Thursday, September 4 | By Cate Martel |
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It's Thursday. Folks, I am starting my sourdough baking journey today. *Please* send me your tips, advice and words of encouragement 🥖 |
- Democrats grill RFK Jr. in feisty hearing
- RFK Jr. doesn't know COVID death toll
- Kennedy accused of 'sabotage'
- Trump hosts Zuckerberg, Gates, Cook
- Giorgio Armani dies
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Wheww, this has been a wild hearing: |
Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is testifying on Capitol Hill this morning — and it's been feisty, to say the least. It has been one shouting match after another between Democrats and Kennedy. Senate Democrats have slugged a series of "gotcha" moments, and Kennedy has forcefully shot back. Why today's hearing is so newsy: This has been a chaotic stretch for his agency. He pushed out Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Director Susan Monarez last week over disagreements about vaccine recommendations and public health recommendations. Chaos then erupted at the CDC, including several senior CDC officials quitting. Top moments from the hearing: |
- Kennedy says he doesn't know how many people died from COVID-19: Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.) asked Kennedy the number of Americans who died from COVID-19. "I don't think anybody knows that," Kennedy said. Warner was visibly furious by that response. "You are sitting as secretary of Health and Human Services. How can you be that ignorant?" The exchange is worth watching. 📹 Watch the clip
- And got into a shouting match with Sen. Michael Bennet (D-Colo.): Bennet needled Kennedy on whether he expects fewer children will get seasonal vaccines as a result of his newly remade vaccine panel. Kennedy responded: "I think that parents should be free" to get their children immunized. 📹 Watch their shouting match
- He defended the CDC shake-up: Kennedy said it was "absolutely necessary" to restore the agency to its "gold standard." "That's why we need bold, competent and creative new leadership at CDC, people able and willing to chart a new course," Kennedy said.
- And another shouting match — this time with Sen. Maggie Hassan (D-N.H.): "Where have you produced the data that you relied on … to change those parameters?" Hassan asked about vaccine recommendations. "You did it behind closed doors." Kennedy repeatedly cut in, saying, "You're making things up to scare people, and it's a lie."
- Kennedy bashed the CDC's COVID-19 response: "The people at the CDC who oversaw that process, who put masks on our children, who closed our schools, are the people who will be leaving." 🔎 Read his full quote
- He also missed yesterday's Epstein survivor press conference: Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.) pressed Kennedy on the Epstein accusers who called on Trump to release the files. "I don't know about any women on the steps of the Capitol yesterday … this is the first I'm hearing about it," Kennedy said.
🗨️ Follow today's live blog
💻 Watch the hearing 📹 Protesters outside the building |
Want to hear Monarez's side of the story?: |
Newly ousted CDC Director Susan Monarez published an op-ed in The Wall Street Journal today, explaining her side of things. The newsiest part: Monarez says she was pressured in a meeting with HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. "to preapprove the recommendations of a vaccine advisory panel newly filled with people who have publicly expressed antivaccine rhetoric." Excerpt: "Those seeking to undermine vaccines use a familiar playbook: discredit research, weaken advisory committees, and use manipulated outcomes to unravel protections that generations of families have relied on to keep deadly diseases at bay. Once trusted experts are removed and advisory bodies are stacked, the results are predetermined. That isn't reform. It is sabotage." Read her perspective: 'Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the CDC and Me: I was fired after 29 days because I held the line and insisted on rigorous scientific review." 🚨 At the hearing — RFK Jr. accuses her of lying in this op-ed: Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) asked Kennedy whether Monarez was directed to preapprove the vaccine advisory panel's recommendations. "No, I did not say that to her," Kennedy responded. "So she's lying today to the American people in The Wall Street Journal?" Wyden asked. "Yes, sir," replied Kennedy. |
➤ WANT YOUR COVID-19 BOOSTER THIS FALL?: |
Here's a guide on who is eligible for COVID-19, flu and RSV vaccines this fall. |
There will be hundreds of billions of dollars in the White House today: |
President Trump is hosting a dinner in the newly renovated Rose Garden this evening for two dozen high-profile tech and business leaders. The Hill exclusively obtained the invite list: The guest list includes Meta founder Mark Zuckerberg, Apple CEO Tim Cook, Microsoft founder Bill Gates and OpenAI founder Sam Altman. 📝 List of who else got the invite Timing: Tech leaders are expected to attend first lady Melania Trump's AI White House event this afternoon. 📸 The new Rose Garden |
Stephen Miran, who is President Trump's latest potential addition to the Federal Reserve board of governors, is testifying today for his confirmation hearing. How's it going?: Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) grilled Miran on the 2020 election results and job data claims. He sidestepped. Read more The seat Trump wants Miran to have: Miran would serve the remainder of the term for the seat vacated last month by former Fed board member Adriana Kugler. 💻 Watch the confirmation hearing |
➤ SPEAKING OF THE FED — THE DOJ LAUNCHED A CRIMINAL PROBE: |
The Justice Department (DOJ) has opened a criminal investigation into Federal Reserve board member Lisa Cook on whether she committed mortgage fraud, according to The Wall Street Journal. How do you know Cook's name?: President Trump has been trying to fire her over allegations from an ally that she submitted fraudulent information when applying for two mortgages. Cook sued, insisting Trump cannot fire her. |
DC is lovely this time of year: | President Trump's deployment of Washington National Guard troops to patrol the District of Columbia has been extended through December, according to several news outlets. NEW UPDATE: "The attorney general for Washington, D.C., has sued the Trump administration over the deployment of National Guard troops throughout the city amid its crackdown on local crime." |
- Italian fashion designer Giorgio Armani has died at the age of 91.
- Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) compared the current political climate to that of the 1930s. His two examples: tariffs and foreign policy.
- Layoffs surged 40 percent in August, the highest since the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.
- Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett is publishing her memoir next week. CNN reports that in her book, she defends overturning Roe v. Wade. This CNN report has been getting a lot of attention this week.
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The Atlantic: The MAGA Influencers Rehabilitating Hitler: A growing constituency on the right wants America to unlearn the lessons of World War II. The New York Times: Chinese Cyberattack May Have Stolen Data From Almost Every American The Wall Street Journal: McDonald's Escalates Restaurant Industry's Fight Over Tipping |
Trump and Newsom are in a meme war right now: |
I just thought you should know… President Trump and California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) have been mocking each other in a flurry of online posts in the past 24 hours. Some examples: |
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The House and Senate are in. President Trump is in Washington. (All times EST) |
1 p.m.: First lady Melania Trump holds a meeting of the White House Task Force on AI Education. 💻 Livestream
7:30 p.m.: Trump hosts a dinner in the Rose Garden.
8:30 a.m. Friday: The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) will unveil its monthly jobs report. Keep in mind: This will be the first since Trump fired its leader in response to weak employment data for July.
This week: Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) is in Ottawa, Canada, to meet with other G7 countries and Ukraine, per CTV. |
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