President Donald Trump’s nominee for Secretary of Health and Human Services, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., faced sharp questioning and intense criticism from Democratic U.S. Senators during his confirmation hearing on Wednesday. Throughout the hearing, the right-wing anti-vaccine activist was pressed on his past statements, some of which he denied making, forcing challenges to the veracity and consistency of his positions.

One focal point of the hearing was Kennedy’s stance on abortion. During an exchange with Senator James Lankford (R-OK), Kennedy stated, “I agree with President Trump that every abortion is a tragedy. I agree with him that we cannot be a moral nation if we have 1.2 million abortions a year. I agree with him that the states should control abortion. President Trump has told me he wants to end late-term abortions, and he wants to protect conscience exemptions, and that he wants to end federal funding for abortions.”

RFK Jr: “I agree with President Trump that every abortion is a tragedy. I agree with him that we cannot be a moral nation if we have 1.2m abortions a year. I agree with him that the states should control abortion. President Trump has told me he wants to end late term abortions.” pic.twitter.com/dfukL86OEr

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) January 29, 2025

Those comments, one example of his shifting views, quickly made headlines Wednesday, given his prior positions on abortion.

RELATED: ‘Despair and Violence’: RFK Jr. Is a ‘Predator’ Says Caroline Kennedy in ‘Damning’ Video

Minutes before that, U.S. Senator Michael Bennet (D-CO) had pummeled Kennedy with his lengthy history of comments on a wide range of public policy issues — including abortion.

Bennet at one point asked, “did you say on a podcast, and I quote, I wouldn’t leave it — abortion — to the states. My belief is we should leave it to the woman. We shouldn’t have the government involved, even if it’s full term.”

“Did you say that, Mr. Kennedy?”

“Senator, I believe that every abortion is a tragedy —” Kennedy replied.

“Did you say it, Mr. Kennedy?”

Senator Bennet appeared gravely frustrated.

READ MORE: ‘Hostage Note’: Trump’s Funding Freeze Will Deliver ‘Greatest Harm’ Says OMB Veteran

“This matters!” he exclaimed loudly. “It doesn’t matter what you come here and say that isn’t true, that’s not reflective of what you really believe, that you haven’t said over decade after decade after decade, because unlike other jobs we’re confirming around this place, this is a job where it is life and death for the kids that I used to work for in the Denver Public school, and for families all over this country, that are suffering from living in the richest country of the world that can’t deliver basic health care and basic mental health here to them.”

“It’s too important for the games that you’re playing, Mr. Kennedy. And I hope my colleagues will say to the president, I have no influence over him. I hope my colleagues will say to the president out of 330 million Americans, we can do better than this.”

BENNET: Did you say Lyme disease is a highly likely militarily engineered bioweapon?

RFK Jr: I probably did say that

BENNET: Did you say that exposure to pesticides causes children to become transgender

RFK Jr: No

BENNET: I have the record pic.twitter.com/tBhtL5yx4y

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) January 29, 2025

Kennedy also falsely claimed the majority of Americans are dissatisfied with Medicaid and Medicare, both of which he repeatedly confused, wrongly naming one for the other.

The latest KFF Health Tracking Poll reports that “about eight in ten (82%) Americans hold favorable views of Medicare and more than three-fourths (77%) hold favorable views of Medicaid.”

Elsewhere, Kennedy was accused of making false statements on a wide variety of issues.

Mother Jones’ David Corn wrote: “It took RFK Jr. just six minutes into his opening statement to lie to Congress…and then came other falsehoods and misrepresentations.”

Democratic strategist and consultant Sawyer Hackett on social media observed: “We’re an hour into the RFK Jr hearing and he’s lied under oath about:

– claiming he’s ‘pro-vaccine’
– saying exposure to pesticides causes children to become trans
– being pro-choice as recently as last year
– saying he had ‘nothing to do’ with measles outbreak in America Samoa”

Watch the video above or at this link.

