House Democrats voted to censor Democratic Presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. today during a hearing on government censorship.
Florida representative Debbie Wasserman Schultz cited House Rule 11 Clause 2 on defamation and/or degradation, claiming Kennedy "repeatedly" made "despicable antisemitic and anti-asian comments," citing the Democratic presidential candidate's comments suggesting COVID-19 did not impact those of Chinese or Ashkenazi-Jewish descent in the same manner it effected other ethnicities.
Schultz recited Kennedy's comments detailed in the New York Post's coverage before calling for Kennedy's censure.
The panel participated in a vote which failed to censure the Democratic Presidential candidate 8-10.
Kennedy said House Democrats attempted to associate him with "replacement theory," which suggests white people are being "replaced" by people of other ethnicities.
"I denounce that theory. It is racist," Kennedy said. "I have never endorsed it or had any association with it."
Schultz spoke over Kennedy in an attempt to refute his claim though sparred with Ohio representative Jim Jordan over stepping into Kennedy's time.
“If the views that you and others have applied to me… were actually true, I can see why I shouldn't be able to testify here today," Kennedy said. "Those are not true. These are defamations and malignancies that are used to censor me to prevent people from listening to the actual things that I'm saying.”
Kennedy insisted he and Schultz should have a "real conversation" instead of exchanging ad hominem attacks.
“The term ‘malinformation’ was coined to describe information that Facebook and Twitter and the other social media sites understood was true, but that the White House and other federal agencies wanted censored anyway for political reasons because it challenged official orthodoxies.”
“Many of my fellow Democrats, I’ve spent my life in this party. I’ve devoted my life to the values of this party,” Kennedy continued, holding up a letter from 102 Democratic representatives requesting Kennedy's disinvitation from the hearing prior to Schultz' motion to censure the Democratic Presidential candidate. "This itself is evidence of the problem that this hearing was convened to address. This is an attempt to censor a censorship hearing.”
“I don’t believe there’s a single person who signed this letter who believes I’m antisemitic. I do not believe that,” he continued. "This toxic polarization that is destroying our country today, and how do we deal with that? This kind of division is more dangerous for our country than any time since the American Civil War. And how do we deal with that?”
“Every Democrat on this committee believes that we need to end that polarization,” Kennedy said. “Do you think you can do that by censoring people? I’m telling you, you cannot.”
