Robert F. Kennedy is addicted to “attention and power” according to scathing letter revealing some of his darkest moments, penned by his cousin Caroline Kennedy.
Kennedy, 71, who is Donald Trump’s pick to lead the Department of Health and Human Services, is a hypocritical “predator” who is “addicted to attention and power”, his cousin warned senators ahead of the confirmation hearing in the senate – which will confirm his control over a $1.7 trillion budget as the top health official.
The bombshell letter reveals a number of shocking accusations about Kennedy’s life, from putting mice in a blender to leading his family members down a path to drug addiction.
“I have known Bobby my whole life; we grew up together,” said Kennedy, a former U.S. ambassador to Australia and Japan, in a letter and accompanying video statement.
Here are the five key bombshells from Caroline Kennedy’s blistering criticism of her cousin…
RFK Jr originally mounted a campaign for the presidency himself before throwing his support behind Trump (AP)
Kennedy, the son of liberal political icon Robert Kennedy, who was assassinated in 1968 at 42 as he appeared set to clinch the Democratic nomination, is a licensed master falconer who has trained hawks since he was 11.
“It’s no surprise that he keeps birds of prey as pets because he himself is a predator,” Caroline Kennedy said in the letter.
Kennedy loved to display one of his bizarre and gruesome habits in caring for his birds of prey, she said.
“He enjoyed showing off how he put baby chickens and mice in the blender to feed his hawks,” Ms Kennedy alleged.
“It was often a perverse scene of despair and violence.”
Kennedy, who struggled with addiction to heroin, led his family members “down the path of drug addiction” simply through the “strength of his personality.”
The former Democrat’s basement, garage and dorm room were the centres of the drug-fuelled action, she alleged.
“Siblings and cousins who Bobby encouraged down the path of substance abuse suffered addiction, illness, and death while Bobby has gone on to misrepresent, lie, and cheat his way through life,” she claimed in the letter.
But she did praise her cousin for “pulling himself out of illness and disease.” Kennedy says his 14 years of heroin abuse – which began soon after his father’s death when he was 15 years old – ended after he was convicted for possession in 1984 and attended rehab.
While avoiding most political topics about her cousin, she unleashed a stinging criticism of his “dangerous” vaccine-sceptic views – which she says are serving him financially.
Kennedy’s financial disclosures show he intends to receive legal fees from Wisner Baum, a firm suing the producer of human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine Gardasil. The company is accused of failing to warn customers about its risks.
Through his “crusade against vaccination,” she said, “he is willing to enrich himself by denying access to a vaccine that can prevent almost all forms of cervical cancer and which has been safely administered to millions of boys and girls.”
His views on vaccines are not reflective of the views of “most Americans” and the rest of the Kennedy family, she added.
RFK Jr. pictured with his Hollywood actress wife Cheryl Hines at Donald Trump’s inauguration (POOL/AFP via Getty Images)
As he discourages frightened parents from vaccinating their sick children due to alleged risks, Kennedy continues to vaccinate his own, Ms. Kennedy said.
“Bobby is addicted to attention and power,” she wrote. “Bobby preys on the desperation of parents and sick children — vaccinating his own children while building a following by hypocritically discouraging other parents from vaccinating theirs.”
“His constant denigration of our health care system and the conspiratorial half-truths he has told about vaccines… have cost lives,” she added.
Kennedy says he is not anti-vaccine (Getty Images)
Kennedy has previously maintained that he is not anti-vaccine.
Caroline Kennedy slammed Trump’s health secretary pick for using the image of her father – former president John F. Kennedy – to boost his own political career.
“Bobby expropriated my father’s image and distorted President Kennedy’s legacy to advance his own failed presidential campaign — and then grovelled to Donald Trump for a job,” she wrote.
He continues to “grandstand off my father’s assassination, and that of his own father”, she added. “It is incomprehensible that someone who is willing to exploit their own painful family tragedies for publicity would be in charge of American life-and-death situations.”
Her father would be “disgusted” by his actions, she added.
