‘We’re Not Going To Censor Him’: House Republicans Stand By RFK Jr. as Key Congressional Witness

Top House Republicans on Monday distanced themselves from Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who promoted a widely criticized COVID-19 conspiracy theory last week, but said they won’t disinvite him from testifying Thursday.

Kennedy, a fringe Democratic presidential candidate, is one of three witnesses scheduled to testify at the Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government hearing about — ironically enough — censorship of Americans.

The New York Post reported over the weekend that Kennedy falsely claimed the coronavirus “ethnically targeted” white and Black people while saying Ashkenazi Jews and Chinese people “are most immune.” The videotaped comments by Kennedy were met with widespread condemnation from Jewish leaders and activists.

But Republicans eager to capitalize on the Democratic Party's problem candidate say the show will go on.

“I don’t agree with what he said, but we’re not going to censor him,” Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, who chairs the subcommittee and the House Judiciary Committee, told The Messenger. “That’s what Democrats do.”

Jordan, when asked if Republicans will have Kennedy address his remarks, suggested they will try to keep the hearing on topic.

“We’re going to talk about the fact that Democrats tried to censor this guy on the third day of the administration and sent an email to Twitter saying 'take down this tweet ASAP,'” Jordan said. “We’re going to talk about that kinda stuff.”

A preliminary injunction filed earlier this month says the Biden White House’s COVID-19 response team’s digital director emailed Twitter on Jan. 23, 2021, requesting “removal of an anti-COVID-19 vaccine tweet by Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.,” according to plaintiffs.

Democrats on the panel are not surprised Jordan invited Kennedy to testify.

“Bigotry, hatred, anti-Semitism, anti-Asian views, conspiracy theories on steroids — perfect Jim Jordan witness,” Rep. Gerry Connolly, D-Va., told The Messenger. “And we, of course, are looking forward to it.”

Asked if that means Democrats will show up rather than boycott the hearing, he said: “I don’t speak for the Democrats. But how could we possibly take a powder on something so important?”

Republicans on Jordan’s panel agree with the decision to let Kennedy testify, even though they also disagree with his comments. 

“The cure to speech you disagree with … is always more speech,” Rep. Kelly Armstrong, R-N.D., said. “We’ll do the hearing. We’ll see where it goes.”

Rep. Dan Bishop, R-N.C., likewise said Kennedy should still be allowed to testify because he doesn’t believe in silencing people, even those he disagrees with. 

“I’m not a fan of Robert Kennedy Jr.’s views. I don’t join him in almost anything,” he said. “The sudden instinct, impulse on the left to silence people is really a remarkable development. I don’t join in that either.”

Some Democrats on the panel had planned to send a letter to Jordan asking him to rescind Kennedy’s invitation to testify. 

“That type of vile messaging and statement should never be given the world’s largest platform to fan the flames of conspiracy theories and racial and ethnic and religious hate,” Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, D-Fla., said.

Told Jordan said he disagrees with Kennedy’s comments but doesn’t want to censor him, she called Republicans “hypocrites.” 

“But it was OK to remove a Democratic member of Congress from a committee based on them not liking what she said?” she asked, referring to Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., who Republicans booted off the Foreign Affairs Committee over comments she’s made about Israel. 

Wasserman Schultz said Democrats won’t boycott the hearing.

“Oh, hell yes, I’m gonna show up,” she said, while declining to say if she plans to ask Kennedy about his offensive comments. “Stay tuned.”

Rep. Dan Goldman, D-N.Y., told The Messenger a Democratic boycott would be a “bad strategy” because it would ”cede the floor to someone who espouses such absurd and hurtful theories that are not based in reality.” But he pushed back on the notion that disinviting Kennedy from testifying would be a form of censorship.

“He is, of course, free to make whatever statements he wants whenever he wants, but he does not have a right to be a witness in the United States Congress,” Goldman said. “And by allowing him to have the platform of the United States Congress, the Republican Party is tacitly promoting his views, which are very hurtful and dangerous, especially to the Jewish and Asian communities.”

Jordan’s view on not censoring Kennedy is backed by his leadership.

At a news conference earlier Monday, House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., said he didn’t agree with Kennedy’s views but supported him testifying at the hearing.

“I don’t think censoring somebody is actually the answer here,” McCarthy told reporters. “I think if you’re gonna look at censorship in America, your first action to censor him probably plays into some of the problems we have.”

Connolly thinks the move to let Kennedy testify may backfire on Republicans. 

“I have one inviolate rule in politics: Never defend the indefensible,” he said. “Jim Jordan is about to violate that rule in spades with this hearing.”