Secretary of State Marco Rubio is accusing USAID of ‘rank insubordination,’ adding ‘we had no choice but to bring this thing under control.’  The top U.S. diplomat made the comments in an exclusive interview with Fox News in El Salvador, just after announcing he would take over as acting director of the humanitarian agency.  

Rubio blasted USAID for being ‘completely unresponsive’ telling Fox ‘they don’t consider that they work for the U.S., they just think they’re a global entity and that their master is the globe and not the United States, and that’s not what the statute says, and that’s not sustainable.’

Rubio refused to say whether the agency ‘needs to die,’ as DOGE chief Elon Musk is suggesting, instead stressing the goal was always to reform it.  

‘There are things that we do through USAID that we should continue to do, that make sense, and we’ll have to decide, is that better through the State Department or is that better through something, you know, a reformed USAID? That’s the process we’re working through.’

Despite plans for restructuring, Rubio said the United States would remain the ‘most generous nation on Earth,’ but added, in a way that makes sense, that’s in our national interests.

Asked if changes to USAID would open the door for Communist China to increase its influence around the world, Rubio said ‘No, I mean, first of all, they don’t do that now. If they did, they’d be out there competing with us in these places. But my point is this, even if they did that, why would we fund things that are against our national interests or don’t further our national interests, whether China is there or not? If China wants to waste our money on something that’s against their China, their national interests, go ahead and do it. We’re not going to do it.’

Monday evening, the group and labor union that represents U.S. foreign service workers, released a statement opposing the Trump administration’s actions regarding USAID. ‘The American Foreign Service Association (AFSA) strongly objects to the administration’s decision to dismantle the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). This will undermine U.S. national security, may subvert Congressional authority, and demonstrates a lack of respect for the dedication of the development professionals who serve America’s interests abroad.’

The wide-ranging interview came after Rubio’s visit to Panama and amidst repeated warnings from President Trump that the United State would ‘take back’ the Panama Canal over concerns the Chinese have de facto operational control over it.

Following his visit with the Panamanian President, Jose Raul Mulino announced the central American nation would leave China’s Belt and Road initiative. Rubio welcomes the move but tells Fox that’s not enough and that he hopes to see ‘additional steps in the days to come.’

President Trump announced 30-day pauses on tariffs on Mexico and Canada. Rubio acknowledge that ‘changes our economic relationship with our closest neighbors,’ adding the State Department is not involved in any negotiations to make Canada the 51st state.

Despite Venezuela’s recent move to release U.S. hostages and accept migrants living illegally in the US, Secretary Rubio said there are still no plans to recognize the Maduro regime as legitimate.  Rubio added ‘Maduro knows the US has many options to inflict serious damage on his regime.’

Rubio, who is of Cuban descent, says he has ‘no intention’ of going to Havana as America’s top diplomat ‘other than to discuss when they’re going to leave.’ Rubio continues his western hemisphere trip Tuesday with stops in Costa Rica and Guatemala.

President Donald Trump’s attorney general nominee, Pam Bondi, will now move on to a final Senate floor vote for confirmation after senators voted to invoke cloture and limit the remaining floor debate.

Bondi, the former Florida attorney general who also spent 18 years as a prosecutor in Hillsborough County, earned praise this month for her composure during her confirmation hearing, which stretched for nearly six hours. She was also praised for her ability to deftly navigate thorny and politically tricky topics and lines of questioning from some would-be detractors. 

By a vote of 52-46, the Senate invoked cloture on the nomination on Monday night, defeating the legislative filibuster.

If confirmed, Bondi stressed, her primary goal would be to enforce federal law without political considerations.

‘Politics has to be taken out of this system,’ Bondi told the Senate Judiciary Committee, a refrain she returned to multiple times during her conversations with lawmakers.  

‘This department has been weaponized for years and years and years, and it has to stop,’ she said. 

