Raul Ruiz Absolutely Hammers RFK Jr. Over MAHA Report: 'That's Lying And Dishonest'

Forbes Breaking News

At a House Energy Committee hearing on Tuesday, Rep. Raul Ruiz (D-CA) questioned HHS Sec. RFK Jr. about a MAHA report.

Transcript

00:00Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Earlier, Secretary Kennedy, you said you wanted to instill trust

00:04using truth, evidence-based, gold standard, science. But Mr. Kennedy, in late May, the so-called

00:10quote, Presidential Commission to Make American Healthy Again, released what HHS described as a

00:16quote, groundbreaking assessment that purported to identify the key drivers behind childhood

00:21chronic disease. Improving the health of America's children is a goal I share, and I recognize this

00:27is a passion of yours, Mr. Secretary. That is why I was struck to learn that the report was riddled

00:33with mistakes, misconstruing and intentionally or not misstating key references, data, and evidence

00:40that either do not exist or are not accurately reflected in the report. When journalists reached

00:46out to many of the authors of the studies included in the Maha assessment, numerous researchers and

00:51academics stated that they never wrote the papers as cited or the papers cited didn't even exist

00:58altogether. Mr. Chairman, I want to submit these three news reports on these miscited documents

01:05from notice from May 29th and May 30th. Without objection. Mr. Secretary Kennedy, you're listed as

01:13the chair of the commission. Did you read the report and fact-check its sources prior to publication?

01:18Mr. Secretary Kennedy, did you read the reports and did you yourself fact-check them, sir?

01:24Mr. Secretary Kennedy, I did not fact-check them. You did not fact-check them. Why then,

01:28as has been widely reported, excuse me, sir, I'm speaking, why then did the report include a

01:34citation to sources that don't even exist? How does that happen under your leadership, sir?

01:39Mr. Secretary Kennedy, all of the foundational assertions in that report are accurate.

01:43Mr. Secretary Kennedy, they did not exist. How can they be accurate if they did not exist, sir?

01:47Some of the citations were- You know, in fact, my understanding is that even once the report-

01:53Even once the report was updated, more authors and researchers came forward stating that their

02:00research was misconstrued. This is quite unbelievable, sir. In fact, I was a pre-med at UCLA. They have a

02:07great pre-med program. If somebody turned this in as an undergrad to their professor at UCLA,

02:14they would have received an F, sir, an F for the misinterpretation, the falsehoods, the denials,

02:21and also citing references that don't even exist. That's lying and dishonest, sir.

02:27My concern here-

02:29The citations were corrected in one day.

02:30My concern here is that you and this administration are undertaking vast changes to our federal public health

02:37system and using purported facts and gold standard evidence that you claim to have as justifications

02:44for your decisions, actions, and frankly, your decimation of our nation's public health infrastructure.

02:51Yet, what you are relying upon isn't real. It isn't data-driven, and it isn't based in fact, science,

02:59or reality. Sir, it's wrong. As a secretary of one of the most consequential departments within our

03:07federal government, mischaracterizing data is not just some typos in a report that gets put on a shelf.

03:15Instead, your words and your words of your department carry significant weight. Do you agree?

03:20The citations that report were wrong, that was a mistake. They were corrected within 24 hours.

03:26Yeah, but there were wrongs still even after that, and they're wrongs still today.

03:30There were no erroneous actual assertions, Congressman.

03:31So, do you believe that your words carry significant weight?

03:36There were no erroneous actual assertions.

03:36Do you believe your words carry significant weight?

03:39There were no erroneous actual assertions.

03:41Do you believe that the secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services plays an important

03:45role in upholding scientific integrity?

03:48Yes.

03:48Okay. So, then, in fact, what is most striking about this is that you've also threatened to bar

03:56governmental scientists and researchers from publishing in top medical journals.

04:03You've barred them from publishing in top reputable medical journals and instead proposed, quote,

04:09creating our own journals in-house.

04:11The idea that we would limit the ability for federal researchers to publish in the most

04:18preeminent medical journals and instead have HHS just publish more reports like their

04:22Maha failed assessment, lacking the scientific rigor, accuracy, or peer-reviewed criteria that

04:29are required by leading journals, should worry us all for the future of medicine and innovation.

04:35Sir, you mentioned that building trust was a priority number seven.

04:39You have failed already in building that trust.

04:42How can we trust you when in your report, under your leadership, when you're the chair of

04:47this report, has false information and makes up research that didn't even exist?

04:54So, Chairman, I yield back the reminder of my time.

05:00Gentleman yields the chair now recognition.

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