Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is starting a podcast, he said in a promotional video statement released on April 8.
“This podcast is about telling the truth, especially when it’s uncomfortable,” Kennedy said.
In what’s being called “The Secretary Kennedy Podcast,” Kennedy said he will be engaging in “fearless conversations with critical thinkers,” including independent doctors, scientists, and people involved with medical innovation, about topics such as the rise in chronic disease.
“I’m going to ask the questions and lift the taboos and expose the hypocrisy and the conflicts and the corruption,” said Kennedy, who became health secretary in 2025 after years of working with nongovernmental organizations on health efforts such as cleaning up contaminated water.
“We’re going to follow the evidence wherever it leads, and we’re going to name the names of the forces that obstruct the paths to public health. This isn’t going to be about politics. It’s about our families, about our children, and it’s about confronting the spiritual malaise and embracing the truth. If we want a healthy nation, we have to confront the lies that have made us spiritually, morally, and physically sick. The time for half-measures is now over.”
The video showed Kennedy sitting in front of a microphone in a studio with Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) branding, along with shelves displaying books and other items.
Dr. Robert Malone, whom Kennedy named to the advisory panel, which was also affected by the ruling, said later in March on a podcast run by the Informed Consent Action Network—another organization that has lobbied for restricting vaccines—that the Trump administration has been pulling back from changes to vaccine policies ahead of the midterms, pointing in part to Kennedy’s recent appearance on Joe Rogan’s podcast.
“How can you have Bobby on Joe Rogan and the word ‘vaccine’ never escapes his lips?” Malone said. “That’s a tell.”
Kennedy mentioned vaccines only once during the episode, when speaking about how President Donald Trump questioned vaccines during the 2016 election. He did not mention vaccines when speaking at the Conservative Political Action Conference on March 28.
Trump administration officials said that Kennedy’s podcast will help spread a message about chronic disease and improving health to a wider audience.
“This is part of our larger strategy to bring the Make America Healthy Again message to as wide an audience as we can,” Liam Nahill, HHS digital director, said.
Kennedy ran his own podcast before joining the second Trump administration, and he regularly joins other podcasts to discuss a range of issues.
Officials said they believe Kennedy will be the first sitting Cabinet secretary to host a podcast.
“We’re kind of bringing podcasting into the government as an official form and arm of our messaging,” said Tyler Burger, the producer of the new podcast and HHS digital communications manager.
He said the podcast set has enough space for up to four people to sit and converse.
Because podcasts are now commonly made not only in audio formats but also in video formats, they are regularly clipped and shared across social media platforms, giving them “massive” reach, according to Melina Much, a postdoctoral fellow for New York University’s Center for Social Media and Politics. Much said podcasts also tend to be more intimate, conversational, and friendly than traditional interviews.
