By Daily Mail (U.S.) | Created at 2026-08-02 20:15:24 | Updated at 2026-08-02 22:05:30
1 hour ago
President Donald Trump's Secretary of Health and Human Services, Robert F Kennedy Jr, got into a lengthy, heated exchange with CNN host Dana Bash on Sunday.
In a segment of CNN's State of the Union that lasted over 20 minutes, Kennedy Jr and Bash clashed over his skepticism of vaccines, including the MMR vaccine, which prevents measles, mumps, and rubella.
Measles cases in the United States are at a 35-year high, and Bash argued that Kennedy Jr's recent statement about vaccines causing autism has led to vaccine hesitancy.
Kennedy was asked by Bash at one point what his department could do to prevent another pandemic like the coronavirus pandemic earlier this decade. First, he stressed that what happened during COVID 'cannot' happen again during a crisis.
'I really want to move on,' Bash interjected at one point in his response, visibly upsetting Trump's health secretary.
'Of course you do, because you were part of the problem!' Kennedy jabbed back, pointing a finger at Bash.
'No, I wasn't part of the problem,' the CNN host responded.
'Yes! There was absolute press malpractice,' Kennedy Jr exclaimed, 'You weren't allowing—' he continued as Bash tried to regain control of the interview. 'Your job is fierce skepticism toward authority. And you weren't doing that. You were beating up the people who were dissenting,' Kennedy Jr continued.
President Donald Trump's Secretary of Health and Human Services, Robert F Kennedy Jr , got into a lengthy, heated exchange with CNN host Dana Bash on Sunday
Kennedy was asked by Bash at one point what his department could do to prevent another pandemic like the coronavirus pandemic earlier this decade.
The HHS secretary also briefly mentioned former COVID-19 response head Dr Anthony Fauci, as an example of an 'expert' who people were told to trust during the pandemic, but allegedly made false or inconsistent statements.
Fauci refused to answer 111 questions about COVID-19 origins during an explosive hearing on Capitol Hill last month, where he blasted Republicans' 'unhinged obsession' with him.
The former chief medical advisor invoked the Fifth Amendment to avoid self-incrimination in the opening round. He then continued to do so over 100 separate times when interrogated by lawmakers on the committee.
CNN's Bash and the HHS Secretary clashed over vaccines
Fauci's personal diaries from the time of the pandemic were released earlier this week, showing how he delighted in his interactions with celebrities as America went through the death throes of the early COVID-19 pandemic.
'Press still hot and heavy about me. Multiple stories per day, directly or indirectly involving me,' Fauci wrote.
He described the 'national and international fame is explosive and really unimaginable' by May 21 of 2020.
In the diaries, he also shared that he was not sure of where the virus originated as opposed to how it was spread.
The diaries were released as part of Senator Paul's investigation into Fauci, and days before he testified to the Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee.
