AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File
- House Speaker Kevin McCarthy said he would not support disinviting Robert Kennedy Jr. from testifying.
- Kennedy Jr. was previously scheduled to testify about censorship before a special subcommittee.
- The long-shot Democratic hopeful is facing intense criticism over antisemitic remarks about COVID-19.
House Speaker Kevin McCarthy said on Monday that Republicans will move forward with a scheduled hearing featuring Robert Kennedy Jr. after the long-shot Democratic presidential hopeful was denounced for making antisemitic comments about COVID-19.
"I disagree with everything he said," McCarthy told reporters. "The hearing we're going to have this week is about censorship. I don't think censoring somebody is the answer here."
Republicans have called Kennedy Jr. to testify before a special subcommittee on the "weaponization" of the federal government. The hearing is just the latest sign of how the Democrat's campaign is being supported and uplifted by Republicans and conservatives.
Kennedy Jr. is facing a torrent of criticism after he suggested that there is "an argument" that COVID-19 was targeted to spare Chinese and Ashkenazi Jews. His remarks were widely condemned as anti-Semitic.
"There is an argument that it is ethnically targeted. COVID-19 attacks certain races disproportionately," Kennedy Jr. said at a press dinner in remarks first reported by The New York Post. "COVID-19 is targeted to attack Caucasians and black people. The people who are most immune are Ashkenazi Jews and Chinese."
The Anti-Defamation League said that Kennedy Jr.'s remarks "feeds into sinophobic and antisemitic conspiracy theories about COVID-19," CBS News reported.
In response, Kennedy Jr. claimed that The Post mischaracterized his comments. He said that he was not claiming COVID-19 was a bioweapon. He was simply discussing how he believes nations are developing bioweapons. Conspiracy claims about US involvement in Ukrainian labs have been repeatedly debunked.
House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan, who also chairs the special subcommittee, also told reporters that the GOP would go ahead with the hearing.
"Yeah, I totally disagree with what he said, but he's a Democrat," Jordan told Politico. "I disagree with other things he said too. But we're having him because of censorship."
Kennedy Jr. is being asked to testify on Thurday about his experience of being silenced by social media platforms for his posts that spread false claims about the COVID-19 vaccine and other anti-vaccination rhetoric.