Sen. Ron Johnson R-Wis., told Newsmax on Monday he wants to hear from Robert F. Kennedy Jr., during his first confirmation hearing on Wednesday to become Health and Human Services secretary about his game-plan is for restoring integrity to science and making government agencies far more transparent.
Johnson, who is a member of the Senate Finance Committee, said on "Wake Up America" that "I am a big supporter of RFK, Jr., I've gotten to know him during COVID. I think he is very science-based.
"From my standpoint, I want to talk [at his confirmation hearing] about how science has been corrupted. I want to talk about how these agencies have been captured and what is his game-plan in terms of restoring integrity to science and making these agencies far more transparent."
Johnson said that "I have written over 60 oversight letters on some aspect of our response to COVID. I really haven't gotten squat from the agencies, [and] that is completely unacceptable."
The senator stressed that "the information these agencies hold ... belongs to the American people. The American people ought to be able to see them. Bureaucrats ought not to be able to hide that information from the American people."
Johnson added that the public also wants "to know what is causing this explosion in chronic illness. Quite honestly, what's causing autism? We haven't even been able to ask those questions. My knowledge of Bobby Kennedy is that he has a very open mind. He is very science-based. He just wants the truth, also understanding that sometimes the truth is not that easy to discern."
Johnson said that "I think he is going to bring a completely open mind, and I think senators are going [to get] that in these hearings."
Johnson also commented on the very narrow confirmation of Pete Hegseth as secretary of defense, saying that "the good news here is that Pete Hegseth was confirmed and now we have a warrior ... in charge of the Defense Department."
Johnson said that "I think that will be inspiring not only to the people inside the military now but also to new recruits," adding that "I think we will have a better chance of actually hitting our recruitment numbers now that we have someone who understands their concerns."
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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.
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