Veteran tech journalist Kara Swisher unleashed a blistering critique of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on December 28, 2025, accusing him of “murdering people” through his vaccine policies and calling him a “predator” who has escaped accountability for a pattern of misconduct spanning decades.
In an interview with Tim Miller of The Bulwark, Swisher said Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is killing people with his vaccine policies.
The sharp condemnation comes after Kennedy, 71, oversaw the reversal of the hepatitis B vaccine recommendation for newborns. Models project 480 deaths per year from the hepatitis B policy change, marking a rollback of decades-long public health guidance designed to protect infants from a potentially deadly virus that can cause liver disease.
Under Kennedy’s leadership, the FDA removed COVID-19 vaccine mandates, continuing what Swisher characterized as an assault on evidence-based public health policy. The nephew of President John F. Kennedy assumed a role as Health and Human Services Secretary under President Donald Trump, despite widespread concerns from medical experts about his long history of promoting anti-vaccine views.
Swisher, who played a pivotal role in breaking the story about Kennedy having an affair with Olivia Nuzzi, expressed frustration that the scandal failed to derail his political ascent. The relationship between Kennedy and Nuzzi occurred in 2023-2024. Nuzzi lost her job at New York Magazine following the revelation, while Kennedy faced no serious professional consequences and went on to join Trump’s Cabinet.
“Of all the people, he’s the one that should pay much more of a price, especially given his history with doing stuff like this,” Swisher said during the interview. She helped break the story about the Kennedy-Nuzzi affair, expecting it might finally hold the controversial figure accountable for his actions.
But the affair represents just one entry in what Swisher described as a disturbing pattern of behavior. Swisher called Kennedy a predator, echoing language used by his own cousin in an attempt to block his confirmation. Caroline Kennedy called Kennedy a predator and unqualified in a letter to senators ahead of his confirmation hearing. Caroline Kennedy tried to block the Kennedy nomination, writing that his views on vaccines have already cost lives, including in connection with Samoa’s deadly 2019 measles outbreak. The measles outbreak in Samoa killed dozens of people, many of them children, after vaccination rates plummeted in the island nation.
The sexual misconduct allegations against Kennedy extend beyond the Nuzzi affair. Eliza Cooney claimed Kennedy sexually assaulted her when she was 23 years old while working as a babysitter for the Kennedy family. In 2024, Cooney publicly shared her account in Vanity Fair. Kennedy has said he is not a church boy, adding that he had “a very, very rambunctous youth” with “so many skeletons in my closet that if they could all vote I could run for king of the world.”
RFK Jr.’s late wife, Mary Richardson Kennedy, discovered from her husband’s diaries that he had engaged in 37 extramarital affairs. The diaries painted a picture of a man whose personal conduct repeatedly betrayed those closest to him. Mary Richardson Kennedy died by suicide in May 2012.
Despite this extensive history, Kennedy now wields significant power over American healthcare policy. Swisher argued that Kennedy’s past alone should have disqualified him from any high-ranking position in Trump’s administration, long before the Nuzzi affair became public.
The journalist emphasized what she sees as a troubling double standard in how society treats powerful men versus those with less influence. While Nuzzi lost her position at a prestigious magazine, Kennedy ascended to one of the most important health policy positions in the federal government.
The United States experienced its worst measles outbreak in decades during 2025, with infectious disease experts directly blaming RFK Jr.’s anti-vaccine rhetoric and policies for the crisis. The outbreak, which began in West Texas in late January and spread to multiple states, including South Carolina, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Kansas, resulted in over 1,900 confirmed cases and at least two deaths—both unvaccinated children—marking the first measles fatalities in the U.S. since 2015. The CDC reported 47 separate measles outbreaks during 2025, compared to just 16 in 2024, with experts warning the nation is poised to lose its measles-elimination status, achieved in 2000, after 12 consecutive months of uninterrupted transmission. Public health officials criticized Kennedy for spreading misinformation about the measles vaccine while serving as the nation’s top health official, including false claims that the vaccine causes deaths and that its protection wanes rapidly, even as vaccination rates declined and preventable outbreaks accelerated across the country.
Now wielding the power of his federal position, Kennedy’s policies are projected to have deadly consequences on American soil. The hepatitis B vaccine reversal represents just the beginning of what public health experts fear will be a systematic dismantling of evidence-based vaccine policy that has protected Americans for generations.
Swisher’s comments reflect growing alarm among journalists, public health advocates, and Kennedy’s own family members about the damage his tenure as Health and Human Services Secretary may inflict. Her dual critique—targeting both his public health policies and his personal conduct—underscores concerns that character and competence matter in positions of public trust.
Kara Swisher is a veteran technology journalist and one of the most influential voices in Silicon Valley reporting. She co-founded Recode and previously served as a columnist for The Wall Street Journal, where she covered the tech industry for decades. Known for her incisive interviews and no-nonsense approach to holding tech leaders accountable, Swisher has broken major stories throughout her career and earned a reputation as one of the most fearless journalists in the industry. She currently hosts two podcasts: “Pivot,” a weekly show co-hosted with Scott Galloway that covers tech, business, and politics, and “On with Kara Swisher,” where she conducts in-depth interviews with newsmakers and cultural figures. She also works as a contributing editor at New York Magazine.
