Robert F. Kennedy Jr., President Donald Trump's choice to be Secretary of Health and Human Services, appears before the Senate Finance Committee for his confirmation hearing at the Capitol in Washington, Wednesday, Jan. 29, 2025. (J. Scott Applewhite)
"Americans are going to need to hear a clear and trustworthy recantation of what you have said on vaccinations, including a promise from you never to say vaccines aren't medically safe when they, in fact, are, and making indisputably clear that you support mandatory vaccinations against diseases that will keep people safe," Whitehouse said during the hearing. "You're in that hole pretty deep."
Whitehouse then referenced a recent measles outbreak in Rhode Island as he pressed Kennedy on his vaccine stance.
"Frankly, you frighten people," Whitehouse told the Trump nominee.
However, Kennedy pushed back on the claims that he is anti-vaccine, noting that all his children are vaccinated.
Kennedy's Senate confirmation hearing was disrupted by several protesters who snuck into the Senate Finance Committee hearing room.
After Kennedy told lawmakers that he is not against vaccines, one protester stood up and was heard shouting, "You lie."
Howard Lutnick, who was introduced by Vice President JD Vance, shared an emotional story about his brother being tragically killed during the 9/11 terrorist attacks in New York City.
Lutnick's brother, Gary, was tragically killed while working at the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001, along with 657 of the Lutnick brothers' friends at their financial firm, Cantor Fitzgerald, the commerce nominee described during the hearing.
Lutnick said that he took his son to kindergarten that day, sparing his life.
Georgia Democratic Senate candidate Raphael Warnock speaks onstage during the ‘Vote GA Blue’ concert on Dec. 28, 2020, in Stonecrest, Georgia. (Paras Griffin)
"You compared the CDC work to Nazi death camps. You've compared it to sexual abusers in the Catholic Church. You've also said that many of them, as in the direct quote, belong in jail," Warnock said during the hearing on Wednesday.
Asked if he stands by the statements, Kennedy refuted the claim.
"I don't believe that I ever compared the CDC to Nazi death camps. I support the CDC. My job is not to dismantle or harm the CDC. My job is to empower the scientists," Kennedy said. "I never said it."
Warnock read a transcript of Kennedy's remarks at a conference making the reference, but the HHS nominee further defended the intent of his statement.
"I was comparing the injury rate of children towards other atrocities," Kennedy said. "I wouldn't compare the CDC to Nazi death camps."
SBA pick Kelly Loeffler got into a heated exchange with a member of the Senate Small Business and Entrepreneurship Committee while defending Trump against Democratic claims that he "acted illegally" twice in the past week.
"The president has already acted illegally twice in the last 5 days. He fired the inspectors general. That was illegal, under the law. He froze all funding on Monday night. That was also against the law," Sen. Ed Markey of Massachusetts claimed during his questioning of Loeffler.
Sen. Kelly Loeffler, R-Ga., waits for Vice President Mike Pence to arrive for her swear-in reenactment for the cameras in the Capitol on Monday, Jan. 6, 2020. (Getty Images)
"So it's not as though he won't ask you to do something that is illegal and unconstitutional, he's been doing it all week. And this is the first week," he added.
However, Loeffler immediately came to the defense of Trump and doubled down on her support of the president's recent actions.
"If I could just, for the record, note that these were not illegal actions," Loeffler told the committee. "I support the president's actions. It's in his right to select members of the executive branch, that's what he's doing. And he's certainly in the right to stop wastefully spending as most presidents do when they come in to pause wasteful spending."
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Markey began speaking over Loeffler as she defended the president before changing the subject.
Fox News' Emma Woodhead contributed to this report.
Aubrie Spady is a Writer for Fox News Digital.
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/you-frighten-people-top-5-most-memorable-moments-from-wednesdays-trump-nominee-hearings