TV News LIES

House members got their first opportunity Thursday to grill Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., as he kicked off a marathon series of seven congressional hearings in seven days with back-to-back hearings in the Ways and Means and Appropriations Committees.

In the two appearances, his first before Congress in 2026, Kennedy defended his record in leading the nation’s health agency as Democrats sought to push back against proposed budget cuts and changes to vaccine policy.

Kennedy faced a very different political environment from the one in which he appeared before Congress seven months ago, when his “Make America Healthy Again” (MAHA) movement seemed to be at its most politically powerful.

Kennedy and his allies last year overhauled the childhood vaccine schedule to recommend fewer shots while also shaking up key leadership positions across health agencies.

But with an eye on the 2026 midterm elections, the White House wants Kennedy to stop talking about vaccines and focus on other MAHA “wins.”

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I am a proud Jewish American. My father fled Poland in 1921 to escape poverty and antisemitism. Those in his family who stayed were murdered by the Nazis. Since childhood, I have known very well where antisemitism, racism, fanaticism and demagoguery lead.

So let me be clear. Speaking out against the horrific and inhumane actions of Israel, and its extremist leader, Benjamin Netanyahu, is not antisemitic. Speaking out about the dangerous and destructive role that Israel plays in shaping US foreign and military policy is not antisemitic. It is, in fact, what every member of Congress and every American should be doing.

On 7 October 2023, Hamas, a terrorist organization, attacked Israel. They killed more than 1,200 innocent men, women and children and took hundreds of hostages. Like any other country, Israel had the absolute right to respond to the Hamas attack. But they did not have the right to violate international law and wage an all-out war of enormous destruction against the entire Palestinian people – in what experts have correctly concluded is a genocide.

They did not have the right, out of a population of 2.2 million, to kill more than 72,000 Palestinians in Gaza and wound over 170,000 - the majority of whom are women, children and the elderly. They did not have the right to destroy almost all of Gaza’s infrastructure, including its water and sewer systems and its supply of electricity.
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They did not have the right to demolish every one of Gaza’s 12 universities, along with hundreds of schools – dismantling their entire educational system. They did not have the right to damage or destroy over 90% of the housing units in Gaza, resulting in the vast majority of the population now sleeping in tents.

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A striking 40 Democratic and allied senators voted to block a shipment of American-made bulldozers to Israel on Wednesday. The vote represented the biggest-ever rejection from Congress of American military aid for the country, demonstrating that widespread public frustration with devastating U.S.-Israeli cooperation — in Palestine, Lebanon, Iran and beyond — is resonating among lawmakers to a new degree.

The legislators supported a bill led by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) that presented a historic chance for Democrats to signal opposition to both the Trump administration and the pattern of largely unquestioned U.S. support for Israel that predates Donald Trump’s presidencies. Though the legislation could not pass, given unanimous Republican support for arming Israel, the number of senators backing it was widely understood as a measure of skepticism of the U.S.-Israel status quo.

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Representative Tony Gonzales, a Republican from Texas, announced on Monday he was stepping down from Congress after acknowledging an extramarital affair with a staffer.

Gonzales, who was facing a growing threat of expulsion by his colleagues, admitted last month that he had an affair with an aide who later died by suicide.

“There is a season for everything and God has a plan for us all. When Congress returns tomorrow, I will file my retirement from office. It has been my privilege to serve the great people of Texas,” Gonzales wrote on X.

His announcement came hours after Eric Swalwell, a Democratic representative, said he was resigning from Congress following multiple allegations of sexual assault and misconduct.

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Rep. Eric Swalwell announced on Sunday, April 12, that he is suspending his campaign for California governor after several women accused him of sexual assault and misconduct.

"I am suspending my campaign for Governor. To my family, staff, friends, and supporters, I am deeply sorry for mistakes in judgment I've made in my past. I will fight the serious, false allegations that have been made - but that's my fight, not a campaign's," the Democratic congressman said in a statement on X.

The announcement comes after several prominent Democrats withdrew their support for the congressman and called on Swalwell, the leading Democratic frontrunner in the polls, to drop out of California's gubernatorial race. Last week, the San Francisco Chronicle and CNN reported that a woman who previously worked in Swalwell's district office accused him of two non-consensual sexual encounters.

CNN also reported that three other women made sexual misconduct allegations against Swalwell. He has repeatedly denied the allegations, calling them "absolutely false" and vowing to fight them.

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Rep. Eric Swalwell’s (D-Calif.) campaign for California governor lost two co-chairs and key endorsements on Friday after the San Francisco Chronicle reported on allegations that he sexually assaulted a former staffer.

The Chronicle reported that a woman who previously worked for Swalwell alleged that he sexually assaulted her twice when she was too intoxicated to consent. The Hill has not independently verified these claims. Swalwell denied the allegations in a statement to the outlet.

“These allegations are false and come on the eve of an election against the frontrunner for governor,” Swalwell told the Chronicle. The Hill has reached out to his campaign for additional comment.

In the wake of the reporting, Rep. Jimmy Gomez (D-Calif.) resigned as co-chair of Swalwell’s campaign and called on the congressman to “leave the race now so there can be full accountability without doubt, distraction or delay.” The other campaign co-chair, Rep. Adam Gray (D-Calif.), wrote on the social platform X that he is withdrawing his support of Swalwell and urged the gubernatorial candidate to end his campaign.

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