U.S. ambassadors aren’t supposed to comment on domestic politics, but that didn’t stop Caroline Kennedy from telling a group of Australian journalists what she really thinks about cousin Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
“I think Bobby Kennedy’s views on vaccines are dangerous,” President John F. Kennedy’s daughter said Sunday during a speech at the National Press Club of Australia, where she has served as President Joe Biden’s ambassador since 2022.
Her answer was in response to a question about the risk of RFK Jr., one of the world’s leading peddlers of debunked vaccine conspiracy theories, bringing his views into the mainstream if confirmed as President-elect Donald Trump’s health and human services secretary.
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“I’m a sitting ambassador and I’m not supposed to comment on politics, and now you’re also asking me comment on family, so that’s really a lot,” joked Kennedy, before launching into a surprisingly honest appraisal of her cousin’s views.
“I grew up with him, so I’ve known all this for a long time. Others are just getting to know him,” she said.
The third-party candidate ended his failed presidential campaign in August and endorsed Trump in exchange for a potential White House appointment. Last week, the president-elect made good on the deal and announced Kennedy as his secretary of health and human services nominee.
The decision was met with horror from much of the medical community—and other Americans who fear a return to outbreaks of measles and polio with a vaccine skeptic leading U.S. health policy.
“I don’t think most Americans share [his views],” Caroline Kennedy said on Sunday. “I would say that our family is united in terms of our support for the public health sector and infrastructure, and has the greatest admiration for the medical profession in our country. Bobby Kennedy has got a different set of views.”
Kennedy was also asked why American allies should continue to share military intelligence with the incoming administration given allegations that former Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, Trump’s nominee for director of national intelligence, could be a Russian asset. Gabbard has peddled Russian-backed conspiracy theories and secretly met in 2017 with Syria’s Russian-backed president.
“Obviously that would be of great concern,” Kennedy said, apparently referring to the Senate potentially green-lighting Gabbard’s nomination. “We’ll see who actually gets confirmed.”
Kennedy, who also served as former President Barack Obama’s ambassador to Japan, was already set to wrap up her appointment in Australia regardless of whether Trump won re-election earlier this month.
If this was the restrained diplomatic version of her political views, her return to civilian life promises to be interesting.
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