Sen. Schiff tells Patel: Thank Capitol Police 'if you have the courage to look them in the eye'
Sen. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., slammed Patel for promoting a song sung by some of those who were convicted their actions during the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the Capitol.
Over 140 police officers were wounded in the attack on Jan. 6, and many of those who pleaded guilty or were convicted over their actions that day were those who harmed police officers.
"I want you to turn around," Schiff told Patel. "There are Capitol Police officers behind you. They're guarding us. Take a look at them right now. Turn around."
"I'm looking at you," Patel quipped before Schiff continued.
"I want you to look at them if you can, if you have the courage to look them in the eye, Mr. Patel, and tell them you're proud of what you did. Tell them you're proud that you raised money off of people that assaulted their colleagues, that pepper-sprayed them, that beat them with poles," Schiff told Patel.
"That's an abject lie," Patel told Schiff. "You know it. I never, never, ever accepted violence against law enforcement."
Patel dodges on whether Trump lost the 2020 election
Asked by Sen. Peter Welch, D-Vt., whether the 2020 presidential election was "stolen" from Trump, Patel dodged the question, never explicitly saying Trump lost or former President Joe Biden won.
"He's entitled to whatever opinions he wants," Patel said at first, referring to Trump's repeated false claims that Biden fraudulently won the 2020 election.
Welch posed the question again, asking Patel, "Do you agree with [Trump] that the election was stolen in 2020?"
Patel simply said, "Senator, millions of Americans expressed concern, going back to multiple elections, over election integrity."
Welch seemed to grow mildly frustrated, calling Patel's dodge "skillful." He asked again: "You understand what I'm asking you. Can you say the words: 'Joe Biden won the 2020 election'?"
To that, Patel answered, "Joe Biden is the — was the president of the United States."
The final answer seemed to echo a refrain that Pam Bondi, Trump's nominee to be the next attorney general, repeated several times at her confirmation hearing, when she said Biden was the president of the United States in response to questions about who legitimately won the 2020 election.
Cassidy expresses doubts over Kennedy's nomination
Sen. Cassidy in his closing remarks posed an ultimatum to Kennedy, reminding him of the vast influence his position would wield over the health care choices Americans make and asking him if he would use his credibility to support science-based health care or undermine it.
Cassidy, who said he is struggling with Kennedy’s nomination, said that is the question that will determine his vote.
“My concern is that if there’s any false note, any undermining of a mama’s trust in vaccines another person will die from a vaccine-preventable disease,” Cassidy said, calling back to the anecdote he told in his opening remarks of treating a young woman who needed an emergency liver transplant after suffering failure because of hepatitis B.
“You’ve got a megaphone,” Cassidy told Kennedy. “With that influence comes a great responsibility. Now, my responsibility is to learn, try and determine if you can be trusted to support the best public health.”
Noting he and Kennedy are about the same age but differ because Kennedy has selected evidence to publicly cast doubt on the safety of vaccines and profited from doing so, Cassidy asked, “Will you continue what you have been or will you overturn a new leaf at age 70?”
“Man, if you come out unequivocally, vaccines are safe, it does not cause autism. That would have an incredible impact,” Cassidy said. “That’s your power. So what’s it going to be? Will it be using the credibility to support lots of articles, or will it be using the credibility to undermine?”
“I got to figure that out for my vote,” Cassidy said, noting he is a Republican who wants to promote Trump's agenda but has real concerns that Kennedy's false vaccine claims will cast a troublesome shadow over the president's second-term legacy.
Snowden responds to Senate Intelligence Committee questions
The Senate Intelligence Committee's focus on Gabbard's past support for NSA leaker Edward Snowden during the public portion of her confirmation hearing today was not lost on Snowden himself.
The former NSA contractor, who now lives in Russia, responded in a post to X that the senators needed to "move on" from their fixation on his case.
Kennedy again questions vaccine safety data, this time in connection to Covid shots
Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., asked Kennedy about his 2021 remark that the Covid vaccine was the “deadliest vaccine ever made.” Kennedy said the comment was based on reports made to the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS), a U.S. database that collects reports of adverse events potentially associated with vaccines.
Anyone can submit such a report, so they are unverified. The CDC and FDA analyze the data and investigate any signals that a vaccine might be associated with a health issue. A 2024 study found that, in states that were more inclined to vote Republican, there was a higher likelihood of people reporting adverse events from Covid vaccines to VAERS.