READ MORE: Trump DOJ Fires ‘More Than a Dozen’ Prosecutors from Special Counsel Jack Smith’s Team

Image via Reuters 

Stephen Miller, President Donald Trump’s White House Deputy Chief of Staff, is under fire after appearing repeatedly to attempt to whitewash the Office of Management and Budget memo that ordered a funding freeze on “all Federal financial assistance, and other relevant agency activities that may be implicated by the executive orders, including, but not limited to, financial assistance for foreign aid, nongovernmental organizations, DEI, woke gender ideology, and the green new deal.”

The OMB memo, which was not publicly rolled out but rather discovered by journalist Marisa Kabas, appears to have led to the shuttering on Tuesday of the Medicaid portals in all 50 states. There were also reports that in addition to the Medicaid portal, the portal for SNAP, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program formerly known as “food stamps,” also went down on Tuesday, along with other sources or recipients of federal funding.

Miller declared that the massive nationwide concern and confusion were a media creation.

“I can’t help it if left-wing media outlets published a fake news story that caused confusion,” he told CNN’s Jake Tapper. The confusion, Miller insisted, was a “false story” that was “created by the media.”

READ MORE: ‘Despair and Violence’: RFK Jr. Is a ‘Predator’ Says Caroline Kennedy in ‘Damning’ Video

Later on Tuesday Miller doubled down, declaring on social media, “Welcome to the first dumb media hoax of 2025. OMB ordered a review of funding to NGOs, foreign governments and large discretionary contracts. It explicitly excluded all aid and benefit programs. Leftwing media outright lied and some people fell for the hoax.”

OMB was forced to issue an explainer Tuesday after media outlets accurately reported what the OMB memo stated. But some say that the FAQ was an opportunity for OMB to backtrack after massive, nationwide anger, fear, and confusion — which was somewhat quieted after a federal judge issued a temporary partial pause on the OMB memo.

U.S. Rep. Seth Magaziner (D-RI) responded to Miller’s remarks, writing: “They are back-tracking because we spoke up. Good. But make no mistake: their OMB memo ordered a freeze of *all* grants. The Medicaid and SNAP portals went dark. Head Start providers couldn’t draw funds. This was not a coincidence. It was their plan. And they screwed up bigly.”

Despite Miller’s repeated claims that the memo was clear and did not affect a wide array of federally-funded programs, The Boston Globe reported that “Children’s Friend, a Head Start program in Rhode Island, said it was unable to draw down $500,000 for this week’s payroll,” and “Open Door Health, an LGBTQ+ health clinic, said it could not access its federal funds on Tuesday.”

Congressman Magaziner also posted a list of organizations that he says are being blocked from receiving funding by the Trump Department of Homeland Security. “This is a gift to terrorists and our adversaries across the world. Trump needs to stop this madness and resume funding now,” Magaziner, the Homeland Security Ranking Member for Counterterrorism, wrote:

As Homeland Security Ranking Member for Counterterrorism, I just received this list of grants the Trump Administration is blocking from funding.

This is a gift to terrorists and our adversaries across the world. Trump needs to stop this madness and resume funding now. pic.twitter.com/YbyFUPEALH

— Congressman Seth Magaziner (@Rep_Magaziner) January 28, 2025

Outrage at Miller’s remarks calling the massive public upset and confusion over OMB’s memo a “dumb media hoax” was extensive.

READ MORE: ‘Hostage Note’: Trump’s Funding Freeze Will Deliver ‘Greatest Harm’ Says OMB Veteran

“Completely false. Your first lie of the year. Payment Management Services (PMS), through which states get Medicaid funds from the federal government, had a banner saying payments were stopped because of Trump’s order. Stop lying,” wrote MSNBC columnist Rotimi Adeoye, whose bio says he is a former congressional aide and advisor for the ACLU Voting Rights Project.

“Sure there are dumb media hoaxes but if you accidentally turn off Medicaid people notice,” observed Matt Stoller, a political commentator, author, and the research director of the American Economic Liberties Project.

“Another familiar messaging strategy from the White House – cause confusion and blame it on a ‘media hoax.’ In reality, Programs like Medicaid, Meals on Wheels, etc were locked out of funding today. Either White House made errors or they aren’t telling the truth,” wrote Fox 32 Chicago Political Correspondent Paris Schutz.

