How Much RFK Jr. Paid a Sexual Misconduct Accuser to Stay Silent

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. paid nearly $1 million to settle a sexual misconduct case brought by one of the employees at his anti-vax nonprofit, Children’s Health Defense.

The woman who accused Kennedy was roped into a nondisclosure agreement in 2020, according to sources that spoke with Mediaite.

Kennedy was tapped by Donald Trump to head the Department of Health and Human Services. During his confirmation hearings last week, Kennedy categorically denied what he described as “frivolous, unfounded allegations” against him.

“I entered into confidentiality and nondisclosure agreements to prohibit these individuals from continuing to make these allegations,” Kennedy said at the time.

The 71-year-old was further pressed on the matter by Senate Democrats in a series of follow-up questions after the hearings. That’s when Kennedy plainly admitted to at least one incident in which he settled a case over inappropriate behavior.

Two of the questions submitted to Kennedy by Democrats read as follows:

“Yes or no, have you ever reached a settlement agreement with an individual or organization that accused you of misconduct or inappropriate behavior?”

“Yes or no, have you ever agreed to or been subject to a non-disclosure agreement with any individual or organization?”

Kennedy answered yes to each one, but volunteered no follow-up details.

It’s not the only time that sexual misconduct details have emerged about the conspiratorial political hopeful, however. In 2024, Kennedy was accused of (and sort of apologized for) groping his children’s babysitter, Eliza Cooney, in the late 1990s.

The myriad details of Kennedy’s private life—as well as his virulent anti-vax prerogatives—have given pause to a number of lawmakers on the Hill responsible for confirming him. Kennedy has publicly admitted to dumping a dead bear cub in Central Park, believed the 2004 presidential election was stolen from Democrat John Kerry, peddled conspiracies that the CIA killed his uncle, chainsawed off the head of a dead whale (per his daughter Kick Kennedy), and late last month was described by his cousin Caroline Kennedy as a “predator” who is “addicted to attention and power.”

In a disclosure form filed for his nomination, Kennedy claimed that he had resigned as chairman and chief legal counsel of Children’s Health Defense in December. He made roughly $326,000 for just three months of work at the nonprofit in 2023, according to the group’s 990 form that year. The same disclosure form revealed that the outspoken vaccine critic made roughly $10 million over the last year related to speaking fees, dividends from his vaccine lawsuits, and leading Children’s Health Defense.

China has retaliated with tariffs of its own on American products after Donald Trump’s 10 percent tariffs against the country went into effect Tuesday.

China’s Ministry of Finance announced the same day that it would levy a 15 percent tax on certain types of coal and liquefied natural gas, as well as a 10 percent tariff on agricultural machinery, crude oil, large-displacement cars, and pickup trucks coming from the United States.

In addition, China’s customs administration and Ministry of Commerce announced new export controls on several metal products and related technologies. These include tungsten, used in industrial and defense projects, and tellurium, which is used to make solar cells. The ministry also added two American companies to its unreliable entities list: the biotechnology firm Illumina and clothing company PVH Group, which owns Calvin Klein and Tommy Hilfiger.

Also, China’s State Administration for Market Regulation said it had begun an investigation into Google for violating the country’s anti-monopoly laws. The search engine is not available in China and has minimal operations there.

While Trump’s tariffs target $450 billion worth of Chinese goods, China’s tariffs only target about $20 billion of American products, about 12 percent of the total imported from the U.S. to Beijing. Thus they appear to be more about sending a message to the U.S. and other countries. On Sunday, China pledged to take “corresponding countermeasures” by filing a complaint with the World Trade Organization and “resolutely defend its rights.”

On Monday, stocks took a slide as a result of Trump’s tariffs before Canada and Mexico secured one-month delays. The markets were volatile on Tuesday, although the full impact of China’s measures have yet to be felt. Trump said Monday that he would be speaking with Chinese Premier Xi Jinping soon and may either walk away claiming victory or vowing to take this trade war further.

Trump and Marco Rubio may soon put a penal colony in El Salvador.

On Tuesday, Secretary of State Rubio and El Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele announced they’d reached an agreement to “outsource” U.S. prisoners to El Salvador’s mega-prison.

“We can send them, and he will put them in his jails,” Rubio said in regard to foreign nationals detained for violating U.S. immigration laws. “And he’s also offered to do the same for dangerous criminals currently in custody and serving their sentences in the United States, even though they’re U.S. citizens or legal residents.” The agreement was initially supposed to cover alleged gang members.

“We have offered the United States of America the opportunity to outsource part of its prison system,” Bukele wrote on X. “We are willing to take in only convicted criminals (including convicted U.S. citizens) into our mega-prison (CECOT) in exchange for a fee. The fee would be relatively low for the U.S. but significant for us, making our entire prison system sustainable.”