Kennedy falsely claimed on Thursday that VAERS and V-safe, another monitoring system from the CDC, were the only surveillance methods for vaccine safety in the U.S. In fact, there are many. Kennedy said he couldn’t verify that Covid vaccines had saved 3 million lives “because we don’t have a good surveillance system.”
“I’m agnostic, because we don’t have the science to make that determination,” he said.
The 3 million figure is a late 2022 estimate from The Commonwealth Fund, which researches health care issues. Overwhelming data suggests that Covid vaccines reduce the risk of severe illness, hospitalization and death, particularly among older adults.
Kennedy says he supports 'strong science' while citing shoddy research
Before the hearing ended, Kennedy said he would be an “advocate for strong science,” leaning on a new research paper that anti-vaccine activists have been sharing this week.
The paper was published last week on the website Science, Public Health Policy and the Law, which mirrors the form of a scientific journal, but is in fact a WordPress blog belonging to anti-vaccine researcher, James Lyons-Weiler. Citing data from Florida’s Medicaid Medicare database, the paper’s authors, Anthony Mawson and Binu Jacob, conclude that vaccines were associated with increased neurodevelopmental disorders in children.
As the authors disclose, the paper was funded by the anti-vaccine group the National Vaccine Information Center. Its author, Anthony Mawson, is well known in the research community for a previous study (that was retracted — twice) that claimed unvaccinated homeschooled children were healthier than their vaccinated peers.
Jessica Steier, a public health scientist, and epidemiologist Bertha Hidalgo published a criticism of the paper on Saturday. They wrote: “This study demonstrates significant methodological problems: publication without standard peer review, funding from advocacy organizations with clear agendas, fundamental flaws in design and analysis, and conclusions that contradict extensive scientific evidence. The scientific consensus remains clear and unambiguous — vaccines do not cause autism.”
Cassidy took a short break and seemed to look up the study while Bernie Sanders took over questioning.
“I looked into the article,” Cassidy said upon his return. “It seems to have some issues.”
Day two of questioning has ended for RFK Jr.
The Senate HELP Committee hearing on RFK Jr.'s nomination to lead the sprawling Department of Health and Human Services has ended.
It was Kennedy's second day of tough questioning following a grilling yesterday before the Senate Finance Committee, which is the Senate panel responsible for advancing his nomination.
Kennedy and Sanders clash over pharmaceutical campaign donations
Kennedy and Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., engaged in a shouting match after Kennedy accused “almost all the members” of the Senate HELP Committee of accepting “millions of dollars from the pharmaceutical industry and protecting their interests,” following a line of questioning from Sanders about guaranteeing universal health care for Americans.
“Oh no, no, no,” Sanders said, his voice raised. “I ran for president like you. I got millions and millions of contributions, they did not come from the executives, not one nickel of PAC money from the pharmaceuticals, they came from workers.”
Kennedy pushed back, saying, “In 2020, you were the single largest receiver of pharmaceutical money.”
“Because I had full contributions from workers all over this country, workers,” Sanders said. “Not a nickel from a single PAC.”
Cassidy pounded his gavel to call the room to order in the midst of the heated exchange, and demanded an end to the line of questioning that had gone three minutes over time.
Wyden asks if Gabbard would refuse to carry out an illegal order from Trump
Before the hearing closed for the classified session, Wyden asked Gabbard if she would carry out an illegal order from Trump, such as withholding congressionally appropriated funds, referring to the administration's freeze on domestic and foreign aid this week, which it quickly withdrew after legal challenges.
"I don't believe for a second President Trump would ask me to do something that would break the law," Gabbard responded emphatically.
Wyden said that wasn't his question and again asked what she would do if given an illegal order.
"My commitment has been, and will be if confirmed as director of national intelligence, to comply with the law," she said.
Gabbard says she wants to address 'Havana syndrome'
Sen. Roger Wicker, R-Miss., who popped into the hearing even though he's not a committee member, asked Gabbard about how she might address the so-called Havana syndrome incidents.
Gabbard called the incidents "deeply concerning" and said "the intelligence community still has failed to identify the source and the cause for Havana syndrome, as it's commonly known, even as many people who are in service are suffering the consequences of it."
"I look forward, if confirmed as director of national intelligence, to addressing this, of course, making sure that those who have been impacted are getting the care that they need and deserve, but getting to the truth behind how and why this has occurred," she added.
The CIA said in an intelligence assessment in 2022 that the so-called syndrome, which involves mysterious physiological symptoms among diplomats, wasn't the result of a global campaign by a hostile power.
A recent assessment from the U.S. intelligence community said two of seven spy agencies now say a foreign actor may have developed or deployed a weapon that caused the mysterious health incidents.