{"id":1980126,"date":"2023-07-22T04:08:02","date_gmt":"2023-07-22T08:08:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/highlights-from-rfk-jr-s-house-testimony-on-censorship\/"},"modified":"2023-07-22T04:09:48","modified_gmt":"2023-07-22T08:09:48","slug":"highlights-from-rfk-jr-s-house-testimony-on-censorship","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/highlights-from-rfk-jr-s-house-testimony-on-censorship\/","title":{"rendered":"Key points from RFK Jr.&#8217;s testimony on censorship at his house."},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">22<\/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%2Fhighlights-from-rfk-jr-s-house-testimony-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=1980126&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\/0722\/742a5efb-fb1c-43ee-bf38-196aa6c08ac0\/audio.mp3?length=10512621&#038;duration=876\"><\/div>\n<\/p>\n<p>A July \u206320 House Judiciary Committee \u200bhearing examining\u2063 the\u200b federal government\u2019s role in censoring Americans Democrats was marked by explosive \u2064exchanges between Democrats\u2063 and\u2063 Republicans about Robert F. Kennedy Jr.\u2019s comments on vaccines and the COVID-19 pandemic.<\/p>\n<p>The forum also included discussion about <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/highlights-from-rfk-jr-s-house-testimony-on-censorship\/\" title=\"Key points from RFK Jr.'s testimony on censorship at his house.\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/ga-poll-watcher-it-expert-non-trump-supporter-affidavit-sudden-surge-of-20000-mail-in-votes-for-biden-in-early-hours-on-nov\/\" title=\"GA Poll Watcher, IT Expert, Non-Trump Supporter Affidavit: Sudden Surge of 20,000 Mail-In-Votes For Biden In Early Hours On Nov\">social media companies<\/a>\u2019 handling<\/a> of the Hunter Biden laptop story and government efforts to work \u2062with social media companies to remove \u201cdisinformation\u201d and \u201cmisinformation.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Mr. Kennedy, who\u2062 is challenging President Joe \u2064Biden for \u200bthe party\u2019s 2024\u200b nomination, was a star witness at the hearing on the weaponization \u2063of the federal \u2064government.<\/p>\n<p>Republicans defended Mr. Kennedy and charged the Democrats\u2019 outcry over his presence at the hearing as\u200c \u201ccensorship.\u201d Democrats criticized\u2063 Republicans for giving \u2063Mr. Kennedy a \u201cmegaphone\u201d to \u2063talk\u2064 about his views on vaccines.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_5415830\" style=\"width: 640px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\">\n\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/img.theepochtimes.com\/assets\/uploads\/2023\/07\/22\/id5415830-GettyImages-1544255547-1200x800.jpg\"><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\"><noscript><\/noscript><\/figcaption><\/a><\/p>\n<p>\t\tRobert \u2063Kennedy Jr.,\u2064 2024 presidential hopeful, testifies at the \u201cWeaponization of the\u2062 Federal Government\u201d\u2063 hearing on Capitol Hill\u2062 in Washington on July 20, 2023. (Jim\u2063 Watson\/AFP \u2062via Getty \u2062Images)<br \/>\n\t<\/figure>\n<p>Here are six key highlights from the hearing:<\/p>\n<h2>Attempt\u200b to \u2018Censor \u2063a Censorship Hearing\u2019<\/h2>\n<p>Rep. Jim Jordan \u200b(R-Ohio) is the House\u2063 Judiciary Committee chair, and in\u200c the \u200blead-up to \u200bthe hearing, House Democrats urged him to\u200d cancel Mr. Kennedy\u2019s \u200dtestimony.<\/p>\n<p>In a secretly recorded video\u200c last week, Mr. Kennedy was heard describing how research showed\u200d COVID-19 \u200dvirus disproportionately affected \u2062Caucasian and black people\u2062 while\u2064 being comparably mild for Ashkenazi Jews and Chinese people, who Mr. Kennedy\u200d suggested had a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/new-york-city-san-francisco-buck-federal-bureaucrats-on-monkeypox\/\" title=\"New York City, San Francisco Buck Federal Bureaucrats on Monkeypox\">stronger immune response<\/a> \u2064to the virus. Mr. Kennedy also \u200bmentioned how bioweapons \u2062could potentially be designed to harm certain\u200b ethnic groups over others.<\/p>\n<p>Democrats and other Mr. Kennedy critics condemned the comments as \u201cracist\u201d and \u201cantisemitic.