{"id":1978905,"date":"2023-07-20T19:12:02","date_gmt":"2023-07-20T23:12:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/democrats-seek-to-censor-rfk-jr-during-hearing-on-censorship\/"},"modified":"2023-07-20T19:15:09","modified_gmt":"2023-07-20T23:15:09","slug":"democrats-seek-to-censor-rfk-jr-during-hearing-on-censorship","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/democrats-seek-to-censor-rfk-jr-during-hearing-on-censorship\/","title":{"rendered":"Democrats aim to silence RFK Jr. in censorship hearing."},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">18<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fdemocrats-seek-to-censor-rfk-jr-during-hearing-on-censorship%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1978905&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><div class=\"post_content\">\n<div class=\"aplayer_app\" data-source=\"https:\/\/vs1.youmaker.com\/assets\/2023\/0720\/d2642ae0-8b05-4fd6-bf0c-183560767c2a\/audio.mp3?length=9305325&#038;duration=775\"><\/div>\n<\/p>\n<p>Tempers ran high during \u200da chaotic July 20 hearing of \u2064the House Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the \u2064Federal Government, in which Robert F. Kennedy Jr. was the star witness.<\/p>\n<p>Mr. Kennedy, one of three declared candidates for the 2024 Democratic primary, along with President Joe Biden and author Marianne Williamson, has become anathema to others in\u2063 his party for his oppositional position on\u2063 COVID-19 policy and vaccine efficacy. The candidate, son of former Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy, has called for <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/rfk-jr-responds-to-democrat-attacks-at-weaponization-hearing\/\" title=\"RFK Jr. counters Democrat criticism during Weaponization Hearing.\">enhanced vaccine safety screening<\/a> and has expressed doubts about the business \u2062practices of the pharmaceutical industry as a whole.<\/p>\n<p>On July 20, House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim \u200bJordan\u2019s (R-Ohio) <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/in-senate-a-clash-on-whats-causing-energy-prices-to-spike\/\" title=\"In Senate, a Clash on What\u2019s Causing Energy Prices to Spike\">subcommittee heard testimony<\/a> from Mr. Kennedy in \u2062a hearing themed around \u2064reports of social media censorship in collusion with \u200cgovernment forces, which Mr. Kennedy says he\u200c has faced for challenging the official narrative about the pandemic and vaccines.<\/p>\n<p>Democrats \u2063spent much of \u2062the hearing seeking \u200dto discredit and de-platform Mr. Kennedy, citing remarks he made during an\u200c appearance in New York last week.<\/p>\n<p>In a secretly \u2064recorded video, Mr. Kennedy was heard \u2063describing research showed COVID-19 virus disproportionately affected\u2064 Caucasian and black people while being comparably mild for Ashkenazi Jews and Chinese \u2064people, who Mr. Kennedy suggested had a stronger immune \u200bresponse to the virus and were better able to fight it off. Mr. Kennedy\u2062 also discussed how bioweapons could potentially be designed with the intent \u2063to\u200b harm \u200bcertain ethnic groups over\u200b others.<\/p>\n<p>The comments nevertheless created a firestorm among Democrats and other Kennedy critics, who condemned the\u200c comments \u200das \u201cracist\u201d and \u201cantisemitic.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Prior to the hearing, several Democrats circulated a letter to Mr. \u2063Jordan asking for Mr.\u2064 Kennedy to be de-platformed from his scheduled\u200d testimony. Mr. Jordan, joined by Speaker of the House \u200cKevin McCarthy (R-Calif.)\u2063 dismissed those calls (<a href=\"https:\/\/static.politico.com\/c2\/16\/e95a1be041e3802923bf9d827899\/congressional-letter-to-jordan.pdf\">pdf<\/a>).<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe hearing\u200c that we have this week is about censorship,\u201d Mr. McCarthy told reporters when asked about the letter. \u201cI don\u2019t think censoring somebody is actually the answer here.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In her opening remarks, Ranking Member Delegate Stacey Plaskett (D-V.I.) accused the majority of giving a platform to \u201chateful, evidence-free rhetoric\u201d and \u201cconspiracy theories.\u201d<\/p>\n<h2>Democrats Slash RFK Opening Statement Time<\/h2>\n<p>After the effort failed to have Mr. Kennedy uninvited from the hearing, Democrats nevertheless spent a great deal of \u200btime during the hearing seeking to limit Mr. Kennedy\u2019s testimony and discredit\u2062 the president\u2019s most formidable challenger from within his party.