WASHINGTON – President Kevin McCarthy said Monday that he disagrees with “everything” Robert F. Kennedy Jr. allegedly said last week about bioengineering Covid-19 “to attack whites and blacks” and that Jews are “more immune.”
But McCarthy, a Republican from California, rejected calls by Democrats to cancel Kennedy’s public appearance Thursday before a Republican-controlled House committee. Kennedy, an environmental lawyer, has pushed conspiracy theories, including about the safety of vaccines.
“I don’t agree with everything that he said,” McCarthy told reporters on Capitol Hill. “The hearing we have this week is about censorship. I don’t think censoring someone is really the answer here.”
“I think if you’re going to look at censorship in the United States, your first action is to censor it probably plays into some of the problems we have,” he said.
The speaker’s comments came the same day that a group of House Democrats urged McCarthy and Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, to block Kennedy from testifying before the House Select Subcommittee on the Judiciary. on Federal Government Arming, which Jordan also heads.
Kennedy was filmed at a dinner party in Manhattan discussing “ethnically targeted microbes,” during which, according to a video released by the New York Post, he claimed that “Covid-19 strikes certain races disproportionately.”
“Covid-19 is aimed at attacking Caucasians and Blacks. The most immune people are the Ashkenazi Jews and the Chinese,” he said in the video. “We don’t know if it was deliberately directed at that or not.” A large portion of American Jews are Ashkenazi Jews.
NBC News has not verified the video. Kennedy said his comments were not anti-Semitic.
Democrats compared Kennedy’s comments suggesting the coronavirus was bioengineered to prevent Ashkenazi Jews and Chinese from becoming infected with a technique used by Hitler. They also call on congressional leaders and members of Congress to condemn his comments.
“Mr. Kennedy has repeatedly and recently spread vile and dangerous anti-Semitic and anti-Asian conspiracy theories that tarnish his credibility as a witness and should not be legitimized by his appearance before the US Congress. Views,” one version reads. draft of the letter, which was shared with NBC News by a source familiar with the letter who was not authorized to share a version before it is finalized.
The letter is led by Democratic Reps. Debbie Wasserman Schultz of Florida, Dan Goldman of New York and Judy Chu of California, with organizational help from Rep. Kathy Manning of North Carolina.
“By promoting the unfounded notion that scientists are developing biological weapons that can target certain races and exempt others, while referring to Jews as a separate race, Mr. Kennedy is employing a pernicious form of anti-Semitism that has become widespread. used for centuries,” the draft says. .
“Hitler used this technique to claim that there are biological differences between ethnic or racial groups to portray Jews as a lower form of humanity, a springboard to justify the annihilation of the Jews during the Holocaust.”
Punchbowl News was the first to report the existence and contents of the letter.
A Jordan spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Kennedy, who is challenging President Joe Biden for the 2024 Democratic nomination, will speak about “fighting anti-Semitism and standing up for Israel” at an event in New York City next week, his campaign said.
Members of both parties have been criticized for making anti-Semitic comments ahead of Israel’s President Isaac Herzog’s address to Congress on Wednesday.
Progressive Caucus Chair Pramila Jayapal, D-Washington, faced backlash from both Democrats and Republicans after calling Israel a “racist state” during a progressive conference over the weekend.
She apologized for the comments, but McCarthy attacked Jayapal on Monday and urged Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, DN.Y., to hold people in his party accountable for making anti-Semitic comments.
“This is not the first person at the Democratic conference to continue to make anti-Semitic comments.” McCarthy said when she was asked about Jayapal. “I think if you want to believe that you don’t have a conference that continues to make anti-Semitic comments, you need to do something about it because you have stood up for these people time and time again.”
Several progressive Democrats said they plan to boycott Herzog’s speech to lawmakers, including Reps. Ilhan Omar of Minnesota and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Jamaal Bowman, both of New York.
kate santaliz and Katherine Koretsky contributed.
