Breaking News from Pod Save America - Top Trump Official BOMBS in Disastrous Senate Hearing

Episode Date: September 4, 2025

RFK Jr.’s Senate hearing was a total train wreck. Tommy Vietor and Brian Tyler Cohen highlight the worst moments from Trump’s top official. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Brian, the Secretary of Health and Human Services, Robert of Kennedy Jr. was on Capitol Hill this morning testifying, and, man, it did not go well. He was pressed on his anti-vaccine views. COVID, his purge of actual scientists from the CDC and much, much more. But man, I wish someone would just press him a little bit on how much time he's spending in the tanning bed. Yeah, just a little bit. I think they all eventually fall into that category. I think Sean Duffy also looked well-tanned.

What is happening there? Dude, but like Kennedy looked like he was about to get thrown for a first down. You know, he looked like a He looked like a vintage Ottoman. He looked like a journal in which you'd take field notes. Just like a jacket in Brooklyn I can't afford or pull off. Anyway. Did you have all those?

Yep. There was also some bizarre wheezing that we're going to have to get into. But this clip here gives you a sense of the tone. When have you produced the data that you relied on and that this FDA relied on to change. those parameters. You did it behind those doors. And now parents who decide that they do want their children down. You're just making stuff up, Senator. I'm not making stuff up. You're just making stuff up. You know, sometimes when you make an accusation, it's kind of a confession, Mr. Kennedy.

Spicy. New Hampshire Senator Maggie Hassan pushing RFK on why he changed the eligibility rules for the COVID vaccine. So now under the FDA, decided to only approve new COVID boosters for those over 65 or with certain risk factors for getting severe COVID. And that means because of like varying state laws, in some states, you now need a prescription to get a COVID vaccine. In other states, the shots just aren't available. So, Brian, I mean, like the risk from COVID has evolved over time. I don't know if I told you this.

I'm not a doctor. Ah. So I don't want to go all like Joe Rogan on you. Because you do have me calling you doctor. Well, I did tell you to turn your head and cough a couple times. But so I'm not going to tell you what vaccines to take or not take. That's not my job here. I'm not, we're not in that.

of the podcasting world. But it does seem weird for Kennedy to make it impossible for people who want a booster to get one. Correct. And there are folks who have immunocompromised people in their families and now they won't have access to this stuff, even though they needed. I think it's important to take a step back and remember why this vaccine was so vilified. And it's because people were dying and they needed some excuse, some scapegoat to be able to point to deflect or diffuse the attention and responsibility off of Donald Trump. And what they landed on was a life-saving vaccine where the people who took it overwhelmingly, like to a degree that is not even refutable, are much more protected, are dying of COVID, getting hospitalized because of COVID at much lower rates.

And yet they just needed something to be able to deflect political attention, political blame away from Donald Trump. Whenever I watch a big Republican fight about COVID, it's like they just pretend Donald Trump wasn't president for all of it. You know, they think they just want to act like Joe Biden was president through the duration of the COVID. pandemic. Yeah. There is this weird cognitive dissonance where he gets full credit for the speed of Operation Warp Speed, but then diffuses all blame for COVID, for the rest of COVID, the rest of his handling of COVID. And the fact, by the way, let's not forget. I know that this is, you know, basically resuscitating arguments from five years ago. But the U.S. had the worst response to COVID in the industrialized world. We have 5% of the world's population. At one point, we had 20%

of the world's hospitalizations and deaths. Yeah, Trump gets asked about Operation Warp Speed later in the episode, some great questioning there actually by Bill Cassidy, a Republican Senator from Louisiana, who's also a doctor. Also, RFK recently terminated $500 billion in federal funding for mRNA vaccine research and development. The MRNA vaccines were the reason we had vaccines so miraculously fast. I'm sure that won't come back to haunt us in any way, Brian. Also, earlier today, Brian, the former head of the CDC, Susan Minarez wrote an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal where she had some biting words for RFK Jr. I'm going to read you one passage, Quote, those seeking to undermine vaccines use a familiar playbook, discredit research, weakened advisory committees, and use manipulated outcomes to unravel protections that generations of families have relied on to keep deadly diseases at bay.

Once trusted experts are removed and advisory bodies are stacked, the results are predetermined. That isn't reform. It's sabotage. Just looking at it from like movies, for example, usually not great when the doctors and scientists start yelling about something and the politicians start ignoring them. No. Just like a general rule of thumb in society. And yet that's exactly what's happening right now. I mean, eliminating life-saving vaccines or eliminating these vaccine schedules for children that have basically eradicated diseases that that impacted, even sitting senators right now. Mitch McConnell, had polio, exactly. And the fact that we are ushering that back in, all because we've handed over the keys to conspiracy theorists and crackpots like RFK, I mean, it's the people who are going to be impacted by this are future generations of Americans and Americans who are impacted by this right now.