Bondi’s experience and composure in her meetings with lawmakers, as well as during the confirmation hearing itself, won wide praise from Republicans on the panel, as well as some Democrats, who voted last week to approve her nomination. 

The vote clears Bondi’s nomination to the Senate floor for a full chamber vote.

Bondi’s experience also earned the backing of former senior officials at the Justice Department, who urged lawmakers in a letter this month to swiftly move to confirm her.

In letters previewed exclusively to Fox News Digital, the more than 110 senior Justice Department officials, including former U.S. attorneys general John Ashcroft, Jeff Sessions, Bill Barr and Edwin Meese, expressed their ‘strong and enthusiastic support’ for Bondi, praising both her commitment to the rule of law and her track record as Florida’s former attorney general that they said make her uniquely qualified for the role.

‘It is all too rare for senior Justice Department officials—much less Attorneys General—to have such a wealth of experience in the day-to-day work of keeping our communities safe,’ they wrote.

She was also backed by dozens of former Republican and Democratic state attorneys general, who sent a letter urging her confirmation earlier this month.

‘Many of us have worked directly with Attorney General Bondi and have firsthand knowledge of her fitness for the office,’ the former attorneys general said in the letter, also exclusively previewed to Fox News Digital. ‘We believe that her wealth of prosecutorial experience and commitment to public service make General Bondi a highly qualified nominee for Attorney General of the United States.’ 

Members of the Senate Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry Committee voted favorably Monday for President Donald Trump’s nominee, Brooke Rollins, to head up the Department of Agriculture (USDA), a widely expected outcome that clears her for a vote in the full Senate later this week.

Rollins was passed favorably out of committee on a unanimous vote. 

Rollins, who served as a White House aide during Trump’s first administration and then as the president and CEO of the America First Policy Institute, is widely viewed as an uncontroversial nominee. 

Her nomination earned the backing of a coalition of more than 415 farmers, agricultural, and growers groups earlier this month. Signatories urged the Senate to swiftly confirm Rollins, praising what they described as her foundational knowledge of agriculture, as well as her policy and business bona fides that they said made her uniquely qualified for the role of U.S. agriculture secretary.

The committee vote comes at a crucial time for U.S. growers’ groups and agribusinesses across the country. Lawmakers in Congress have stalled on a new farm bill and on other key priorities for farmers and industry groups.

They also failed to secure the full extent of farm aid and agriculture subsidies considered necessary by many groups in their eleventh-hour government spending bill passed late last month. 

Rollins vowed at her confirmation hearing that, if approved, she would use her post as agriculture secretary to embark on a ‘fast and furious’ effort to distribute those funds to farmers, ranchers, and rural communities. She also vowed to combat fast-spreading animal disease in the U.S. and North America, including bird flu, which has hampered the poultry industry and sent egg prices soaring. 

If confirmed, Rollins said last week, she would ‘immediately begin to modernize, realign, rethink the United States Department of Agriculture.’

‘We understand that serving all American agriculture and all the American people means ensuring that our rural communities are equipped and supported to prosper, not just today, but tomorrow and the day after that in the many tomorrows to come,’ she told lawmakers.

Those supporting Rollins’ nomination have also praised her ‘close working relationship’ with the president, which they said will ‘ensure that agriculture and rural America have a prominent and influential voice at the table when critical decisions are made in the White House.’

Rollins was not expected to face staunch opposition to her nomination to head up the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and lawmakers who have spoken out have largely praised both her experience and strong knowledge of the agriculture sector. 

The U.S. Agency for International Development’s fate is hanging in the balance as the second Trump administration’s Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, is working on an apparent overhaul of the agency. 

A review of USAID’s recent history shows that it repeatedly has been accused of financial mismanagement and corruption long before Donald Trump’s second administration, Fox News Digital found. 

Tech billionaire and DOGE Chair Elon Musk has been on a warpath against USAID — which is an independent U.S. agency that was established under the Kennedy administration to administer economic aid to foreign nations — as he leads DOGE’s mission of cutting government fat and overspending at the federal level. 