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>On Twitter, \u2064Mr. Kennedy \u2063said he \u201cnever, \u200cever suggested that the COVID-19 virus was \u200dtargeted to spare Jews\u201d and called for a newspaper\u200b article on the video that he said was \u201cfalse, underhanded, and inflammatory\u201d to be <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/RobertKennedyJr\/status\/1680585948009046016\">retracted<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>In her opening remarks, Ranking \u200bMember Delegate \u200cStacey Plaskett (D-V.I.) accused \u200ccommittee \u200bRepublicans of giving\u2064 a platform to \u201chateful, evidence-free rhetoric\u201d\u200b and \u201cconspiracy theories.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Ms. Plaskett said she was \u201cappalled\u201d that \u201cwe are creating a\u2063 platform for this \u200bkind of discussion\u2014not \u200dabout free speech\u200c \u2026 but the content of\u2064 some of that\u2062 speech that we are amplifying in this\u200c room.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Mr. Kennedy\u2019s alleged endorsement of a video \u200ccomparing the COVID vaccine to the Tuskegee experiments on black\u2062 people \u201cmanipulates and preys\u201d on \u2064black people\u2019s \u200bfeelings about the issue, Ms. Plaskett said.<\/p>\n<p>Mr. Kennedy was indirectly promoting eugenicist and racial science ideas about black people by raising alarms about the safety and efficacy of vaccines, she suggested.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_5415826\" style=\"width: 640px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\">\n\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/img.theepochtimes.com\/assets\/uploads\/2023\/07\/22\/id5415826-GettyImages-1491300581-1200x800.jpg\"><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\"><noscript><\/noscript><\/figcaption><\/a><\/p>\n<p>\t\tRanking member Rep. Stacey Plaskett\u200d (D-V.I.), right, debates with Chairman Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), left, during \u200da hearing before the Select Subcommittee on \u200cthe Weaponization of the Federal \u2062Government of the House Judiciary\u2063 Committee at Rayburn House\u2062 Office Building, Capitol Hill in\u2062 Washington on May 18, 2023. (Alex Wong\/Getty\u200d Images)<br \/>\n\t<\/figure>\n<p>During later questioning, Mr. Kennedy replied that \u2063Ms.\u200b Plaskett\u2019s remarks were\u2062 defamatory and \u201csimply inaccurate.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Ms. Plaskett interrupted as Mr. Kennedy defended himself.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s the witness\u2019s time, please don\u2019t censor him,\u201d Mr. Massie\u2062 interjected.<\/p>\n<p>Mr. Kennedy agreed with Ms. Plaskett during his opening remarks that it was\u200d an \u201cimportant point\u201d to mention\u200c that \u201cthis body ought\u2063 to be\u200d concerning itself\u2064 with\u200d issues that impact directly the American people: the rising price of groceries, the war in Ukraine, inflation issues, border issues, many, many other issues that affect us as \u2064a nation.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe can\u2019t do that \u200dwithout the First Amendment, without\u200c debate,\u201d Mr. Kennedy\u2064 added.<\/p>\n<p>As an example, Mr. Kennedy said, YouTube removed his speech\u200c announcing his run \u200dfor president.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u200c didn\u2019t talk about vaccines in\u200c that speech, I didn\u2019t \u2062talk about anything that was a verboten subject,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cDebate\u2014congenial, respectful debate\u2014is the fertilizer, it\u2019s the water, it\u2019s the sunlight for our \u200bdemocracy,\u201d Mr. Kennedy added.<\/p>\n<p>Mr. Kennedy also referenced a copy of the letter signed by \u2062fellow Democrats calling \u200bfor his appearance before Congress to be canceled.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis itself is evidence of the problem this hearing was meant to address,\u201d Mr. Kennedy said. \u201cThis is \u2062an attempt to censor a censorship hearing.\u201d<\/p>\n<h2><strong>RFK Jr.\u2019s Time Cut\u2063 to Five Minutes<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>After Mr. \u2064Kennedy and other witnesses were sworn in,\u200c Democrats called for the\u2062 time given to Mr. Kennedy during his opening\u200b statement to be\u200c reduced from 10 minutes\u2063 to five minutes.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIs it 10 or five?\u201d Ms. Plaskett asked Mr. Jordan \u200cas Mr. Kennedy \u2064started to speak.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe\u2019s gonna go a little longer,\u201d Mr. Jordan replied.