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Rep. Thomas Massey (R-Ky.), in an impromptu interview after the hearing, said:

“The irony and cognitive dissonance from the other side of the aisle, it’s deafening. You could cut it with a knife. They are at the same time denying that censorship is occurring, but suggesting that there’s more material that needs to be censored.”

Still, efforts to stop Kennedy’s testimony continued throughout the hearing. Following a motion by Massey to table the point of order, a roll-call vote was held, which passed 10-8 along party lines, enabling Kennedy’s testimony to continue.

But later in the hearing, Wasserman Schultz persisted, stating that “anti-Semitic incidents … are at the highest level in the United States since 1970. They have nearly tripled in the last six years [yet] you gave Mr. Kennedy a megaphone today.”

When Kennedy attempted to respond to Wasserman Schultz’s accusations, pointing out that he was describing a study funded by the National Institutes of Health and conducted by the Cleveland Clinic, she interrupted, saying she was “reclaiming” her allocated time to speak.

Republican members of the subcommittee later approved a motion to add the Cleveland Clinic study to the record. The study confirmed Kennedy’s claims about the SARS-CoV-2 virus, finding “unique genetic susceptibility across different populations in ACE2 and TMPRSS2,” particularly for the “African/African-American population.” These claims were the basis for labeling Kennedy “racist.”

Kennedy, repeatedly responded to claims of “anti-Semitism” and “racism,” stating that “What you have stated and tried to associate me with through guilt by association is simply inaccurate. All the things that I’m accused of right now by you and in this letter are distortions, misrepresentations.”

“And I think that we should have a real conversation rather than an exchange of ad hominem attacks.”