Musk announced in an audio-only message on X overnight on Sunday that ‘we’re in the process’ of ‘shutting down USAID’ and that Trump reportedly agreed to shutter the agency.

‘With regard to the USAID stuff, I went over [it] with him in detail, and he agreed that we should shut it down,’ he said. ‘I actually checked with him a few times [and] said, ‘Are you sure?’’ 

He added that Trump responded, ‘Yes.’ 

As of Monday morning, hundreds of USAID employees reported they were locked out of the agency’s computer system and that its headquarters in Washington, D.C., was closed on Monday. 

On X, Musk has railed against the organization as rife with ‘marxists’ and is operating as a ‘criminal organization.’ 

‘USAID is a criminal organization. Time for it to die,’ Musk posted to X on Sunday. 

‘USAID was a viper’s nest of radical-left marxists who hate America,’ he said in another message. 

Trump repeatedly proposed slashing the nation’s foreign aid budget for USAID and the State Department during his first administration, including proposing in his first year in office to slash the budgets by 37%, which Congress rejected. 

‘With $20 trillion in debt, the government must learn to tighten its belt,’ Trump said back in 2017 while advocating for the cuts.

His rebuke of foreign aid stretches back even further to his 2016 presidential run, outlining in his famed candidacy speech next to the golden elevator at Trump Tower that the nation must ‘stop sending foreign aid to countries that hate us.’

‘It is necessary that we invest in our infrastructure, stop sending foreign aid to countries that hate us and use that money to rebuild our tunnels, roads, bridges and schools — and nobody can do that better than me,’ he said in his 2015 speech announcing his candidacy for president. 

Fox News Digital looked back at the controversies USAID has faced in recent years, finding a bevy of allegations, including that the agency reportedly helped fund terrorist organizations and Chinese groups, and that its watchdog allegedly omitted negative findings from publicly published reports. 

Fox News Digital reached out to the White House for comment regarding the following USAID allegations in light of DOGE’s targeting of the agency, but did not immediately receive a reply. 

Sen. Tom Cotton warns taxpayer money diverted to Hamas 

Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., sent a blistering letter to Biden-era USAID administrator Samantha Power in October 2024, sounding the alarm on the ‘likely misuse of more than one billion dollars in U.S. humanitarian aid sent to Gaza since October 2023,’ Fox Digital reported at the time. 

‘As I predicted would happen from the outset, credible reporting indicates that Hamas terrorists have diverted this aid; indisputable evidence demonstrates that the aid was always at high risk of diversion,’ he continued, pointing to U.S. aid that was delivered to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), whichhe said has apparent ties to Hamas. 

Trump ended funding to UNRWA in 2018, when his first administration described the UN agency as an ‘irredeemably flawed operation.’

Cotton pinned blame on the Biden-Harris administration for the ‘likely misuse,’ seething that ‘in all likelihood,’ the ‘administration has prolonged the Gaza war, allowed aid to flow to Israel’s enemies, and misused taxpayer funds.’

‘Your agency announced approximately $336 million in additional humanitarian funding for Gaza, Judea, and Samaria. On the same day, the United Nations acknowledged that Fateh al-Sharif, a Hamas leader in Lebanon killed in an Israeli airstrike, was employed by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency. UNRWA, a major USAID partner before October 7, remains a chief conduit for UN humanitarian assistance in Gaza despite extensive evidence of its ties to Hamas,’ he continued. 

USAID pushed back on the claims in comment to Fox Digital at the time, saying it does not fund UNRWA. President Joe Biden halted U.S. funding to UNWRA in March of 2024 for one year. 

