By Molly Goddard
11:41am PST, Jan 29, 2025
Team
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. suffered an embarrassing blunder before his confirmation hearing.
On Tuesday, January 28,
Nicole Shanahan — who was the
independent politician's running mate during his failed 2024 election bid — took to X, formerly known as Twitter, to threaten to primary senators who vote against Kennedy Jr.'s nomination as Secretary of Health and Human Services. However, the billionaire's horrible pronunciation of a civil servant's last name caught people's attention.
Join us in hearing Shanahan's threatening message to politicians…
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"He is more than qualified," the Santa Clara University School of Law alum, 39, said in a video shared to the platform defending Kennedy Jr.
"He's proven, principled and prepared to lead. I'll list I'll share a list below of key
senators. If they represent your state, they need to hear from you. If they don't, please call your own senator and ask them to vote yes," she continued.
Shanahan then zeroed in on the senators she was banking on to vote in her favor. "The two candidates I helped elect, Senator
Raphael Warnock and Senator
Jon Ossoff, please know I will be watching your votes very closely," she emphasized of the Democrats from Georgia.
"I will make it my personal mission that you lose your seats in the Senate if you vote against the future health of America's children," the mother-of-one stated.
As Shanahan continued her rant, she slipped up when pronouncing
Lisa Murkowski. "And more than that, I also want to say to Senators
Mitch McConnell,
Lindsey Graham, Lisa Markovsky," she said, completely butchering the Republican from Alaska's last name.
"
Susan Collins,
Bill Cassidy,
Thom Tillis,
James Lankford,
Cory Booker,
John Fetterman,
Bernie Sanders and
Catherine Cortez Masto," the Silicon Valley lawyer went on.
"This is a
bipartisan message and it comes directly from me. While Bobby may be willing to play nice. I won't. If you vote against him, I will personally fund challengers to primary you in your next election and I will enlist hundreds of thousands to join me," she warned.
Despite the skewering of her name,
Murkowski responded to the strong message from Shanahan and Kennedy Jr.'s supposedly anti-vaccine stance.
"Well, I'm certainly concerned about it. I know others have other, other points of concerns that they want to drill down on and try to get some commitments, public commitments, from him on," she explained via
CNN. "But vaccines are important."
During the Wednesday, January 29, meeting, the son of
Robert F. Kennedy was called by a protestor who crashed the hearing as he tried to convince everyone he is not against the Western medicine. "I want to make sure the committee is clear about a few things. News reports have claimed that I'm
anti-vaccine or any industry. I am neither. I am pro-safety," the 71-year-old said before chaos erupted in the room.
"You lie!" an anonymous person yelled at President
Donald Trump's cabinet pick before being removed from the room.
"I believe that vaccines play a critical role in health care. All of my kids are vaccinated. I've read many books on vaccines," Kennedy Jr. continued on following the disturbance. "My first book in 2014. The first line of it is 'I am not anti-vaccine,' and the last line is 'I am not anti-vaccine.'"