<\/p>\n<p>As \u200dsoon as Mr. Kennedy and other witnesses were sworn \u200cin, Democrats made \u2064their first\u2063 point of order of the hearing, calling for \u2062the time given to \u2064Mr. Kennedy during his opening statement to be\u2064 slashed.<\/p>\n<p>Though five minutes is the standard time allotted for speakers in House\u200c hearings, the clock initially displayed 10 minutes for Mr. Kennedy, leading to a heated \u200dexchange over the matter between Mr. Jordan and Ms. Plaskett.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_5276406\" style=\"width: 600px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\">\n    <a href=\"https:\/\/img.theepochtimes.com\/assets\/uploads\/2023\/05\/18\/id5276406-GettyImages-1491300589-1200x800.jpg\"><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\"><noscript><\/noscript><\/figcaption><\/a><\/p>\n<p>    Ranking member Del. Stacey Plaskett (D-V.I.)\u200b (R) debates with Chairman Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) (L) during a hearing before the Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of \u200bthe Federal Government of \u200bthe \u2063House Judiciary Committee at Rayburn House Office Building on Capitol Hill in Washington on May 18, 2023. (Alex Wong\/Getty Images)<br \/>\n  <\/figure>\n<p>\u201cIs it ten or five?\u201d Ms. Plaskett could be\u2063 heard asking Mr. Jordan as Mr. \u200bKennedy began to speak.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe\u2019s gonna \u200dgo a little longer,\u201d Mr. Jordan replied.<\/p>\n<p>At that point, Ms.\u2064 Plaskett interrupted with a point of order, demanding that Mr. Kennedy have\u2062 his time slashed in half as per the standard procedure.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI know that witnesses \u200dusually have five minutes; I see 10\u2064 minutes on the board. Is it \u2064going \u200dto be 10 minutes?\u201d she \u2062asked.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019ll give him five minutes, but we\u2019re pretty\u2064 lax with this\u2014\u201d Mr. Jordan began.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe are?\u201d Ms.\u200c Plaskett interjected. \u201cI\u2019ve seen \u200dyou \u200dpound the gavel down on quite a number of witnesses.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Mr. Jordan\u2064 replied that he had given others, including Democrats, additional time to speak in the past when needed.<\/p>\n<p>Nevertheless, Mr. \u200dJordan acceded to the point of order, saying, \u201cWe\u2019ll\u200b give \u2062him five minutes. And if you wanna cut him off and \u200bcensor \u2064him\u200d some more, you\u2019re welcome to do it,\u201d\u200d prompting a \u200dripple \u2063of laughter from the audience.<\/p>\n<p>Despite her posturing, Ms.\u2063 Plaskett ultimately allowed Mr. Kennedy to go over time in his remarks.<\/p>\n<p>Discarding his prepared statement and speaking extemporaneously, Mr. Kennedy <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theepochtimes.com\/rfk-jr-responds-to-democrat-attacks-at-weaponization-hearing_5411489.html\">defended<\/a> himself from the charges of \u201cantisemitism\u201d and \u201cracism\u201d that had been \u2064hurled at him and\u2063 extolled \u200bthe importance of freedom of speech to American institutions.<\/p>\n<h2>Wasserman-Schultz Tries to End Hearing<\/h2>\n<p>As Mr. Kennedy finished his \u200copening remarks, receiving a round of applause from audience members, \u2062Rep. Debbie Wasserman-Schultz (D-Fla.) put \u2062forward another point of\u200d order, calling\u2063 for the hearing to be moved\u200d to executive session\u2014a move\u200d that would have closed the \u200dhearing off from the \u200dpublic view.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMr. Kennedy has <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/democrats-try-to-censor-robert-f-kennedy-jr-at-hearing-on-censorship\/\" title=\"Democrats attempt to silence Robert F. Kennedy Jr. during censorship hearing.\">repeatedly made despicable antisemitic<\/a> and anti-Asian remarks as recently as last week,\u201d Ms. Wasserman-Schultz said, citing an obscure interpretative section of \u200bHouse rules that she said Mr. Kennedy\u2019s remarks violated.<\/p>\n<p>That rule allows a committee to move into \u200bexecutive session if public airing of the testimony \u201cwould tend to defame, degrade, or\u200d incriminate any person, or otherwise would violate a law or rule of the House.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Ms. Wasserman-Schultz\u200b contended that Mr. Kennedy\u2019s comments about COVID constituted a violation of these rules.