Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who has long voiced doubts about vaccine safety, has hopes of influencing federal health policy. Could he finally get the chance?
“Make America healthy again!”
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. looked out into the crowd in Glendale, Ariz., on Saturday at his first major campaign event for his onetime rival, former President Donald J. Trump, and talked up their future together — one he hopes will finally bring his long-held agenda for public health to fruition.
“He’s going to end the chronic disease epidemic,” said Mr. Kennedy, who has for years expressed doubts about the safety of vaccinating children and has pushed conspiracy theories about the inner workings of federal health agencies. “And he wanted my help to do it.”
As a candidate polling in the single digits, Mr. Kennedy had no path to the White House. But now, as an ally of Mr. Trump’s who has already been named to the transition team that would advise on personnel and policy priorities, he has very real opportunities to exert influence and gain power in a field where he has long been considered a fringe voice.
Historically, members of a winning candidate’s transition team often end up in prestigious positions themselves. Mr. Trump said in an interview with CNN that he “probably would” appoint Mr. Kennedy to a role in a second Trump administration.
In an interview on Tuesday, Mr. Kennedy confirmed that Mr. Trump “asked me to be involved in the administration at a high level.” He said they had not discussed the specific role yet, given the “legal constraints” of doing so before the election.
“We’ve talked about the sort of general role in looking at corruption across the agencies, having some kind of portfolio that would look atunraveling corruption — and particularly in the agencies that I’ve had a lot of litigation experience with,” Mr. Kennedy said, citing several federal agencies, including the Food and Drug Administration, National Institutes of Health, Environmental Protection Agency and C.D.C. “And public health: in doing what needs to be done to end the chronic disease epidemic. So those are the two areas that he’s asked me to be involved with.”