Several members of the Senate Finance Committee tried desperately during a hearing on Thursday about President Donald Trump's 2026 health care agenda to paint Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as both a "charlatan" and as a danger to public health.

Like the mutineers at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention who revolted over Susan Monarez's removal last week as their director, Democratic lawmakers — Sens. Elizabeth Warren (Mass.) and Maggie Hassan (N.H.) in particular — and a few Republican lawmakers, including Sen. Bill Cassidy (La.), quickly discovered that Kennedy wasn't willing to play their games.

'You are lying.'

In addition to highlighting recent victories at the Department of Health and Human Services such as recent reductions to bureaucratic waste and the obliteration of the DEI regime, Kennedy informed the committee at the outset, "We are ending gain-of-function research, child mutilation, and reducing animal testing. We are addressing cellphone use in schools, excessive screen time for youths, the lack of nutrition education in our medical schools, sickle cell anemia, hepatitis C, the East Palestine chemical spill, and many, many others."

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Rather than dwell on these or other recent positive developments at the HHS, Hassan, like other Democrats on the committee, instead focused her attack on Kennedy's approach to vaccines.

Hassan, whom Open Secrets indicated has received over $1 million in campaign donations from the health professional industry and hundreds of thousands of dollars from the pharmaceutical industry, claimed that Kennedy "acted behind closed doors to overrule scientists and limit the freedom of parents to choose the COVID vaccine for their children" and "unilaterally changed the parameters for giving vaccines."

"This is crazy talk," Kennedy said. "You're just making stuff up."

Hassan appears to have been grossly misrepresenting recent actions taken by the Food and Drug Administration.

RELATED: RFK Jr. makes crystal clear to the CDC mutineers: The restoration of public trust 'won't stop'

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FDA Commissioner Marty Makary noted in a recent op-ed that his agency has "approved COVID-19 vaccines for adults over 65 and for people 6 months and older who have one or more risk factors that put them at high risk of severe COVID," thereby bringing "the U.S. in line with peer nations."

Makary underscored that "the FDA can't regulate the practice of medicine. The FDA grants marketing authorizations, but doctors are able to prescribe drugs off label to people at low risk. In a few states, pharmacists may require a prescription."

In other words, parents still enjoy the freedom to choose the COVID vaccine for their children even though Makary indicated his agency is not confident that the benefits outweigh the risks.

"Since the FDA isn't approving a vaccine for the healthy school-age and working population, college and school mandates will be legally impossible," Makary wrote. "Accordingly, the FDA is revoking the emergency-use authorization for COVID vaccines. The emergency is over. The FDA will now return to an evidence-based standard."

Kennedy told Hassan on Thursday that the decisions about the COVID vaccines were not made "behind closed doors. The industry makes the studies, and they could not provide a study that said it is effective for healthy kids."

"You're just making stuff up, Senator," Kennedy said.

RELATED: Florida’s fight for medical freedom targets vaccine mandates

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Hassan prompted a laugh from the health secretary by responding with, "Sometimes when you make an accusation, it's kind of a confession, Mr. Kennedy."

Despite the continued ability of Americans to get the COVID vaccines, Hassan suggested again that "people who want to exercise their freedom of choice are being denied that because you are citing data that you won't produce to the public and you are rejecting science."

"You are making things up to scare people, and it's a lie," Kennedy said. "You are lying."

'I know you've taken $855,000 from pharmaceutical companies, Senator.'

Elizabeth Warren picked up where Hassan left off, willfully conflating FDA approval for COVID vaccines with their general availability.

"Last week, you announced that the COVID-19 vaccine is no longer approved for healthy people under the age of 65," Warren said. "In announcing the change, you said that the vaccine will be available for anyone who wants it. Now obviously, both things cannot be true at the same moment."

"Anybody can get it," Kennedy said. "It's not recommended for healthy people."

When Warren started down another rabbit hole, insinuating that an insurance company's refusal to cover a drug on the basis of pulled FDA approval is the same as a governmental denial of vaccines, Kennedy told her flatly, "I'm not going to recommend a product for which there's no clinical data for that indication. Would you?"

"I know you've taken $855,000 from pharmaceutical companies, Senator," Kennedy added, possibly answering his own question.

According to Open Secrets, Warren received $818,997 from “pharmaceuticals/health products" sources during the 2020 campaign cycle. Between 2019 and 2024, Warren's Senate campaign committee and leadership PAC have also reportedly received $131,329 from the pharmaceutical industry; $528,320 from the health professional industry; and $109,924 from the hospital/nursing home industry.
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Democratic leaders in Washington, D.C., seem divided on President Donald Trump's law enforcement surge aimed at cleaning up the district's streets.

D.C. Attorney General Brian Schwalb (D) filed a lawsuit on Thursday against the Trump administration for deploying thousands of National Guard troops to the nation's capital.

'This lawsuit is nothing more than another attempt — at the detriment of DC residents and visitors — to undermine the president's highly successful operations to stop violent crime in DC.'

"The residents and leaders of the District of Columbia have not requested any of this," the complaint reads. "None of this is lawful."

Schwalb accused Trump of "run[ning] roughshod over a fundamental tenet of American democracy — that the military should not be involved in domestic law enforcement."

"No American city should have the U.S. military — particularly out-of-state military who are not accountable to the residents and untrained in local law enforcement — policing its streets," Schwalb said. "It's D.C. today but could be any other city tomorrow. We've filed this action to put an end to this illegal federal overreach."

He further claimed that the Trump administration authorized the National Guard deployment without Mayor Muriel Bowser's (D) consent. However, Bowser recently thanked the White House for helping the city reduce crime.

RELATED: Pam Bondi makes concession to DC AG after lawsuit challenging 'brazenly unlawful' federalization of police

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"We greatly appreciate the surge of officers that enhance what [the Metropolitan Police Department] has been able to do in this city," Bowser stated during a Wednesday news conference.

While she admitted the law enforcement surge had lowered crime, she simultaneously claimed that the presence of federal immigration agents and National Guard troops was "not working," noting that she is "devastated" by residents "living in fear."

RELATED: Trump floats sending federal agents to yet another crime-ridden blue city besides Chicago

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The White House called Schwalb's lawsuit an attempt to undermine Trump.

"President Trump is well within his lawful authority to deploy the National Guard in Washington, D.C. to protect federal assets and assist law enforcement with specific tasks," White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson told the Daily Signal. "This lawsuit is nothing more than another attempt — at the detriment of D.C. residents and visitors — to undermine the president's highly successful operations to stop violent crime in D.C."

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