Billionaire Howard Lutnick said anti-vaxxer and Trump ally Robert F Kennedy Jr. wants to get "the data" to help him pull vaccines.

Per anti-vax conspiracy theorist RFK, Jr., Trump promised him control of our public Health agencies in deal for him to drop out and endorse Trump.

  • leadore@lemmy.worldOP
    28·
    10 hours ago

    Some excerpts:

    The co-chair of Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump’s transition team promoted the debunked theory that vaccines cause autism in a CNN interview Wednesday. He also said Trump ally Robert F. Kennedy Jr., hopes to get “data” through a Trump administration to have vaccines pulled “off the market.”

    Kennedy told supporters earlier this week that Trump had promised to give him “control” over key public health agencies like the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

    “The key that I think I’m — you know, that President Trump has promised me is — is control of the public health agencies,” Kennedy said in a livestream, video of which CNN obtained. He cited the Department of Health and Human Services, the Food and Drug Administration and the National Institutes of Health, among others."

    • lemmy_user_838586@lemmy.world
      41·
      10 hours ago

      Even the normal stuff they say isn’t normal. No CEO comes into a company and is like “hey, I heard I was promised to have total control of this company!” They say “I’m hoping to be effective leader and hope together we can, blah, blah, blah”

      No sane person comes into a position like that and says the quiet part out loud “day 1, I was promised total control of public health agencies!”

      Very weird indeed.

      • zephorah@lemm.ee
        15·
        9 hours ago

        There an Ezra Klein interview with Maggie Haberman, who has followed trump closely from the start in which she says leading the American people is not what he’s interested in. The constitution and rule of law is not what he’s interested in. It’s power. He’s not keen to dive into those other two things.

        He’s also way more erratic and impulsive since getting shot at.

        • lemmy_user_838586@lemmy.world
          9·
          9 hours ago

          Lol yah, its clear they all want to be dictators, ya know who says, “I was promised total control?” Dictators.

          I was just leaning into the ‘weird’ framing, since they seem to fucking hate it.

    • ReallyActuallyFrankenstein@lemmynsfw.comEnglish
      16·
      9 hours ago

      Also, have we talked yet about how RFK appears to have nearly - if not fully - admitted to illegal corruption?

      Sorry to link to a PDF, but see p.8 of this government summary of corruption law: https://crsreports.congress.gov/product/pdf/R/R44447/9

      While supporting a candidate is not illegal, and nor is offering financially valuable support if within limits or through a super PAC, providing value in exchange for a government position - quid pro quo - is illegal. RFK’s exchange of value is not merely supporting Trump, but actively trying to remove himself from the ballot in swing states to materially alter the election. Not illegal except it appears RFK has just admitted he was promised a position in Trump’s administration.

      So how do we know it’s quid pro quo? We know leaks before RFK’s endorsement were that he was shopping himself to the Harris and Trump campaigns. He didn’t explicitly say “in exchange for,” but it’s almost certain that’s what happened, and that there are witnesses to it who could testify or be subpoenaed.

      • jaybone@lemmy.world
        4·
        4 hours ago

        That’s what Trump publicly promised Musk, a position. So if it’s really illegal no one is doing shit about it.

        • ReallyActuallyFrankenstein@lemmynsfw.comEnglish
          4·
          4 hours ago

          That’s an excellent point, and since we know Musk has spent over $100 million so far trying to get Trump elected, it’s a lot easier case to make (if there really was a quid pro quo promise made).