‘USAID does not provide any funding to UNRWA, nor did we do so prior to October 7, 2023,’ the spokesperson said in October 2024. ‘In addition to extensive risk mitigation procedures, USAID works closely with the Government of Israel to assist with the coordination of and discuss potential risks to all humanitarian assistance entering Gaza. USAID has not received evidence from the Government of Israel, our partners, or other sources to support the claims in Senator Cotton’s letter.’ 

Cotton’s office responded to the statement: ‘Administrator Power and USAID do not have an adequate vetting process to ensure that American taxpayer dollars do not end up with terrorists. If a terrorist front organization like UNRWA is the only ‘distribution system’ in Gaza, Power should reconsider sending aid there in the first place. Our tax dollars should not fund a group that has assisted in the kidnapping and murder of Americans.’ 

Syrian national charged with diverting millions in funding to terrorist organization 

A Syrian national named Mahmoud Al Hafyan, 53, was charged in November 2024 for allegedly diverting more than $9 million in U.S.-funded humanitarian aid to terrorist groups, including the Al-Nusrah Front. The Al-Nusrah Front, also known as Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham, is a designated terrorist organization with ties to al-Qaeda, according to the State Department.

USAID’s office of the inspector general outlined in its press release on Al Hafyan’s 12-count indictment that the U.S. had awarded $122 million to the Syrian national’s NGO between 2015 and 2019. The funds were intended for food kits to bolster citizens amid Syria’s bloody civil war. He is accused, however, of directing the food kits to the Al-Nusrah Front, as well as selling them on the black market, according to the press release. 

‘This defendant not only defrauded the U.S. government, but he also gave the humanitarian aid he stole to a foreign terrorist organization,’ said U.S. Attorney Matthew Graves said at the time. ‘While this foreign terrorist organization fought with the cruel al-Assad regime, the people who were supposed to receive the aid suffered.  This office has a history of pursuing criminals around the globe, no matter how many years it takes, and will do all it can to ensure that Mahmoud Al Hafyan is held accountable for these crimes.’

Former USAID administrator repeatedly meets with Soros foundation 

Samantha Power — the Biden administration’s USAID administrator and former U.S. ambassador to the UN under former President Barack Obama’s tenure — was discovered to have repeatedly met with left-wing groups such as George Soros’ Open Society Foundations while serving as the foreign aid agency’s administrator, Fox Digital reported in 2023. 

Power met with George Soros’ Open Society Foundations at least two times and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation at least five times, Fox Digital reported. She also held meetings with other powerful groups, such as the Ford and Rockefeller foundations, according to 700 pages of internal calendar entries that stretched back to 2021 and were obtained by Fox News Digital in 2023. 

USAID brushed off Power’s string of meetings with powerful left-wing groups as part of her official role and USAID’s mission to fight a spate of global issues ranging from poverty to education. 

‘Administrator Power meets with a wide variety of officials and sectors to discuss USAID’s mission to reduce extreme poverty, fight child malnutrition, spur economic growth, expand educational opportunities around the world, and build resilient global health systems,’ a USAID spokesperson told Fox News Digital in 2023. ‘Working with philanthropies and the private sector to catalyze resources to tackle these complex global challenges is important to improving the quality of life for people around the world.’

Taxpayer funds directed to Chinese entities known for coronavirus research

The Government Accountability Office (GAO) published a report in 2023 finding that both USAID and the National Institutes of Health directed taxpayer funds to American universities and a nonprofit organization before the money found its way to Chinese groups, including the Wuhan Institute of Virology.

The report found that between 2014 and 2021, U.S. taxpayer funds were redirected to entities including the Wuhan Institute of Virology, the Wuhan University and the Academy of Military Medical Sciences, which is part of the Chinese Communist Party. The three groups each received more than $2 million combined from the U.S. government ‘through seven subawards,’ according to the GAO report.

‘The selected entities are government institutions or laboratories in China that conduct work on infectious diseases, including pandemic viruses, and have had actions taken by federal agencies to address safety or security concerns,’ the report states. ‘All three selected Chinese entities received funds.’