<\/p>\n<p>Ms. Plaskett introduced a point of order demanding that Mr. Kennedy have his time slashed in half to follow standard procedure.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI know that\u200b witnesses usually\u200d have \u200cfive minutes; I\u2063 see 10 minutes on the board. Is\u2063 it going to be 10 minutes?\u201d she asked.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019ll give him five minutes, but we\u2019re pretty lax with this\u2014\u201d Mr. Jordan began.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe are?\u201d Ms. Plaskett responded. \u201cI\u2019ve seen you pound\u200b the gavel \u200ddown on quite a number\u200b of witnesses.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Mr. Jordan responded that the committee often\u200b allows lawmakers and former legislators to speak for a longer time.<\/p>\n<p>Ms. Plaskett said, \u201cHe\u2019s\u200b neither.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Mr. Jordan approved the point of\u200d order and said, \u201cWe\u2019ll give him five minutes. And if you wanna cut him \u200boff and censor him some more, you\u2019re \u2062welcome to do \u200bit.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOh, that\u2019s not my job,\u201d \u200dMs. Plaskett responded. \u201cThat\u2019s\u200c your job. Why don\u2019t you threaten the \u2063witness so that they do not want to be a witness?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Ms. Plaskett ultimately \u200callowed Mr. Kennedy to go over the allotted time in \u2062his remarks.<\/p>\n<h2>Motion Made to \u2063Remove RFK Jr.\u2019s Public\u2062 Testimony<\/h2>\n<p>Discarding \u200chis prepared statement and speaking extemporaneously, Mr.\u2062 Kennedy addressed charges of racism \u200dand \u2064anti-Semitism in his \u2063opening remarks.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIn my entire life, I have never uttered a phrase that was racist or anti-Semitic,\u201d he said, citing his record \u2064of support for Israel.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI have\u2064 fought more ferociously for Israel than anybody, but I am being censored here through\u2063 this target, through smears, through\u200c misinterpretations of what I\u2019ve said, through lies, through association, which is a tactic that we thought had all been dispensed with since \u2026 the McCarthy hearings of the 1950s,\u201d Mr.\u2064 Kennedy added.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_5413324\" style=\"width: 640px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\">\n\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/img.theepochtimes.com\/assets\/uploads\/2023\/07\/21\/id5413324-Robert-F.-Kennedy-Jr.-GettyImages-1558591614-1200x800.jpg\"><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\"><noscript><\/noscript><\/figcaption><\/a><\/p>\n<p>\t\tDemocratic presidential candidate\u200d Robert F. Kennedy\u2062 Jr. speaks during hearing \u200cwith\u200d the \u2062House\u200d Judiciary Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government on Capitol Hill in Washington on July 20, 2023. (Anna Moneymaker\/Getty\u2064 Images)<br \/>\n\t<\/figure>\n<p>After Mr. Kennedy\u2019s opening remarks, Rep. Debbie Wasserman\u200d Schultz (D-Fla.) made\u2063 a motion to\u2064 move the hearing\u2064 into executive session, which \u2063would have closed the hearing from \u2064public 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 a section of House rules\u200c that she said Mr. Kennedy\u2019s comments violated.<\/p>\n<p>Under the rules, a committee can move into executive\u2064 session if \u2062public airing of the\u2062 testimony \u200d\u201cwould tend to defame, degrade, or incriminate any person, or otherwise would\u2064 violate a law or rule of the \u2063House.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Mr. Kennedy\u2019s comments about COVID constituted a violation of these rules, Ms. Wasserman-Schultz said.<\/p>\n<p>She read\u2063 the alleged remarks made by Mr. Kennedy, who has said they were taken out of context to defame him until Mr. Jordan interjected, \u201cIs the \u200dgentlelady making a motion \u2063or a speech?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) asked \u2064to shelve the motion before Ms. Wasserman-Schultz finished speaking.<\/p>\n<p>In a recorded vote, all 10 Republicans present at the \u2063hearing voted\u2062 to shelve Ms. Wasserman-Schultz\u2019s motion.\u200b All eight Democrats present voted against it.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYes, to not censor,\u201d Mr. Massie said when\u2064 asked for his vote.