HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. lashed out at CNN's Dana Bash like a rabid dog when she tried to pin him down on his autism claims that have caused so much vaccine hesitancy in America.
During the latter part of what was over a 20 minute interview, during most of which Kennedy berated Bash and told more lies about Dr. Anthony Fauci and the handling of the COVID-19 pandemic, Bash asked Kennedy about his attempts to link vaccinations and autism, and after she attempted to fact check him, citing the head of the Committee of Infectious Diseases for the American Academy of Pediatrics, who said there have been over 40 studies which concluded that there is not link between the two, Kennedy lost it.
BASH: So you are using -- you are actually looking at -- you're starting new studies to try to link autism, but you're also telling me...
KENNEDY: I'm not trying to link autism to anything. I'm trying to find out, why has autism gone from...
(CROSSTALK)
BASH: Are you also trying to find out how it interacts with people's DNA, what's predisposed to have an autistic child? Are you doing both?
KENNEDY: Yes.
But, Dana, you probably don't understand this because you're not a scientist.
BASH: Well, you're not either.
KENNEDY: But genes don't cause -- genes don't cause epidemics.
BASH: I understand. Genes -- epidemics?
KENNEDY: They can provide a vulnerability, but you need environmental exposure.
(CROSSTALK)
BASH: Environmental. That's what I'm asking. Are you studying the environmental exposure?
KENNEDY: We're looking at all the different environmental exposures.
But your statement -- you have been fooled. Your statement that this has been studied is not true. It's categorically not true, not for any of the study.
(CROSSTALK)
BASH: It is considered decided.
KENNEDY: Considered by who?
BASH: By every scientist who has studied this.
KENNEDY: That is not true.
BASH: It is true.
KENNEDY: I can give you hundreds of scientists who have looked at this and say, why is the...
(CROSSTALK)
BASH: So, on the one hand, you are -- do you understand why people aren't getting...
(CROSSTALK)
KENNEDY: This is the National Academy of Sciences. What greater authority do...
(CROSSTALK)
BASH: Do you understand why people are not getting measles vaccines? Because they're hearing you say that it could cause autism.
KENNEDY: You're trying to change the subject.
BASH: I'm not. It's very much related.
KENNEDY: And, look, show me one of the studies that's been done on the first eight -- the vaccines during the first six months of life. You will not find them.
The National Academy of Sciences states they do not exist.
BASH: So, if that's the case, then why are you telling people to get the measles vaccine?
KENNEDY: If people -- because that is one of the vaccines that has been studied.
BASH: OK.
KENNEDY: It's the only one that has been studied.
BASH: Do you want people to get the MMR vaccine?
KENNEDY: Yes, I said that already.
BASH: OK.
KENNEDY: So I know you're flustered now, and it is...
BASH: I don't -- I'm not flustered at all.
KENNEDY: It is frustrating because people...
(CROSSTALK)
BASH: I am frustrated. The reason I'm frustrated is because I -- you are the HHS secretary, and you are talking about things that lead to vaccine hesitancy in this country.
And it is something that causes problems for people, when there is not anything...
(CROSSTALK)
KENNEDY: Let me ask you something. Do you see your job as ending vaccine hesitancy, or do you see your job as telling the truth to the American people?
BASH: I see my job as telling the truth.
And the truth is that there is study after study after study. It's one of the most studied things out there in science.
KENNEDY: You're repeating it like a parrot. You're repeating it like a parrot.
BASH: So are you.
KENNEDY: I have actually read the science. Let's...
(CROSSTALK)
BASH: You don't want to...
KENNEDY: Let's you and I come back here and debate the science.
BASH: I don't -- I'm not debating this with you.
KENNEDY: Of course you won't.
BASH: No, because I'm not...
(CROSSTALK)
KENNEDY: All you know how to do is repeat things that people told you and say, trust the experts.
That's what you did during COVID. Now we know that Anthony Fauci, who was the expert, was lying about everything, about masks, about the social distancing, about natural immunity, about the transmission from the vaccine, about the source of COVID.
He was lying, and you were punishing people for not trusting the experts. And now you're rolling out the experts again...
BASH: Yes.
KENNEDY: ... to talk about something that you have no personal knowledge of.
BASH: OK. Well, guess what? That is my job to talk to people.
KENNEDY: Your job is to tell the truth to the American public...
BASH: Am I allowed to talk? Yes, yes. And my job is to get as much information as I can.
KENNEDY: ... and to maintain a posture of fierce skepticism toward government authority.
BASH: What we were doing in COVID and still, with regard to these vaccines, is getting the best information, the best science that we can and putting it out there.
And, sir, you what you are doing is causing information to be out there that is not accurate.(CROSSTALK)
KENNEDY: ... lying to you, who is lying to you.
BASH: The National Academy of Sciences, which you just cited, in November, said: "We support the statement that vaccines do not cause autism." This is the National Academy of Sciences that you just talked about.
KENNEDY: The National -- look at the National Academy of Sciences' most recent report.
BASH: OK.
The whole thing was nasty and painful to listen to.
I agree with Mehdi Hasan:
This is painful to watch. If you’re gonna have RFK Jr on to talk vaccines and Covid you have to be better prepared and you have to be ready to go on the offensive, not defensive. He knows what buttons to push and what BS claims to make, you have to have receipts ready.
Sigh. https://t.co/ekL89gnrPI— Mehdi Hasan (@mehdirhasan) August 2, 2026
Here's the entire fiasco:
😳 RFK Jr's epic CNN crashout 😳
Dana Bash pressed RFK Jr on Trump's culpability for mishandling covid and the misinformation he pushes about vaccines, and the segment wound down with him getting mad and barking at her like a rabid dog
Here's the full thing: pic.twitter.com/Bucrkxm7np— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) August 2, 2026
