RFK Jr. admits on podcast that he snorted cocaine off a toilet seat
“He was snorting cocaine off the toilet seat,” Secretary of Health Robert F. Kennedy Jr. told Theo Fung, host of the podcast “This Past Weekend.”
In a March 16 ruling, a federal judge in Massachusetts blocked part of Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s restructuring of federal vaccine policy.
District Judge Brian Murphy ruled in favor of the American Academy of Pediatrics and other medical groups, alleging that the Trump administration acted illegally to carry out what he called President Kennedy’s plan to overturn vaccination policy.
Murphy wrote that for decades, the United States has focused on using vaccines to eradicate and reduce disease. He said that under Kennedy, the government “ignored these techniques, thereby undermining the integrity of its actions.”
The Trump administration’s actions on vaccinations have drawn warnings from leading medical institutions and public health experts, some of whom warn that more Americans, including children, could die from preventable diseases as a result. President Kennedy has said vaccines will continue to be available to anyone who wants them, and supporters have hailed the move toward a more individual rights-based approach to public health.
The judge also blocked 13 Kennedy appointees to the main vaccine advisory committee from continuing in their positions ahead of a meeting scheduled for March 18-19.
President Kennedy fired all 17 original members of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP), the panel of health experts that guides the CDC’s vaccine use, and replaced them with members who critics said were unqualified. Some members, like Kennedy, are anti-vaccine advocates and have a history of involvement in anti-vaccine groups.
HHS confirmed to USA TODAY that the ACIP meeting has been postponed.
Vaccine vote ruled invalid
Murphy said earlier committee votes to broadly lower recommendations for hepatitis B vaccines and COVID-19 vaccinations for newborns are also invalid because they were illegally constituted.
In May 2025, President Kennedy announced that the coronavirus vaccine would not be included in the CDC’s recommended immunization schedule for healthy children and pregnant women, a move that goes against expert guidance.
This angered the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), which went so far as to issue its own schedule in August 2025, saying the federal government’s process could no longer be trusted.
It is recommended that all children between the ages of 6 and 23 months receive an up-to-date COVID-19 vaccine to reduce the chance of serious illness. According to the guidance, children and adolescents ages 2 to 18 without other high-risk factors, such as immunosuppression, can and should be vaccinated if they have not previously been vaccinated.
In a response posted on social media, President Kennedy hit back at the pediatric society’s criticism and suggested that its views were influenced by corporate pharmaceutical funders.
President Kennedy led several changes to the U.S. vaccine schedule and recommendations, including removing four people from the pediatric eligibility list and splitting the MMR vaccine, a combination vaccine that protects against measles, mumps, and rubella, into two separate vaccines. Kennedy, backed by President Donald Trump, said reducing the number of vaccinations would bring the U.S. in line with other developed countries.
According to the Department of Health and Human Services, the updated recommendations will maintain vaccinations against 11 diseases, including measles, mumps and chickenpox, while others will be categorized as either targeting high-risk groups or subject to the discretion of the parent’s doctor.
“This is an important victory for public health, evidence-based medicine, the rule of law, and the American people,” Richard Hughes, an attorney for the medical groups, said in a statement. “The government may appeal this decision and there is still much work to do to achieve a complete victory on the merits. But for now we can celebrate a rare piece of good news.”
The judge issued other high-profile blocks.
Murphy has drawn the ire of the Trump administration and president for repeatedly blocking efforts that include core elements of the president’s hardline immigration policies.
“HHS expects this judge’s decision, as well as his other attempts to stop the Trump administration from governing, to be overturned,” HHS spokesperson Andrew Nixon said in a statement to USA TODAY.
In another lawsuit filed against the Trump administration, Murphy issued and enforced court orders restricting the administration’s efforts to deport immigrants of other nationalities to countries such as South Sudan, Libya and El Salvador.
President Trump derided Murphy as “out of control,” and White House adviser Stephen Miller called Murphy a “lunatic.” At the regime’s request, the Supreme Court intervened twice early in the case, lifting Murphy’s injunction and paving the way for the deportation of several men to South Sudan.
In his final judgment on February 25, Murphy again ruled against the “third country” expulsion policy. The same day as Murphy’s ruling against Kennedy, a federal appeals court suspended that order while the government pursues an appeal. The administration has said it is willing to take the case back to the Supreme Court.
The judge also ruled against the Pentagon over research funding and temporary deportation protection for more than 5,000 Ethiopians, and allowed an offshore wind project to continue over the government’s objections.
Contributed by: Reuters
