Robert F. Kennedy Jr. was challenged over whether he would work to remove Donald Trump from office if the president were found unfit to serve amid questions about his mental health.
The exchange on Capitol Hill escalated to a yelling match with Kennedy insisting that the president was the “most sane” after a series of bizarre posts in recent weeks from the 79-year-old president, including comparing himself to Jesus and threatening to wipe out a civilization.
“He’s very, very sane,” Kennedy insisted about Trump in a separate exchange later in the hearing.
According to a new book on the health and human services secretary, Kennedy wrote a diary entry about stopping his car on a New York highway in 2001 and cutting the penis from a roadkill raccoon while his children sat in the back.
“I was standing in front of my parked car on I-684 cutting the penis out of a road-killed raccoon, thinking about how weird some of my family members have turned out to be,” Kennedy wrote in his journal, according to the book, RFK Jr: The Fall and Rise.
On Friday, the health and human services secretary was being grilled by House members when he was asked about invoking the 25th Amendment.
Democratic Rep. Mark Takano brought up the subject while displaying a massive poster of Trump’s now-deleted post this week depicting himself as a Jesus-like figure.
“Should President Trump fail a mental fitness test, or an evaluation about his mental stability or emotional stability, would you vote to invoke the 25th Amendment?” Takano asked.
“There hasn’t been a president who is more sane,” Kennedy began before being cut off.
“Mr. Secretary, my question is, would you vote to invoke the 25th Amendment?” Takato shot back, but Kennedy kept speaking.
“Look at the video of President Biden this week. That’s who you were supporting,” Kennedy responded angrily, as the two spoke over each other.
Takano tried to reclaim his time for questioning, as Kennedy called Biden, who hasn’t been president for more than a year, delusional.
The California lawmaker, however, was not taking the bait and continued to repeat his question, again.
“As I said, President Trump is the most capable,” Kennedy started to respond, but Takano cut in with, “apparently not.”
“Mr. Secretary, we could all see that this president is mentally unstable and emotionally unstable and is unfit to lead this country,” Takano said. “You, as the nation’s top health official, have a particular role here, and you are choosing your loyalty to Donald Trump over your loyalty to the Constitution.”
It was the end of an intense exchange between the two men on Friday.
Before challenging Kennedy on invoking the 25th Amendment, Takano brought up Trump’s Easter Sunday Truth Social post, in which he demanded Iran “Open the F—n’ Strait."
“An American president used the F-word in a Sunday morning message that was seen by millions of people. Mr. Secretary, does this raise concerns for you about the president’s mental health?” Takano asked Kennedy.
“The president is a bargainer, and he knows how to make good deals,” Kennedy claimed.
When Takano repeated the question about Trump’s mental health, the secretary responded, “Here’s what I would say, that for two generations, every American president...,” but the Democratic lawmaker cut him off.
“I gather the answer, it does not raise concerns for you,” Takano said, before moving to another post.
The congressman then read Trump’s April 7 post that a “whole civilization will die tonight.”
“The commander-in-chief of the United States military is calling for the eradication of an entire civilization,” Takano observed.
He also noted Trump’s attacks on Pope Leo as well as his post of Trump depicting himself as Jesus. He told Kennedy that people around the world were “deeply offended by this blasphemous image.”
“Millions of Americans are questioning this president’s mental fitness, his emotional stability, and whether he could carry out the duties of the office,” Takano said. “Do you share their concerns about his mental health?”
Kennedy would not answer directly, and Takano cut him off again after the two kept speaking over one another.
The president’s mental fitness came up again later in the hearing when he was asked by Democratic Rep. John Mannion about his “most sane” claim about Trump.
Kennedy noted that in his post about ending civilization, Trump also wrote: “God Bless the Great People of Iran!“ The secretary claimed that the president was sending a ”nuanced message."
“You can look at it and say, ‘Oh, it’s insane that he’d make this kind of threat,’ but he’s a deal maker, he’s a bargainer,” Kennedy said.
Mannion followed up with, “More sane than your uncle?”
“He’s very, very sane,” Kennedy responded.
