The Senate confirmation hearing for Robert F. Kennedy Jr., President Trump’s nominee to lead the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), was already expected to be contentious. But few could have predicted that one of the most heated exchanges of the day would revolve around baby onesies.
Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT), known for his fiery questioning style, seized on a particularly bizarre line of attack, hammering Kennedy over children’s clothing sold by an organization he used to be affiliated with. Sanders, joining his Democratic colleagues in aggressively questioning the nominee, appeared less interested in Kennedy’s actual policy positions and more concerned about whether the former environmental attorney and longtime health advocate would denounce infant apparel.
The exchange began with Sanders offering a summary of Kennedy’s testimony: “I think the gist of what you are trying to say today is you’re really pro-vaccine, you want to ask questions.”
Kennedy has repeatedly stated that he supports vaccines, but he has also been vocal about ensuring their safety and efficacy before they are widely recommended or mandated. His concern, as he has often stated, is not with the concept of vaccination itself, but with the process—a distinction that some, like Sanders, appear determined to ignore.
From there, Sanders launched into a tangent about Children’s Health Defense, an advocacy group Kennedy once led. He cited onesies sold on the organization’s website featuring slogans like “UNVAXXED, UNAFRAID” and “NO VAX, NO PROBLEM”—offered, as Sanders indignantly noted, for $26 apiece.
Then came the real demand:
“Now you’re coming before this committee and you say you are pro-vaccine, just want to ask some questions. And yet your organization is making money selling a child’s product to parents for 26 bucks, which casts fundamental doubt on you on the usefulness of vaccines,” Sanders accused. “Can you tell us now that you will, now that you are pro-vaccine, that you’re going to have your organization take these products off the market?”
Kennedy calmly pointed out a rather crucial fact—he is no longer affiliated with the organization.
“Senator, I have no power over that organization. I’m not a part of it,” he responded.
But Sanders was undeterred. “That was just a few months ago!” he interrupted, insisting that Kennedy must still have some sway.
The Vermont senator then escalated his questioning to a near-comical level of intensity, demanding, “Are you supportive of these onesies!?”
It was a surreal moment. Kennedy, trying to redirect the conversation back to actual public health policy, reiterated his stance: “I’m supportive of vaccines.”
But Sanders pressed on, demanding that Kennedy personally intervene to stop the sale of baby clothes from a group he no longer controlled.
It was a moment that underscored just how determined some lawmakers were to discredit Kennedy—focusing not on his potential leadership at HHS, but on whether he would issue a public condemnation of onesies with slogans they disliked.
Kennedy, for his part, refused to take the bait. “I want good science,” he said, before Sanders cut him off once more.