In January, the CIA under the second Trump administration released an updated assessment on the origins of COVID-19, favoring the theory that the contagious disease was due to a lab leak. The CIA previously had maintained that it did not have sufficient evidence to conclude whether COVID originated in a lab or a ‘wet market’ in Wuhan, China.

USAID accused of removing negative findings from inspector general reports 

Eight auditors and employees for the USAID inspector general’s office sounded the alarm to the Washington Post in 2014 that negative findings surrounding the agency’s work were removed from final reports and audits.

In the wake of the 2011 Egyptian Revolution, for example, USAID established NGO-led, pro-democracy programs in the nation, though the NGO workers were not registered to work in the country, the Washington Post reported in 2014. Egypt arrested 43 NGO workers, including 16 Americans, for operating illegally in the country, with USAID quietly paying Egypt $4.6 million to bail out the Americans, according to the report. 

When auditors questioned the bail payment to the Egyptian government in a draft IG report, the findings were not included in the final report that was made publicly available just months later. Instead, the 21-page draft report was whittled down to a nine-page report. The auditors and employees who spoke to the outlet reported that negative comments were removed from various audits between 2011 and 2013.

‘The office is a watchdog not doing its job,’ a retired audit supervisor at the inspector general’s office told the outlet. ‘It’s just easier for upper management to go along to get along. The message is: ‘Don’t make waves, don’t report any problems.’’

Secretary of State Marco Rubio told reporters on Monday that he is now the acting director of USAID. 

‘USAID is not functioning. It has to be aligned with U.S. policy. It needs to be aligned with the national interest of the U.S.,’ he told reporters while in El Salvador. ‘They’re not a global charity. These are taxpayer dollars. People are asking simple questions. What are they doing with the money? We are spending taxpayers money. We owe the taxpayers assurances that it furthers our national interest.’

‘I am the acting director,’ he confirmed when asked if he is now in charge. ‘Our goal was to allow our foreign aid with the national interest. It has been 20 or 30 years. They have tried to reform it. That will not continue.’ 

Rubio became the Trump administration’s first confirmed cabinet member on Jan. 20. Days after his confirmation, the State Department announced a pause on all U.S. foreign assistance funded by or through the State Department and USAID out of an effort to ensure current American policies reflect Trump’s administration’s priorities. 

‘Consistent with President Trump’s Executive Order on Reevaluating and Realigning United States Foreign Aid, Secretary [Marco] Rubio has paused all U.S. foreign assistance funded by or through the State Department and U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) for review,’ the statement read. ‘He is initiating a review of all foreign assistance programs to ensure they are efficient and consistent with U.S. foreign policy under the America First agenda. President Trump stated clearly that the United States is no longer going to blindly dole out money with no return for the American people.’

Fox News Digital’s Brooke Singman, Benjamin Weinthal and Morgan Phillips contributed to this report. 

The Federal Bureau of Investigation Agent’s Association (FBIAA) sent a letter to House and Senate leaders Monday raising ‘urgent concerns’ over recent actions taken by acting DOJ and FBI personnel, which they say could threaten the careers of thousands of employees and risks disrupting the bureau’s essential work.

The FBIAA, a voluntary professional association representing more than 14,000 active and retired FBI special agents, cited in particular the order from acting Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove to terminate the entire FBI senior leadership team, and the assistant director in charge of the Washington Field Office, as well as the order for bureau employees to compile lists of all current and former personnel who worked on investigations related to January 6, 2021, and a Hamas-related case.

The FBIAA said the lists ‘will be used to determine whether those individuals should face additional personnel actions,’ though the Trump administration has not yet said it will move to take action against individuals involved. 

Still, the group said, the recent actions taken by the Trump administration have given them reason for concern.

