民主党总统候选人小罗伯特·F·肯尼迪周四，他出现在一个众议院小组委员会面前，在一个关于审查的听证会上作证——但是正是他过去的评论招致了尖锐的指责肯尼迪试图为自己辩护。

在共和党领导的众议院司法委员会(House Judiciary Committee)下属的所谓政府“武器化”小组委员会面前作证时，肯尼迪否认他是种族主义者或反犹太主义者，因为周末他引用了一个错误的阴谋论，即新冠肺炎是“针对”某些族裔的，而中国人和欧洲裔犹太人则更不受影响。

肯尼迪告诉委员会，他“从未说过一句种族主义或反犹太主义的话”，尽管过去多次传播阴谋论和关于公共卫生问题的错误信息，但他坚称自己不反对疫苗接种。

“我受到这种新形式的审查，这种审查被称为有针对性的宣传，人们在宣传中使用‘反堕胎’等贬义词。”“我从来没有反对过疫苗，”他争辩道但是这个房间里的每个人可能都认为我是，因为这是普遍的说法。"

肯尼迪作证之前，102名民主党代表本周早些时候签署了一封信，反对他在委员会面前露面，引用了他的评论，这些评论被录制在视频和视频中由纽约邮报出版周六，该报称这是上周在纽约举行的新闻晚宴。

在《华盛顿邮报》获得的视频中，可以听到肯尼迪发表了一系列虚假和误导性的言论，包括他说，“我们不知道[新冠肺炎]是否是故意针对的，但有文件显示了种族或民族的差异和影响。”

“有一种说法认为这是针对种族的，”特别是针对白人和黑人，可以听到肯尼迪在视频中说。

2023年7月20日，民主党总统小罗伯特·F·肯尼迪在华盛顿特区国会山举行的联邦政府小组委员会听证会上宣读了效忠誓言，该听证会审查了密苏里诉拜登案。

乔纳森·恩斯特/路透社

世界各地的卫生官员已经确定，病毒不成比例地杀死了一些人群，不是因为他们的种族，而是因为潜在的健康不平等。

听证会有时变得有争议，委员会成员之间激烈交锋，一些尖锐的评论指向包括肯尼迪在内的证人;艾玛-乔·莫里斯，记者，她撰写了最初的，有争议的2020年《纽约邮报》关于亨特·拜登笔记本电脑的报道;路易斯安那州司法部的约翰·绍尔博士;以及公民权利和人权领袖会议主席兼首席执行官玛雅·威利。

美属维尔京群岛。该小组委员会的资深成员斯泰西·普拉斯克特(Stacey Plaskett)抨击了凯文·麦卡锡议长和该小组委员会主席、俄亥俄州共和党众议员吉姆·乔丹(Jim Jordan)，因为他们允许肯尼迪在他最近的新冠肺炎言论之后作证。

“他们故意选择提升这种言论，让这些有害、危险的观点在美国国会的大厅里有一个平台，”普拉斯克特说。“这是对那次演讲的认可。这不仅仅是支持言论自由。他们共同签署了愚蠢、偏执的信息。”

“这是一个自由的国家。你绝对有权利说出你的想法，”普拉斯克特说。“但你没有权利拥有一个平台，无论是公共的还是私人的。我们不需要给我们民主的最大平台之一——国会，这个听证会。我们的权利并不意味着我们作为美国人不能免除责任。”

然而，肯尼迪说，“第一修正案不是为了简单的演讲而写的。它是为没人喜欢你的演讲而写的。”

在肯尼迪的开场白之后，普拉斯克特试图将委员会带入执行会议-这在党派投票中失败了-同时声称肯尼迪违反了委员会的规则，因为他“最近在上周一再发表卑鄙的反犹太主义和反亚洲的言论。”

本周早些时候，麦卡锡谈到肯尼迪时说，“我不同意他所说的一切。我们这周的听证会是关于审查的。我不认为审查某人实际上是这里的答案。”

在他的证词中，肯尼迪声称其他民主党人基于他的观点试图让他保持沉默。

“我的一生都在这个派对中度过。我把我的一生都献给了这个政党的价值观，”他说。“这个——102个人签了这个。这本身就证明了召开这次听证会是为了解决这个问题。这是企图审查审查听证会，”肯尼迪说。

“我是民主党人。我相信这一切。如果你把我父亲相信的、他为之奋斗的、我叔叔相信的和为之奋斗的所有事情都列成一张清单，我会把每个框都勾选上，”他说，他指的是已故的参议员罗伯特·F·肯尼迪和前总统约翰·肯尼迪。“我觉得我的政党已经偏离了一些核心价值观。我想竞选总统的原因之一就是要夺回我的政党。”

来自民主党的反肯尼迪信件是由佛罗里达州众议员黛比·乏色曼-舒尔茨和纽约州众议员丹·戈德曼(Dan Goldman)以及加利福尼亚州众议员朱蒂·朱(Judy Chu)发起的，他们是犹太人。

“如果你认为我说了一些反犹太主义的话，让我们来谈谈细节，”肯尼迪在他的证词中坚持说。“我告诉你，你和这封信中对我的所有指控都是歪曲，都是误传。”

听证会涉及到肯尼迪候选人资格的其他一些方面，包括他对疫苗的攻击和关于新冠肺炎的误导性说法，以及他对政府审查的看法，因为这可能与选举干预有关。

肯尼迪坚持说，除了COVID之外，他本人完全遵守疫苗接种计划。我连续20年服用流感疫苗。”

RFK Jr. defends himself at House hearing as Dems rebuke him for COVID and race comment

Democratic presidential candidateRobert F. Kennedy Jr.on Thursday appeared before a House subcommittee to testify at a hearing on censorship -- butit was his past comments that drew sharp rebukefrom Democrats as Kennedy sought to defend himself.

