Trump Administration Live Updates: Kennedy Testifies Before Congress
What We’re Covering Today
“Health Department: Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is testifying before Congress on Thursday for the first time this year, starting a series of hearings on Capitol Hill that will set up the political debate over American health policy heading into the midterm elections. The first of two appearances on Thursday began with Mr. Kennedy assailing the policies of his predecessors and emphasizing his efforts to change Americans’ diets. His opening remarks steered clear of vaccine policy and other controversial actions the administration has taken. Read more ›
Homeland Security: The leaders of Customs and Border Protection, Immigration and Customs Enforcement and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services are appearing in front of the House Appropriations Committee. It is their first congressional hearing since Markwayne Mullin took over the Homeland Security Department, and questions around detention, enforcement and the future of mass deportation will be front and center.
Secretary Kennedy told Representative Danny Davis, a Chicago Democrat and elder statesman of the Congressional Black Caucus, that the Trump administration is working to reduce maternal mortality among Black women — a point that Davis disputed, citing steep cuts to Medicaid, which covers 40 percent of all births. Kennedy also used his exchange with Davis to take a swipe at other members of Congress. “They’ve all shut me up,” Kennedy complained, adding, “They give a little speech that they can go and market, you know, for fundraising, and then they don’t allow me to answer the question.”
President Trump’s grant of clemency to the nursing home entrepreneur Joseph Schwartz, who served only three months of a three-year sentence for tax crimes, has emerged as an issue in Secretary Kennedy’s appearance. Schwartz’s nursing home empire collapsed amid allegations of endangering residents and defrauding employees.
Representative Lloyd Doggett, Democrat of Texas, demanded to know why the president was treating wealthy people like Schwartz with leniency while the administration’s fraud efforts are directed at “the mother that’s trying to protect the sick child.” Kennedy sought to deflect the question.
Representative Mike Thompson, a California Democrat, asked the secretary if he has a medical degree — he said he does not — and accused Kennedy of undermining vaccines and “helping make diseases deadly again.” He showed a chart displaying rising measles cases in the country. As measles cases spread, public health experts now fear the U.S. will lose its measles elimination status.
The committee chairman, Representative Jason Smith, a farmer and Missouri Republican, gave the secretary a not-too-subtle warning not to pursue policies that would reduce farmers’ yields. Kennedy is a strong proponent of regenerative farming, and the Trump administration has been roiled by debates over the weedkiller glyphosate, which is used by many American farmers but is a suspected carcinogen. “I would like to stress the importance of modern agriculture practices in producing a healthy, affordable and sustainable food supply,” Smith said.
The secretary said he was bringing on new members of the U.S.P.S.T.F., an influential task force that plays a key role in making preventive screenings and medications accessible to millions of Americans. The committee has not met since March 2025.
In his opening statement, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. turned to his familiar talking points, saying that Americans are facing an epidemic of chronic disease fueled by past policies. He emphasized new dietary guidelines and the push to phase out some food dyes, while staying away from vaccines and the more controversial actions the administration has taken.
The three most politically powerful men in America — President Trump, Vice President JD Vance and Speaker Mike Johnson — have intensified their criticism of Pope Leo XIV, who has repeatedly spoken about Roman Catholic Church teaching against war and for peace in recent days.
Their fight is not simply political. It is fundamentally religious, as the Republican leaders are now arguing with the pope over theology to support the U.S. and Israeli military campaign in Iran.
Senior Department of Homeland Security officials now testifying before the House Appropriations Committee have lamented the ongoing shutdown of the agency. “Seven months into the fiscal year, C.B.P. has been shut down more than we’ve been open,” said Rodney Scott, head of the U.S. Customs and Border Protection.
Senator Lindsey Graham, Republican of South Carolina and chairman of the chamber’s budget committee, sketched out his party’s latest thinking about the future of immigration and military spending. At a hearing on the president’s 2027 budget, Graham said that he hoped to invoke the special legislative process known as reconciliation to fund border patrol and I.C.E. “through the president’s term.” That limited package, he said, was meant as a response to an ongoing shutdown at the Department of Homeland Security.
Graham also recommended that Congress could handle extra money for defense — including the war in Iran — as part of a supplemental funding package that would be coupled with “some things that my Democratic colleagues want.” But if that falls, Graham said that he would encourage President Trump to pursue “another reconciliation bill for defense.”
The United States military said it had struck a boat in the eastern Pacific Ocean on Wednesday, killing three people that it accused of smuggling drugs.
The U.S. Southern Command, which oversees military operations in Latin America and the Caribbean, announced the strike on social media. It shared a 20-second video showing a boat engulfed with bright light as it moves through water. Seconds later, the boat appears to continue floating while aflame.
The California Supreme Court on Wednesday ordered the lawyer John Eastman disbarred for his role in seeking to overturn the 2020 election in favor of Donald J. Trump.
Mr. Eastman had concocted a legal strategy to put forward fake electors for Mr. Trump in several swing states that the candidate had lost in order to have Congress block or delay certification of Joseph R. Biden Jr.’s victory on Jan. 6, 2021.“
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