions, but thank you,” Miller fumed.

The Trump administration has fired members of the “privacy team” at the Office of Personnel Management, a move that will hinder public access and scrutiny over government records related to the security clearances of Elon Musk and his team at the Department of Government Efficiency.

CNN discovered the terminations when it made a freedom of information act (FOIA) request to OPM looking for those records, particularly regarding DOGE workers who were granted access to classified or sensitive information. An OPM email address responded to CNN’s request and said, “Good luck with that, they just fired the whole privacy team.”

OPM is the government agency tasked with overseeing and managing the entire federal workforce, and the privacy team’s job was to ensure that the agency follows the law with its data privacy practices and protects the trust of the public. The Trump administration not only fired those employees, but also members of OPM’s communications staff and the employees who handled FOIA requests, two unnamed sources told CNN.

When CNN reached out to OPM regarding the status of the privacy team, an official OPM told them that the entire privacy team wasn’t laid off, but didn’t elaborate further. The firings fit a pattern that started when Musk’s DOGE effort set its sights on the agency shortly after Trump’s inauguration.

Late last month, Musk’s cronies allegedly set up a private server at OPM headquarters and were sued for allegedly funneling federal employees’ private information to a Musk employee. Musk installed his own personal associates into high positions at the agency, and locked out the career employees who used to run the agency from its computer systems.

The latest moves suggest an effort to stifle transparency and keep much of DOGE’s activities and plans for the federal workforce hidden from the public. And with federal law enforcement also in the Trump administration’s crosshairs, there doesn’t seem to be much recourse.

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt and the entire Trump administration are trying very hard to convince the public that Elon Musk—the man who has used the Department of Government Efficiency to fire tens of thousands of federal workers—is actually just a normal adviser with no real power. 

“DOGE does not have statutory authority,” said Leavitt on Tuesday afternoon, when asked s by CNN’s Alayna Treene about Musk’s ability to hire and fire federal workers. “DOGE is advising.... It’s ultimately up to the discretion of these secretaries to make these hirings & firings.”

This comes after the Trump administration filed a court declaration on Monday stating that Musk is just a “senior adviser to the president,” a position that holds “no actual or formal authority to make government decisions himself.” The sudden change in heart comes after more than a dozen Democratic states sued the Trump administration for illegally giving Musk executive powers, in violation of the Constitution.

It’s a clear attempt to avoid legal trouble, and unfortunately, one unlikely to stand up in court. Trump explicitly appointed Musk as head of DOGE just one week after he won the election, and has bragged about Musk’s work gutting the federal government ever since.  Musk even held a press briefing in the Oval Office, as Trump signed an executive order expanding DOGE powers. This sudden obscuring of Musk’s role is pathetic at best.