Here are the biggest takeaways from RFK Jr.'s fiery Senate appearance

"Kennedy is defiant on CDC firings Kennedy defended last week's firing of CDC Director Susan Monarez after only a month on the job, which threw the agency into turmoil and was accompanied by the resignations of other top officials. He accused Monarez of lying in a Thursday Wall Street Journal op-ed, in which she wrote that Kennedy terminated her for refusing to rubber stamp the vaccine recommendations of his handpicked advisory committee. "We are the sickest country in the world, that's why we have to fire people at CDC," Kennedy said. Pressed about his June purge of 17 members of the CDC's vaccine advisory panel, known as ACIP, he responded, "I didn't politicize ACIP, I depoliticized it." He said without providing evidence that leading medical organizations that have challenged him including the American Academy of Pediatrics are tainted because they accept pharmaceutical industry funds. That prompted Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) to reply that "everybody but you" is corrupt in Kennedy's eyes."

"Warning shot from a key Republican Sen. John Barrasso (R-Wyo.), the No. 2 Republican in the Senate, raised eyebrows when he suggested some of Kennedy's vaccine views were jeopardizing public safety and eroding medical progress. "I've grown deeply concerned," Barrasso said, citing measles outbreaks and the CDC director firing. "There are real concerns that safe, proven vaccines like measles, Hepatitis B and others could be in jeopardy, and that would put Americans at risk and reverse decades of progress," he said. Barrasso does not usually break from his party, and as a leadership member, could be reflecting broader concerns within the GOP caucus."

Kennedy repeatedly spoke over Senate Finance Committee members for about three hours, accusing several senators of lying or making things up even when confronted with his past statements. He defended the abrupt firing of CDC Director Susan Monarez after one month, accused her of lying in a Wall Street Journal op-ed, and said he 'depoliticized' the CDC's vaccine advisory panel after removing 17 members. He alleged without evidence that leading medical organizations are tainted by pharmaceutical funding, prompting Sen. Bernie Sanders to criticize his stance. Republican Sen. John Barrasso warned that Kennedy's vaccine positions could endanger public health and reverse progress.

Read at Axios