Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) has come under fire for promoting Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s anti-vaccine conspiracy theories on the House floor.
During a House Judiciary Subcommittee hearing on the Weaponization of the Federal Government, Jordan defended Kennedy’s tweet about the death of baseball legend Hank Aaron after receiving a COVID-19 vaccine, claiming that Kennedy was merely stating facts.
“When you look at Mr. Kennedy’s tweet, there was nothing there that was factually inaccurate. Hank Aaron, real person, great American, passed away after he got the vaccine. Pointing out, just pointing out facts,” he said.
The tweet in question by Kennedy, an anti-vaccine activist and now-presidential candidate, suggested that Aaron’s death in January 2021 was part of a series of suspicious deaths among the elderly following COVID-19 vaccination. The White House had requested Twitter to take down Kennedy’s post, which had the subject line “flagging Hank Aaron misinformation.” However, Jordan argued that there was nothing factually inaccurate in Kennedy’s tweet.
Hank Aaron had publicly received the vaccine in January 2021 to encourage more Black Americans to do the same. He later passed away, but a medical examiner confirmed that his death was not related to the vaccine; it was determined to be from natural causes. Nonetheless, Kennedy and other anti-vaxxers started spreading unfounded theories suggesting a connection between Aaron’s death and the vaccine.
Kennedy has a history of doubting the efficacy and safety of vaccines, even before the COVID-19 pandemic, and he founded a nonprofit organization called Children’s Health Defense, known for spreading anti-vaccine misinformation. Throughout the pandemic, some social media accounts speculated without evidence about the effects of the vaccine, insinuating that vaccination might have led to people’s deaths.
While elderly individuals were indeed considered more susceptible to complications from COVID-19, there is no evidence to support the existence of a “wave of suspicious deaths” among the elderly following vaccination.
Recently, Kennedy faced controversy for comments suggesting that the COVID-19 virus was “ethnically targeted” to harm Caucasians and Black people while protecting Ashkenazi Jews and Chinese people.
He vehemently denied accusations of antisemitism and racism during the hearing, claiming they were an attempt to silence him.
Watch Jordan’s speech below:
Jim Jordan begins the hearing by amplifying right-wing claims that Hank Aaron, who was 86, died because of the Covid vaccine pic.twitter.com/uyXSt8nLxx
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) July 20, 2023