“Republicans send out a vague, sloppy, unclear memo that gives everyone the impression that aid to orgs are under attack, Medicaid and other services stop working, Republicans go on AIR supporting this, but Democrats are blamed for pushing a hoax? C’mon get a new playbook,” wrote Tahra Jirari, Director of Economic Analysis at Chamber of Progress.

“No…you complete clowns put out a sweeping vaguely worded executive order that ORDERED ALL FEDERAL GRANT AND LOAN FUNDING TO CEASE, were called out by the public and the media for the disaster this would present, and are now blaming everyone else. You overstepped and got caught,” declared political commentator Andrew Wortman.

“Yeah, it was so explicit that OMB had to release another document in an attempt to clarify,” said Tad DeHaven, a Cato Institute policy analyst.

“Dude you guys literally shut off Medicaid. Which part of that were Democrats or the media involved with?” asked Paul Iskajyan, the Communications Director for U.S. Rep. Scott Peters (D-CA).

READ MORE: Trump DOJ Fires ‘More Than a Dozen’ Prosecutors from Special Counsel Jack Smith’s Team

Image via Shutterstock

President Donald Trump’s White House Deputy Chief of Staff for Policy, Stephen Miller, is attributing the American public’s confusion — including among state and federal lawmakers — about a memo from the Office of Management and Budget, which ordered a freeze on potentially trillions of dollars in federal funding, with limited specifics, to what he claims is false reporting from “left-wing media outlets.”

Many have suggested the freeze itself is unlawful, citing the U.S. Constitution vesting the power of the purse with Congress, not the president, a 1974 federal law, and a 1975 U.S. Supremer Court case. Late Tuesday afternoon a federal judge issued a short, temporary block on a portion of the freeze, CNN reported.

But the language in the memo is confusing, many say. In fact, some attribute what appears to be a nationwide shutdown of Medicaid portals across the country to the memo’s vagueness.

“I can’t help it if left-wing media outlets published a fake news story that caused confusion,” Miller told Tapper.

“We just talked to Congressman Don Bacon, a Republican, a Trump supporter. We just interviewed him,” CNN’s Jake Tapper told Miller. “He said that there was a lot of confusion. He said that the executive —”

READ MORE: ‘Despair and Violence’: RFK Jr. Is a ‘Predator’ Says Caroline Kennedy in ‘Damning’ Video

“Yes,” Miller interjected. “Created by the by the media, Jake,” Miller interjected. “The OMB guidance memo, if you read it, is as clear as day.”

Calling it “confusingly written,” CNN’s Jake Tapper said, “Parts of it are about DEI, parts are about disbursement.”

“Yeah, DEI’s suspended,” Miller replied. “It is, yeah, DEI’s suspended. That is correct.”

“Right, no, I’m just saying, like it’s kind of all over the map and there is confusion and it’s not just liberal media,” Tapper replied.

“I’m saying that a false story was put out that people responded to. It’s unfortunate that the people put out a false story. That’s all I’m saying, Jake,” Miller alleged.

READ MORE: ‘Hostage Note’: Trump’s Funding Freeze Will Deliver ‘Greatest Harm’ Says OMB Veteran

Critics blasted Miller.

“If yesterday’s OMB memo was ‘as clear as day,’ why would OMB put out a new memo today that contradicted it in key respects?” asked Eric Columbus, a former DOJ and DHS appointee.

MSNBC columnist Michael A. Cohen added, “Miller says the OMB memo is clear as day … the OMB memo refers to government programs that are part of the green new deal. The green new deal is not part of US law.”

Watch the video below or at this link.

Miller: I can’t help it if left wing media outlets published a fake news story that caused confusion.

Tapper: Don bacon, a Republican, said that there was a lot of confusion.

Miller: Created by the media. If you read the memo, it’s clear

Tapper: It’s confusingly written. pic.twitter.com/ZJCbwBsKTs

— Acyn (@Acyn) January 28, 2025

The OMB memo, as published by The Washington Post, can be read here.

READ MORE: Trump DOJ Fires ‘More Than a Dozen’ Prosecutors from Special Counsel Jack Smith’s Team

This article has been updated to add new quotes from Miller and an expanded video.

Image via Reuters