Testifying in front of the GOP-led House Judiciary Committee's subcommittee on alleged government "weaponization," Kennedy denied that he is racist or antisemitic following comments that leaked over the weekend where he cited a false conspiracy theory that COVID-19 was "targeted to" certain ethnicities while Chinese people and Jews of European descent were more immune.

Kennedy told the committee that he had "never uttered a phrase that was either racist or antisemitic" and, despite repeatedly spreading conspiracy theories and misinformation on public health issues in the past, insisted that he was not anti-vaccination.

"I'm subjected to this new form of censorship, which is called targeted propaganda, where people apply pejoratives like 'anti-vax.' I've never been anti-vaccine," he argued. "But everybody in this room probably believes that I have been because that's the prevailing narrative."

Kennedy's testimony comes after 102 Democratic representatives signed a letter earlier this week opposing his appearance before the panel, citing his comments that were recorded on video andpublished by The New York Poston Saturday, during what the paper described as a press dinner in New York City last week.

In the video obtained by the Post, Kennedy can be heard making a series of false and misleading claims, including saying, "We don't know whether it [COVID-19] was deliberately targeted or not, but there are papers out there that show the racial or ethnic differential and impact."

"There is an argument that it is ethnically targeted," specifically against Caucasian and Black people, Kennedy can be heard saying in the video.

Health officials worldwide have determined the virus disproportionally killed some groups of people not because of their race but because of underlying health inequities.

The hearing became contentious at times, with spirited back-and-forth between committee members and some pointed comments directed toward witnesses that included Kennedy; Emma-Jo Morris, the journalist who authored the initial, controversial 2020 New York Post story about Hunter Biden's laptop; Dr. John Sauer from the Louisiana Department of Justice; and Maya Wiley, the president and CEO of The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights.

U.S. Virgin Islands Del. Stacey Plaskett, the ranking member on the subcommittee, blasted Speaker Kevin McCarthy and the subcommittee's chair, Ohio Republican Rep. Jim Jordan, for allowing Kennedy to testify in the wake of his recent COVID-19 remarks.

"They intentionally chose to elevate this rhetoric to give these harmful, dangerous views a platform in the halls of the United States Congress," Plaskett said. "That's endorsing that speech. That's not just supporting free speech. They have co-signed on idiotic, bigoted messaging."

"It's a free country. You absolutely have a right to say what you believe," Plaskett said. "But you don't have the right to a platform, public or private. We don't have to give one of the largest platforms of our democracy -- Congress, this hearing. Our right does not mean that we as Americans are not free from accountability."

Kennedy, however, said, "The First Amendment was not written for easy speech. It was written for the speech that nobody likes you for."

Following Kennedy's opening statement, Plaskett attempted to move the committee into executive session -- which failed in a party-line vote -- while claiming Kennedy was in violation of committee rules because he "has repeatedly made despicable antisemitic and anti-Asian comments as recently as last week."

Earlier this week, McCarthy said of Kennedy, "I disagree with everything he said. The hearing that we have this week is about censorship. I don't think censoring somebody is actually the answer here."

In his testimony, Kennedy claimed that other Democrats were seeking to silence him based on his views.

"I've spent my life in this party. I've devoted my life to the values of this party," he said. "This -- 102 people signed this. This itself is evidence of the problem that this hearing was convened to address. This is an attempt to censor a censorship hearing," Kennedy said.

"I'm a Democrat. And I believe in all that. If you went through a checklist of all of the things my father believed in, that he fought for, that my uncle believed and fought for, I would check every box," he said, referring to the late Sen. Robert F. Kennedy and President John F. Kennedy. "I feel my party has departed from some of those core values. And one of the reasons that I want to run for president is to reclaim my party."

The anti-Kennedy letter from Democrats was initiated by Reps. Debbie Wasserman-Schultz of Florida and Dan Goldman of New York, who are Jewish, and California Rep. Judy Chu, who is Chinese American.

"If you think I said something that's antisemitic, let's talk about the details," Kennedy maintained in his testimony. "I'm telling you, all the things that I'm accused of right now, by you and in this letter, are distortions, they're misrepresentations."

The hearing waded into some other aspects of Kennedy's candidacy, including his attacks on vaccines and misleading claims about COVID-19 and what he thinks about government censorship as it could relate to election interference.

Kennedy insisted that he is "fully compliant with the vaccine schedule myself, except for COVID. I took flu vaccines for 20 years straight."