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Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. was interrupted while speaking to the media on Wednesday, January 7, not by protesters or room disturbances, but by ducks.
President Kennedy, along with Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins, FDA Commissioner Marty McCully, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Administrator Mehmet Oz, National Nutrition Advisor Ben Carson, and Presidential Press Secretary Caroline Levitt, addressed the press and introduced President Donald Trump’s plan to overhaul and reverse the food pyramid.
“Protein and healthy fats are essential,” said Kennedy, 71. “We are ending the war on saturated fat. A diet rich in vegetables and fruits reduces the risk of disease more effectively than any drug.”
“My message is clear: Eat real food,” he continued. “Nothing is more important to health outcomes, economic productivity, military readiness, and fiscal stability.”
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But during his remarks, reporters and Trump’s colleagues began to laugh as the duck quacks got louder and louder. Kennedy reached into his pocket and pulled out the source of the noise, his cell phone.
“Duck is high in protein. That’s interesting, too,” Rollins said, and Kennedy silenced the ringer. “Everyone, duck is delicious.”
Dr. Oz helped Kennedy, took the phone from him, and told the person on the other end that he would call him back.
President Kennedy came under fire this week after the Department of Health and Human Services announced sweeping changes to child vaccination requirements hours before the Jan. 5 funeral of Tatiana Schlossberg, the daughter of his cousin Caroline Kennedy.
Schlossberg, who died on December 30 at the age of 35, revealed in an essay published in The New Yorker in November 2025 that he had been diagnosed with terminal cancer. In her farewell letter, she publicly mocked her cousin for supporting Trump, calling him “an embarrassment to me and the rest of my immediate family.”
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In an essay, the environmental journalist specifically criticized RFK Jr.’s stance on vaccines. She recalled witnessing firsthand how his appointment to Health and Human Services affected America’s health care system, as he was in and out of the hospital during his final months.
“Suddenly, the health care system I relied on felt strained and unstable,” wrote Schlossberg, who is married to urologist George Moran and has two children. “Doctors and scientists at Columbia University, including George, didn’t know if they would be able to continue their research or even get jobs.”
She continued: “Bobby is known to be skeptical of vaccines, and I was particularly concerned that I would once again be unable to vaccinate and end up spending the rest of my life with a weakened immune system, along with millions of cancer survivors, young children, and the elderly.”
Mr. Schlossberg’s funeral was attended by his immediate family, including his parents, siblings, Rose and Jack, as well as Moran and their two young children, son Edwin and daughter Josephine.
Other members of the Kennedy family in attendance included Kerry Kennedy, Joe Kennedy III, and Maria Shriver, who was seen leaving the hospital with three of her four children, Christopher, Christina, and Katherine Schwarzenegger.
