Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has said vaccines are not safe. His support for abortion access has made conservatives uncomfortable.

The hearings were packed to capacity with protesters and fans, while the spillover crowd hung out in hallways and overflow rooms.

If approved, Kennedy will control a $1.7 trillion agency that oversees food and hospital inspections, hundreds of health clinics, vaccine recommendations and health insurance for roughly half the country.

Kennedy, appearing astonished at times, consistently downplayed and denied controversial things he had said in podcasts, conferences or TV interviews, even though the senators quoted him directly. On several occasions,

Kennedy Jr. faced a plethora of tough questions on vaccines, abortion and public health policy during his Senate confirmation hearing Wednesday as President Donald Trump’s pick for secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS).

RFK Jr. had his confirmation hearing with the Senate Committee on his role as Department of Health and Human Services secretary. Find out more here.

Kennedy Jr., President Donald Trump’s nominee to lead the Department of Health and Human Services, is scheduled to return to Capitol Hill on Thursday to face a second Senate panel in as many days as he vies for confirmation to lead a nearly $2 trillion agency.