‘Put simply, Special Agents who risk their lives protecting this country from criminals and terrorists are now being placed on lists and having their careers jeopardized for carrying out the orders they were given by their superiors in the FBI,’ the group said, saying the actions both lack ‘transparency and due process,’ and ‘are creating dangerous distractions, imperiling ongoing investigations, and undermining the Bureau’s ability to work with state, local, and international partners to make America safe again.’

President Donald Trump declined to answer questions on Monday over whether his administration would remove FBI employees involved in the investigation into the Jan. 6, 2021, U.S. Capitol riot, telling reporters only that he believes the bureau is ‘corrupt’ and that his nominee for FBI director, Kash Patel, will ‘straighten it out.’

‘I think the FBI was a very corrupt institution, and I’m a victim of it in the true sense,’ Trump told Fox News, adding that he believes the bureau’s reputation has been ‘damaged badly, as has the DOJ’s.’

‘But you know what, we have to have pristine, beautiful, perfect law enforcement,’ Trump said.

Former Justice Department officials have cited concerns that the actions could have an incredibly chilling effect on the work of the FBI, including its more than 52 separate field offices, whose agents have decades of experience in detecting and responding to counterterrorism threats, organized and violent crime, drug trafficking, and more.

One retired FBI agent urged calm, noting to Fox News that the acting director and deputy director of the FBI still remain in place. This person also stressed that the Jan. 6 investigation and the FBI personnel involved in investigating each case ‘fully followed Bureau and DOJ guidelines,’ and that violations of federal statutes were ‘proven beyond a reasonable doubt in federal courts of law.’

‘While convictions may be overturned or pardoned, nothing changes the original nexus of a federal investigation,’ this person said.

This is a breaking news story. Check back soon for updates.

The Trump administration is revamping agency websites to be rid of climate change-filled content, amid a widespread rebranding of federal departments from content deemed as not aligning with President Donald Trump’s agenda.

Since taking office two weeks ago, Trump has ordered federal departments to remove particular content from their websites, including mentions of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) and ‘gender ideology.’

A Fox News Digital review found that climate change pages on both the Forest Service and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) websites appear to be down and are not currently functioning. When accessed, the pages are blank with only the statement, ‘You are not authorized to access this page.’

The scrub comes after it was reported that the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) ordered officials to review references to climate change on their websites.

Additionally, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) does not list climate change on the drop bar of its ‘environmental topics.’ Climate and climate change are still referenced on some parts of the website, but they are linked or mentioned on the homepage.

The scrubbing comes after the Trump administration put a short pause on most federal government websites on Friday evening in an effort to eliminate DEI, Fox News Digital previously reported.

The move mirrors a similar rebranding of government websites during Trump’s first term, where he also removed references to climate change or climate change effects from several federal departments online pages.

Trump targeted the Biden administration’s green energy agenda in his first slew of executive orders, withdrawing the U.S. from the Paris Climate Agreement, getting rid of the electric vehicle (EV) mandate, and doing away with its climate emissions target. 

Fox News Digital reached out to the White House, USDA and EPA for comment.

Fox News Digital’s Brooke Singman contributed to this report.

Amid scrutiny over Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s pledge to transfer his financial interest in vaccine lawsuits to his family, legal experts have criticized the move but note that Kennedy’s approach is not significantly different from actions taken by other public officials in the past.

During Kennedy’s confirmation hearings last week, the potential next secretary of Health and Human Services was probed over his financial stake in personal-injury lawsuits tied to vaccines, in particular his ties to a suit against pharmaceutical company Merck and its Gardasil cervical cancer vaccine. While Kennedy would not initially commit to letting go of his stake against Merck, he reversed course in a written response to lawmakers’ questions following a hearing, noting he would amend his pledge and ‘will divest my interest in any such litigation via an assignment to my non-dependent, adult son.’

While some legal experts have argued the move does not go far enough to quash potential conflicts for Kennedy, others say this approach is akin to that taken by several other public officials who have found themselves in a similar situation. Meanwhile, one legal expert suggested to Fox News Digital that the pass from Kennedy to his son ‘is more than sufficient to meet any ethical concerns.’