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_2275552\" style=\"width: 600px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\">\n    <a href=\"https:\/\/img.theepochtimes.com\/assets\/uploads\/2017\/08\/01\/GettyImages-653298026.jpg\"><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\"><noscript><\/noscript><\/figcaption><\/a><\/p>\n<p>    \u2064    Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.) at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport on \u200cMarch 14, 2017, in\u2064 Fort Lauderdale, Fla. (Joe Raedle\/Getty Images)<br \/>\n  <\/figure>\n<p>As Ms. Wasserman-Schultz read out the alleged remarks made by Mr. Kennedy, who has said they were taken out of context to defame him, Mr. Jordan interjected, \u201cIs \u200dthe gentlelady \u200cmaking a motion or a speech?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Before Ms. Wasserman-Schultz had finished speaking, Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) put forward a motion \u200bto shelve the motion.<\/p>\n<p>In a recorded\u2062 vote, all 10 Republicans present at\u2062 the hearing voted to shelve Ms. Wasserman-Schultz\u2019s motion, while all eight Democrats\u200d present voted against\u200d it.<\/p>\n<p>Mr. Massie said, \u201cYes, \u200dto not censor,\u201d when asked for his vote.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNo to allowing a witness to violate the rules and not have his testimony and degradation amplified,\u201d Ms. Wasserman-Schultz said.<\/p>\n<p>Rep. Gerry \u200bConnolly (D-Va.) said he was voting \u201cNo to \u200bthe\u200b Soviet Politburo,\u201d intimating that, by \u2062allowing Mr. Kennedy to speak in a public format, Congress\u200d was conducting itself in a similar\u200c fashion\u200b to the \u2064repressive central policy arm of the Soviet Union.<\/p>\n<p>Similarly, Rep. Daniel Goldman (D-N.Y.) said he was voting \u201cNo\u200b to hate speech.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIs it the custom of this committee to censor viewpoints we disagree with?\u201d Rep. Mike Johnson (R-La.) asked ahead of the vote.<\/p>\n<p>Later in the hearing, Mr. \u2064Massie said that \u201cthe irony and cognitive dissonance from the other side of the aisle\u2063 is deafening.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis is a hearing on censorship\u200c that began with an effort, with a\u200b formal motion from the other side of the aisle to censor\u2063 Mr. Kennedy.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou\u2064 can\u2019t make this stuff up,\u201d Mr. Johnson agreed.<\/p>\n<h2>Blocked From Citing Studies<\/h2>\n<p>Later, Ms. Wasserman-Schultz began her questioning by requesting again, as her party had earlier, that Mr. Kennedy\u2019s invitation\u200c to appear \u200bbe revoked \u201cdue to his repeated and very recent statements that spread dangerous \u200dand antisemitic conspiracy theories.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHis <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/democrats-seek-to-censor-rfk-jr-during-hearing-on-censorship\/\" title=\"Democrats aim to silence RFK Jr. in censorship hearing.\">reckless rhetoric helped fuel \u200dantisemitic incidents<\/a>, which\u2014for\u2062 the record\u2014are at the highest level in the United States since 1970,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<p>She suggested that Mr. Kennedy\u2019s earlier comments on the relative severity of the COVID virus across racial lines was comparable to \u200cclaims prevalent during the Middle Ages \u2063that Jews were responsible for diseases like the Black Death.<\/p>\n<p>But when Mr. Kennedy went to respond with a clarification of his earlier remarks, citing a\u2064 specific study funded by the National Institutes of Health which suggested\u2063 that there are\u200b indeed differen<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Tempers flared at a tumultuous July 20 hearing of the House Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government. Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a prominent witness, drew attention. As a 2024 Democratic primary candidate, alongside President Joe Biden and author Marianne Williamson, Kennedy has become widely disliked.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":57,"featured_media":1978906,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[543],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1978905","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-epoch-times"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1978905","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/57"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1978905"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1978905\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1978906"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1978905"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1978905"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1978905"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}