While some cheered the move, others reacted with a mix of shock and horror. Salvadoran opposition party member Manuel Flores stated that El Salvador housing U.S. prisoners would show that the country is America’s “backyard to dump the garbage.”

“Bukele is an all-time supervillain. We haven’t had a comprador like this since Chiang Kai-Shek,” criminology lecturer Emmy Rākete wrote on X. “Turning your country into a private black site torture-for-profit operation is a world-historical kind of evil.”

El Salvador’s prisons have been noted for sweeping human rights violations, incarcerated labor, and inhumane conditions.

Elon Musk is now considered a “special government employee” by the White House. But exactly what kind of access that provides—and whether he has appropriate security clearance to access the nation’s most sensitive data—is still unclear to even top officials in the Trump administration.

CNN’s chief White House correspondent Kaitlan Collins pressed the issue during a briefing Monday, grilling White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt as to whether the world’s richest man had received a clearance or a background check to operate within the federal government.

“Can you confirm that Elon Musk is a special government employee?” Collins asked. “And what kind of security clearance does he have?”

“I can confirm he’s a special government employee,” Leavitt replied. “I can also confirm that he has abided by all applicable federal laws. As for his security clearance, I’m not sure, but I can check back with you.”

“Did he pass a background check, do you know?” Collins continued.

“I don’t know about the security clearance, but I can check,” Leavitt repeated.

Leavitt was also unaware as to whether Musk’s team—which consists of young people between the ages of 19 and 24—had received their own security clearances.

“I don’t, no, but again, I can check on that for you,” Leavitt said.

A special government employee is “anyone who works, or is expected to work, for the government for 130 days or less in a 365-day period,” according to the Justice Department.

Musk and his staffers at the Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, have had seemingly unfettered access to federal databases containing Social Security numbers, home addresses, medical histories, and other sensitive data.

Last week, Musk’s team was spotted installing a commercial email server into the Office of Personnel Management, in what many considered to be a massive security risk. The server gave the uncleared team potential access to onboarding, job performance reviews, and government employee health care details, which could violate HIPAA laws.

“China and Russia are literally trying to hack us every day, and we just gave all this data over to somebody that’s not been properly vetted,” an OPM staffer told the substack Musk Watch on Monday.

“What [Musk is] doing will put so many government employees at risk. It’s not at all what the office is intended for,” a former OPM director told the digital publication. “I just can’t believe what I’m seeing.”

Tulsi Gabbard’s bid for national director of intelligence has gained a key supporter, in the form of “serial disappointer” Maine Senator Susan Collins, flipping an essential Republican holdout on one of Donald Trump’s most dangerous nominees.

In a statement Monday, Collins said that Gabbard had eased some of her concerns about her nomination, such that she could now support Trump’s disastrous pick.

“After extensive consideration of her nomination, I will support Tulsi Gabbard to be the Director of National Intelligence,” Collins said.

“As one of the principal authors of the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act of 2004 that established this coordinating position, I understand the critical role the DNI plays in the Intelligence Community. The Office of the Director of National Intelligence, however, has become far larger than it was designed to be, and Ms. Gabbard shares my vision of returning the agency to its intended size.”

Ahead of Gabbard’s hearing last week, Collins had expressed dissatisfaction with Gabbard’s critique of Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, which allows intelligence officials to conduct surveillance operations on foreign targets and Americans without a warrant.

During the open hearing, Collins had also appeared frustrated when Gabbard refused to call whistleblower Edward Snowden a traitor before the Senate committee. Suddenly, it seems, Collins had a change of heart, though it’s unclear if they spoke more extensively since Gabbard’s hearings on Thursday.

“In response to my questions during our discussion in my office and at the open hearing, as well as through her explanation at the closed hearing before the Senate Intelligence Committee, Ms. Gabbard addressed my concerns regarding her views on Edward Snowden,” Collins said. “I look forward to working with Ms. Gabbard to strengthen our national security.”

While many are disappointed by Collins’s change of heart, few can be surprised.

“You know there’s an old saying in soccer, in English football: It’s the hope that kills you,” said Joe Scarborough of MSNBC’s Morning Joe Tuesday. “I suspect they have a similar saying in Maine about Susan Collins.”

“Susan Collins never misses an opportunity to disappoint. She’s a serial disappointer. And Tulsi Gabbard rarely misses an opportunity to get it wrong,” said Richard Haass, the former president of the Council on Foreign Relations, on Morning Joe.

Representative Sean Casten, a Democrat from Illinois, went straight for the jugular.

“Why bother even being a senator if you think Tulsi Gabbard is fit for DNI? Just admit you’re a g-d rubber stamp for a felonious rapist,” Casten wrote in a post on X Monday.