‘That may comply with ordinary conflict of interest issues,’ Jim Copland, director of legal policy at the Manhattan Institute, said. ‘I just don’t think the head of the Department of Health and Human Services has any business being involved in any way with litigation against Merck.’ 

Fellow Manhattan Institute legal expert Ilya Shapiro said he is unsure whether Kennedy’s move will suffice in avoiding any real conflict, but added that he did recognize ‘it’s not unusual in light of past examples.’ 

Both Democrats and Republicans have used family to shield themselves from ethics complaints related to their personal business dealings, with former President Joe Biden being a recent and notable example after a multi-year probe into his family business dealings that found both his son and brother were engaged in risky business relationships with foreign entities, such as China. Biden has repeatedly denied his involvement in those business dealings.

Former Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi similarly sought to defend her family’s business dealings after it was revealed her husband was making money investing in companies that had business in front of his wife. In response to questions from reporters about whether she agreed with efforts to ban federal lawmakers’ spouses from trading in stocks, Pelosi replied that ‘they should be able to participate in that.’

Other notable figures who have used their families to shield their personal business dealings include President Donald Trump, who handed over control of his Trump Organization business empire to his sons, and the late Sen. Dianne Feinstein, whose investor husband, Richard Blum, managed investments through his firm Blum Capital Partners that often intersected with his wife’s work while she was in Congress.

‘It is my opinion that RFK, Jr.’s plan to pass on any financial stake in possible vaccine injuries to his son is more than sufficient to meet any ethical concerns,’ Hans von Spakovsky, a senior legal fellow at the Heritage Foundation, told Fox News Digital. ‘This is particularly true because of the limitations imposed by federal law on any claims made against vaccine manufacturers that severely limit possible compensation for anyone claiming a vaccine was somehow defective.’

Spakovsky posited that the federal government’s National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program, which prohibits civil litigation against drugmakers and instead directs the federal government to administer any vaccine-injury payments, serves to buffer the impact Kennedy could potentially have on vaccine-related injury payments. 

‘RFK would have no authority whatsoever [over this program],’ he said. ‘The point is that all of this is so disconnected from RFK, Jr.’s potential Cabinet position if he is confirmed, that anyone who says this is a ‘serious’ ethics problem is wrong.’

Copland, who agreed with Spakovsky that the vaccine compensation program diminishes much of Kennedy’s advantage, said RFK Jr. could still benefit in an indirect manner. 

‘I think it’s a more concerning conflict of interest than just saying, ‘Oh, you own a lot of equity interest in some company that may incidentally benefit you know,’’ Copland said. ‘I mean, if you had a Defense Department secretary who was a CEO of a major military contractor, and then he passes that off to his son, I think you’d still have a concern about that due to the obvious conflict of interest there, which is different than a sort of ordinary, ‘Oh, I own a company, and it’s going to, incidentally, benefit from the government.”

Fox News legal analyst Andy McCarthy was more critical of Kennedy’s decision to pass off his financial interests to his son, noting that the fact he is ‘struggling to come up with a scheme to retain his stake, rather than doing the obvious right thing by abandoning it, underscores that this is a real conflict of interest.’

‘The comparison to family asset transfers in other contexts is inapposite and, in any event, misses the point,’ McCarthy said. ‘Whatever one thinks of President Trump’s arrangements regarding his family business, voters knew about that business and elected him anyway – and the president is not in a position to recuse himself from executive decision-making based on conflicts of interest. By contrast, Kennedy wasn’t elected by anyone.’

McCarthy added that after years ‘of justifiably complaining that President Biden was corruptly enriched by payments… made to his son and brother,’ he finds it hard to believe ‘that Republicans can turn a blind eye to a financial stake, which would create a significant conflict of interest for RFK Jr. as HHS secretary, on the pretext that he plans to transfer the stake to his son.’