And our kids, man. Seeing that measles outbreak made me freak out. You know, I have a one-year-old and a two-year-old. You know, they couldn't necessarily get vaccinated yet. It's terrifying. By the way, RFK said that the CDC director had to resign because, quote, I asked her, are you a trustworthy person? And she said, no. That checks out. What human in history would have answered that question? You know what, sir, I cannot tell a lie. I am, I mean, I couldn't even say I cannot tell a lie because then it wouldn't make sense. No, sir, I'm not a trustworthy person. It's just such a liar. Can I do anything? Do you need me for anything else or can I go back to my desk? I think Jake Tapper from CNN told us when we talked to him a while back about this, that RFK Jr. was the most dishonest person that he had ever worked with in politics. I mean, I interviewed RFK Jr. in the lead up to this election, and I would ask him specifically about some claims that he had made on other podcasts, for example, as it relates to late-term abortions.

And he just lied right to my face. Yeah. He did that in his hearing, too. He was like, no, I didn't say that on TV. I guess you did. Here's the tape, buddy. Okay. So that wasn't the only exchange that got a little testy. here is RFK Jr. getting asked a pretty basic question by Senator Mark Warner. Did you just again some basic facts? Do you accept the fact that a million Americans died from COVID? I don't know how many died. You're the Secretary of Health and Human Services.

You don't have any idea how many Americans died from COVID? I don't think anybody knows that because there was so much data chaos coming out of the CDC. And there was a lot of the truth. You don't know the answer of how many Americans from COVID. This is the Secretary of Health and Human Services. Do you think the vaccine did anything to prevent additional deaths? Again, I would like to see the data and talk about the data. You had this job for eight months, and you don't know the data about whether the vaccine

I could punt that head like 65 yards. I feel like you should bring it. know those answers. Yeah. I would say so. I mean, it really is, it really is sad and pathetic and goes to show the extent to which you have somebody in that position right now who's already made up his mind on vaccines, manipulating all the information he has right now to serve that foregone conclusion. Yep. That's exactly how you should not do science. He has a conclusion, and he's trying to make the data, point that direction. But probably the best line of questioning the day was Senator Bill Cassidy. I alluded to this earlier. So Cassidy is a physician. He's a Republican

considerate from Louisiana. He voted to confirm RFK Jr. despite having serious misgivings because Bill Cassidy, as a doctor, thinks vaccinations are good, chocker. But he got Kennedy in that hearing to promise not to change the current U.S. vaccine schedule. That, of course, was a lie. So Cassidy is pissed. So here was his question for Kennedy. Mr. Secretary, do you agree with me that the president, that the president deserves a Nobel Prize for Operation Warp Speed? Absolutely, Senator. So let me ask you. Let me ask you. But you just told Senator Bennett that the COVID vaccine killed more people than COVID. Wait, I did not say that.

Okay, then let me ask because you also were- Senator, I just want to make clear. I cannot say that. We'll check the record. That's a question of fact. You also said that you were also as lead attorney for the children's health defense. You engaged in multiple lawsuits attempting to restrict access to the COVID vaccine. scene. Again, it surprises me that you think so highly of Operation Warp Speed when as an attorney

you attempted to restrict access. So that whole Nobel Peace Prize thing. You know, it's so funny, like the mental contortions these people put themselves through to heap praise and congratulations onto Dear Leader, even though the thing they are heaping praise onto him for is something that they purport to be vehemently against? It's amazing. Ben and I, Ben Rhodes and I on Ponce of the World talked about how Trump's demand that. that he be given the Nobel Peace Prize for, he claims to have brokered a ceasefire between India and Pakistan.

In reality, they fought it out for four days and the two heads of the militaries got on a phone and said, hey, let's chill out and stop this. And then Trump front ran their announcement and took credit. But Trump has demanded he get the Nobel Peace Prize for this. The Pakistanis are like, sure, give him, they nominate him, right? Because it's like a freebie for them. But for the Indian side, it's humiliating for them.

It's humiliating for Narendra Modi, the prime minister. And basically, because Trump has demanded to Modi directly that he nominated him for the Nobel Peace Prize, the U.S. India relationship has completely ruptured. And the prime minister of India was in China this past weekend meeting with Xi Jinping. So things are going great. And we've seen that before. We've seen, for example, when Trump launched his trade war across, you know, the entire world, that a bunch of these countries had decided to run over to China. I mean, there was talks of negotiations between China, South Korea and Japan. Like the notion that we are helping ourselves when in reality we're pushing our closest allies into the arms of our opponents and adversaries.

