Robert F. Kennedy Jr. launched a blistering attack on a New York Times reporter following a critical article that depicted the Health and Human Services secretary as disconnected from the agencies under his purview.
Report Claims Kennedy Lacks Engagement
The article, penned by Sheryl Gay Stolberg, stated that “Mr. Kennedy has shown little interest in managing the details of work in his department, according to multiple colleagues.” Instead, the report alleged, he is “single-mindedly focused on his top priorities, including food recommendations and pesticide exposures, and hunting for evidence to support his long-held beliefs that vaccines are harmful.”
Kennedy took to X to denounce the piece as “unfair, inimical, and inaccurate.” He challenged the reporter to examine his publicly available calendar and his list of accomplishments. “All one needs to refute your argument is to glance at my publicly available calendar and to review my unprecedented list of accomplishments on a wide range of issues, all of which I drove,” Kennedy wrote.
Feud Escalates Amid Department Turmoil
The clash between Kennedy and Stolberg comes amid a series of cuts and controversies within HHS. Under Kennedy’s leadership, several senior officials at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention departed due to vaccine policy changes. Last month, Dr. Marty Makary, President Donald Trump’s pick for the Food and Drug Administration, also resigned.
Stolberg’s report cited colleagues describing Kennedy as “checked out” and maintaining a low profile at department headquarters. One colleague alleged that Kennedy had visited the CDC headquarters only once since a shooting last August. Colleagues viewed him as “single-mindedly focused on his top priorities, including food recommendations and pesticide exposures, and hunting for evidence to support his long-held beliefs that vaccines are harmful.”
Kennedy disputed these claims, asserting that he is “active on every issue in every division of my department.” He also criticized the article for quoting HHS employees without disclosing whether they were among those he had fired, thus denying readers the chance to assess their credibility independently.
New York Times Defends Reporting
The New York Times defended Stolberg’s work in a statement, noting that the “article is based on conversations with a dozen people who have worked directly with Mr. Kennedy during his tenure as secretary.” The publication added that Kennedy declined an interview request and did not address detailed questions about his management approach before the report was published.
Kennedy responded by accusing the Times of employing “propagandists” and claimed that his department is well aware of the paper’s “predictable bias.” He wrote, “We at HHS are unwilling to talk to you about the topics that are important. The fact that you have minimal access to decision makers leaves you covering trivia and relying on your own capacity for invention.”
