Republicans Plead Ignorance on Affair and Drug Use Allegations Against RFK Jr.

Senators who voted to confirm Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. claimed they hadn’t seen recent allegations that Kennedy had an affair with a political journalist, allowed the journalist to “catch-and-kill” stories that portrayed him negatively and hid drug use while running for president last year.

But at least one senator who pleaded ignorance still had an opinion on the sordid tale playing out between writers Ryan Lizza and Olivia Nuzzi implicating Kennedy.

“I have not heard about it, and I’m just numb to that kind of garbage,” Republican Sen. Cynthia Lummis told NOTUS on Wednesday.

“I’m to the point now where you don’t know what to believe, and I care about my working relationship with RFK,” Lummis added. “I support him because we have a rock-solid working relationship, and everything that I’ve seen about him has been exemplary.”

The chair of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions, who helped confirm Kennedy earlier this year, wasn’t as supportive.

“I won’t comment on that,” Sen. Bill Cassidy said when asked if the allegations of Kennedy having an affair with a journalist made him concerned about Kennedy’s performance as secretary. He said the same about allegations about Kennedy’s drug use.

Cassidy elaborated when NOTUS asked again later: “I actually have kind of only very loosely followed it,” he said, adding he’s more concerned about topics like the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s upcoming meeting for the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices.

“I’m very concerned about the health care bill, and, frankly, anything else I delete because I only have so much time to think,” Cassidy said.

The allegations of the affair between Kennedy and Nuzzi, a prominent political writer who formerly wrote profiles of big-shot political candidates at New York Magazine, first came to light in September 2024 and resulted in Nuzzi leaving her magazine job.

Nuzzi is now serving as Vanity Fair’s West Coast editor and released a book, “American Canto,” on Tuesday that includes details of her alleged affair with Kennedy, says Kennedy took campaign advice from Nuzzi while they were having that affair, and alleges Kennedy hid drug use during his campaign.

A series of recent Substack posts from Nuzzi’s former fiance, Ryan Lizza, expanded on the allegations. Lizza wrote that Nuzzi encouraged sources to speak with her about negative stories about Kennedy under the guise of reporting, then took those stories to the Kennedy campaign so they could respond before the allegations became public.

Kennedy denied the affair allegations when they first surfaced last year. HHS did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Nuzzi and Lizza’s more recent claims.

Kennedy faced an uphill battle during his confirmation process: His history of vaccine skepticism and lack of public health leadership experience caused some Republicans, including Cassidy, to hesitate.

But other Republicans were thrilled from the start to have Kennedy and his unorthodox health care views at the helm of the Department of Health and Human Services.

A number of senators on the committee who helped confirm Kennedy said Wednesday they had not heard of the recent allegations, including Sens. Ashley Moody and Tommy Tuberville.

“I hadn’t seen that,” Tuberville told NOTUS. “When’d that come out?”

“You have shared with me information that I have not seen or read anywhere,” Sen. Lisa Murkowski, another HELP Committee member, said. “Maybe it’s brand new, so I will defer on commenting.”

“I haven’t read the book,” Sen. Josh Hawley said.

“I really don’t engage with gossipy stories,” Sen. Rand Paul told NOTUS.

Democrats — who have been largely critical of Kennedy since President Donald Trump announced him as his pick to lead the department — said this only fuels their concerns.

Sen. Chris Murphy, a HELP Committee member, told NOTUS he hadn’t read Nuzzi’s book, but “prior to any new books coming out, [Kennedy] was already grossly and dangerously unqualified to do the job, so I don’t necessarily need any more proof.”

“My concerns about RFK Jr. as secretary of HHS are higher than the tallest mountain,” Sen. Elizabeth Warren told NOTUS. “This is just one more boulder on that pile.”