Because Trump wants a prize. Because Trump wants nothing for us as Americans. It's always his ego. It's whether he wants to know about peace prize. It's whether he wants his tariffs and trade war to be some like big reflection of his accomplishment. You know, whatever it may be. It always goes back to him and basically massaging his own ego. Not loving your AT&T or T-Mobile bill.

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It must provide a recent consumer mobile bill in the name of the person who gave me the deal. Additional terms, conditions, and restrictions apply. Got to tell him what he wants to hear. Finally, Brian, you guys probably have heard it in some of these clips we've been playing. We've got to talk about RFK's wheezing. Here's another example. From the news media and from any other source. And obviously the easiest thing for our Democratic colleagues to do is to scare people because that is a powerful emotion, no matter what the facts may be.

Is he napping? Is he sick? It's like Darth Vader is testifying before Congress. The steroids kicking in? Like, what is it happening? Also, like, the notion that the guy in charge of the nation's health apparatus can't even breathe without sounding like a pug. Dude, he's just, again, the tan. Okay, so that was RFK on the Capitol Hill, Brian.

But if RFK juniors... A 14-year-old bulldog trying to breathe. It sounds like a pug. It sounds like one of those dogs when they bred the nose out of the thing. But look, if that guy doesn't kill us, we're going to have to contend with a future that will be radically changed by artificial intelligence. Artificial intelligence is reshaping how we work, communicate, solve problems, from powering voice assistance and translation apps to driving breakthroughs in medicine, climate research and science. AI is accelerating innovation at remarkable speed. That was written by chat, GBT.

So given the stakes involved, Brian, I was happy to see the White House roll out one of the world's foremost authorities on AI and technological change at a meeting earlier. today. Let's watch. Robots hold steady hands in the operating room and drones are redefining the future of war. Innovations of first generation humanoids, factory automation and autonomous vehicles have searched from private sector investment. Every one of these advancements, it's power by AI. Hard to argue with that. They have her re-de- word autonomous? Come on, man. For all people to have to read this like, this like, you know,

AI. Madlib's garbage. They put Malania Trump. Yeah, not your best foot forward. It's like only four syllable words. So this is the White House Task Force on Artificial Intelligence Education that apparently she's leading. I mean, it's the natural progression from Be Best.

Well, I guess somehow that's a part of it. It's like her. It's the crypto-asshole. David Sacks. The CEO of IBM was there. The CEO of Google was there. And then this evening, Trump is hosting a dinner in the newly renovated White House Rose Garden with a bunch of tech CEOs like Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg, Tim Cook, Sam Altman. So it's good. It's nice to know that those guys can still find time to go and bend the knee, even when they're like kind of ducking National Guard troop deployments in Washington. They always do. They always manage to find a way, you know, these people who first set off this administration by literally sitting behind him on the dais on his inauguration.

Day to now heading back out to the Mar-a-Lago patio that they've built at the White House. It is so weird. Apparently, Melania used AI software to spoof her own voice for her audiobook, and that awakened her to the power of AI. She literally used the software 11 labs that I used to make fake Joe Biden voices. And they stole that joy from me. Yeah. It just doesn't work anymore. Well, you know, it's probably a little bit easier than just copying Michelle Obama's words. That is a good idea. Yeah. You just use ChatGBT, instead of ripping off that speech. Instead of just reading what Michelle wrote. She also, there's some sort of AI challenge the Melania put forward that doesn't honestly I tried to understand it

where AI writes words and the challenges she says them correctly. It just doesn't make sense. She pronounces the word autonomous correctly. Some contest for kids that they, as Casey Newton, a tech journalist pointed out, well just being like every kid who enters will use AI to cheat on this assignment, whatever it is. Also, Brian, did you know that Malani has only been seen in public 20 days in the second Trump term compared to 46 days at this point in the first term?

Yeah, that doesn't surprise me too much. I, too, would not want to be seen too much in this administration. It's funny, though, I feel like it was a thing last time, right? It was a thing she hadn't moved and shit. And now, like, I don't know. They talked about it on South Park last night, which is kind of like what got it in my head because Trump's having a relationship with Satan. Well, he's been much more present than the White House these days.

He's everywhere. Anyway, that's what we got for today. Thank you for watching. And for everybody who is watching right now, very important to help build up the progressive media ecosystem. If you are not yet subscribed to this channel, doesn't cost anything to subscribe. It's a great way to support this work. Great way to support crooked media.

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It gets Yalgo going, right? That's it. Because the juice is flowing. That's why I do it. That's why I do it. I can only hope to be one day as healthy as RFK Jr. Me too.