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNo to allowing a\u2064 witness to violate the \u200crules and not have his testimony and degradation\u2062 amplified,\u201d Ms. Wasserman-Schultz said.<\/p>\n<p>Rep. Daniel Goldman (D-N.Y.) said he was voting \u201cNo\u2063 to hate speech.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Ahead of his vote, Rep. Mike Johnson (R-La.)\u2062 asked, \u201cIs it the\u2063 custom of this committee to censor viewpoints we disagree with?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Mr. Massie said later in the\u2064 hearing that \u201cthe irony and cognitive dissonance from the other side of the aisle\u200c is deafening.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis is a hearing on censorship that began with an effort, with a formal \u200dmotion from the other side of the aisle \u200cto \u200bcensor Mr. Kennedy,\u201d he\u200d explained.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_5032354\" style=\"width: 640px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\">\n\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/img.theepochtimes.com\/assets\/uploads\/2023\/02\/03\/Thomas-Massie_fed-1200x800.jpg\"><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\"><noscript><\/noscript><\/figcaption><\/a><\/p>\n<p>\t\tRep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) speaks at\u200d a House Second\u2062 Amendment Caucus press conference at the U.S. \u200bCapitol in Washington\u2062 on June 8, 2022. (Kevin Dietsch\/Getty Images)<br \/>\n\t<\/figure>\n<p>Mr. Massie \u200badded that the testimony he heard \u200braised concerns \u200bthat\u2064 certain political candidates will \u2063be prevented\u2064 from communicating with the public.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis administration, and the people who\u2019ve been there, frankly before this administration took \u200doffice, they\u2019re just hostile\u200b to free speech. \u200bAnd\u2064 they\u2019ve instituted ways that \u2064they think are getting around the law,\u200c but they\u2019re unconstitutional,\u201d Mr. Massie said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cTheir ways of censoring speech, \u2063they lean\u2064 on\u200d private companies because they know the\u2064 government \u200bitself cannot do it constitutionally,\u201d Mr.\u200c Massie told NTD after the hearing. \u201cBut I would argue that \u200cconstructively, by doing those things, \u2064leaning on private institutions to censor, they are violating the\u200c Constitution. And I am worried that we\u2019re going to have a hard time in \u200dthis\u2063 election cycle \u2064for everybody to get their message out.\u201d<\/p>\n<h2>Subject to \u2018Targeted \u200cPropaganda\u2019<\/h2>\n<p>Mr. Kennedy, in his opening remarks, \u2063chastised the Democrats\u2019 efforts\u200c to censor his speech and to deter his presidential campaign.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cCensorship is antithetical to\u2064 our party,\u201d he said. \u201cIt was appalling to my father, to \u200bmy uncle, to FDR, to Harry Truman, to Thomas Jefferson, as the chairman referred to. It is the\u200c basis for \u2063democracy.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe First Amendment was not\u2062 written for easy\u200d speech,\u201d he added. \u201cIt was written for the\u200d speech that nobody likes you for.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Three days into the start of Joe Biden\u2019s presidency, emails show \u200dthe Biden\u2062 administrat<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The July 20 House Judiciary Committee hearing sparked heated debates between Democrats and Republicans over Robert F. Kennedy Jr.&#8217;s views on vaccines and COVID-19. The session also addressed social media companies&#8217; treatment of the Hunter Biden laptop story and government involvement in censoring Americans.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":492,"featured_media":1980127,"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-1980126","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\/1980126","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\/492"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1980126"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1980126\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1980127"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1980126"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1980126"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1980126"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}