Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. "failed" in his response to the shootings that took place on Friday at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention headquarters in Atlanta, former U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Jerome Adams told CBS News' "Face the Nation" on Sunday.
"How you respond to a crisis defines a leader," said Adams, who served during President Donald Trump's first term. "And, quite frankly, Secretary Kennedy has failed in his first major test in this regard. It took him over 18 hours to issue a tepid response to these horrific shootings. And that's not even considering how his inflammatory rhetoric in the past has actually contributed to a lot of what's been going on."
One police officer was killed in the shootings, which repeatedly struck CDC buildings, Politico reported. The shooter reportedly blamed the COVID-19 vaccine for making him depressed and suicidal. Under Kennedy's leadership, the agency has stopped recommending the vaccine for those who are pregnant and has narrowed the recommendations for healthy children.
Adams said that just last year as a presidential candidate, Kennedy vowed that "I will drain the cesspool at the CDC and hold people responsible."
The former surgeon general emphasized that Kennedy's statement following the shootings did "not unequivocally condemned the violence. He said no one should be harmed while working to protect the public. There is an out there. If you don't believe that people are working to protect the public, then that means it's OK to commit violence, at least in some people's eyes."
Adams added that "while I don't know Secretary Kennedy personally, and I don't want to make assertions about his character, I will say, based on his actions and his rhetoric, he's adding, he's fanning the flames that lead to situations like we saw at the CDC."
Brian Freeman ✉
Brian Freeman, a Newsmax writer based in Israel, has more than three decades writing and editing about culture and politics for newspapers, online and television.