Rep. Haley Stevens (D-Mich.) filed articles of impeachment against Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Wednesday, accusing him of abusing the powers of his office and undermining public health, putting Americans’ lives at risk.
He “has got to go,” Stevens said in a video announcing the impeachment articles. In an accompanying press statement, she said Kennedy, who rose to prominence as an ardent anti-vaccine activist, “has turned his back on science, on public health, and on the American people—spreading conspiracies and lies, driving up costs, and putting lives at risk.” She called him the “biggest self-created threat to our health and safety.”
It is very unlikely that an impeachment push will gain traction in the Republican-controlled Congress. No other Democratic lawmakers are backing the articles.
But such a move does have strong support among the scientific, medical, and public health communities. In September, the American College of Physicians independently called for Kennedy’s removal, similarly claiming his actions have “undermined and destabilized our public health infrastructure, shown a blatant disregard for decades of evidence-based, proven science, and have spread dangerous medical misinformation, sowing chaos and confusion and putting lives at risk.” Later that month, more medical and health organizations, led by the Infectious Disease Society of America and including the American Public Health Association, released a joint statement calling for Kennedy’s removal. The statement has now been cosigned by more than 50 health and medical organizations.