GOP rep explains why 'falsehoods' shouldn’t be 'disqualifying' for Trump nominees

Rep. Larry Buschon (R-IN) — who is also a doctor — has thoughts on Donald Trump's Health and Human Services Department nominee, RFK Jr.'s, debunked claim that vaccines can cause autism

Speaking with Rep. Larry Buschon (R-IN), CNN's Boris Sanchez asked whether these kinds of falsehoods should matter when it comes to nominees for an incoming administration.

"You mentioned that you are a physician," Sanchez said to the Indiana lawmaker. "Donald Trump's pick to lead health and human services — RFJ Jr. — has made a number of comments in the past expressing skepticism over vaccines, alluding to a potential link between vaccines and autism. In your professional opinion, are any of those comments he's made in the past valid? Do you have concerns that a vaccine skeptic is going to lead HHS?"

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Boschon replied, "Well, first of all, I don't have any concerns. He needs to make his case in front of the US senate. His past comments and what he might do in the future are two separate things. But the reality is a statement that autism is linked to vaccines has been widely debunked for a long time. In fact, the physician, I think, from Great Britain that put that in a paper and tried to make the connection actually had his license taken away from him because his research was found to be inaccurate. So. those statements are not true. They've been debunked from a medical standpoint for a long time. But I think it's on the nominees to make their case in front of the US Senate and answer those questions in a public forum and see where it goes."

The CNN host then asked, "Do you think senators should support someone that has said things like that in the past — falsehoods about vaccines — to promote them to the top post overseeing the nation's health system?"

Boschon said, "Well, let me tell you, if the US Senate didn't approve of anyone who had made statements in the past that were either factually incorrect, or people didn't have knowledge of the subject they were talking about, you wouldn't have Cabinet secretaries or anybody else confirmed."

The Indiana lawmaker continued, "So I think that it's on the candidate and the nominee to make their case and explain themselves and explain what they've done. I don't have any concerns at all about the nominee until he explains himself, and you don't want to litigate this publicly in the media, you want to see what they have to say in a public forum. So I don't have any concerns depending on the actions of the nominee once they're HHS secretary. but I think it'll be fine. I think that some of the things that are out there that he has said are widely debunked, and I think most people know that."

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