CNN political commentator Brad Todd said Friday that left-wing senators erred significantly in their handling of Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) nominee Robert F. Kennedy Jr. at his confirmation hearings.
Democratic Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren and Independent Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders both took an adversarial approach in their questioning of Kennedy, leading to heated exchanges. Todd, a Republican strategist, argued on “CNN This Morning,” that if they had instead embraced Kennedy and emphasized their shared positions, it could have made Republicans more hesitant to confirm him.
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“I think RFK Jr.’s hearing to me was the most entertaining, but it was a big mistake by Democrats. Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders made him more confirmable. There’s nobody who Republicans dislike more than Elizabeth Warren, and it’s for all the right reasons,” Todd said. “But she should have gone with RFK and said, ‘You know, look, I agree with you on abortion. I agree with you on affirmative action. I agree with you on guns. In fact, I like you more than any nominee [President] Donald Trump ever has.’”
“If she wanted to sink him, she should have hugged him. But she doesn’t get that. She wants to make sound bites for the left,” he continued. “And I know that … this is all theater for her. I thought that made that hearing a circus. Entertaining, but it maybe has strengthened RFK.”
CNN anchor Kasie Hunt asked Todd if Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee chair Bill Cassidy of Louisiana and other Republicans appeared inclined to vote against Kennedy’s confirmation.
“It’s possible. I think there are probably 10 to 15 Republicans who have real qualms with RFK Jr. Most of them have qualms because of his ideology. He’s been a liberal Democrat for most of his career,” Todd answered. “He’s closer to Elizabeth Warren than he is to Bill Cassidy on ideological questions. I don’t know … he has a following. He was additive in the campaign. He brought voters to Donald Trump. People are trying to be respectful of that, but they do have qualms about him.”
As Kennedy’s Thursday hearing concluded, Cassidy said that he was struggling to decide whether to support the nominee.
“My responsibility is to learn, to try to understand if you can be trusted to support the best public health: A worthy movement called MAHA to improve the health of Americans, or to undermine it, always asking for more evidence and never accepting the evidence that is there,” Cassidy said. “That’s my dilemma, man. So you may be hearing from me over the weekend.”
Kennedy had initially challenged former President Joe Biden for the 2024 Democratic nomination before announcing in October 2023 that he would run for president as an independent.
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