Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. sharply criticized The New York Times on Wednesday, accusing the paper of publishing what he called a “hit piece” based on anonymous sources and former employees with grievances against him.
Kennedy posted his response on X after the Times published an article questioning his leadership at HHS, including his handling of a recent Ebola outbreak in Africa that reportedly exposed at least six Americans. Kennedy rejected the article’s framing and accused the paper of working backward from a conclusion.
“In order to prove your preconceived case for my disengagement, you quote anonymous employees, some of whom I fired or who quit to avoid being fired,” Kennedy wrote Wednesday.
“You had a preconceived thesis, and you set out to prove it,” he added.
The Times article, written by correspondent Sheryl Gay Stolberg, was titled “Kennedy Shows Minimal Engagement With Vast Health Portfolio.” It argued that Kennedy has been less focused on managing the day-to-day operations of the department and more focused on his personal policy priorities.
“Mr. Kennedy has shown little interest in managing the details of work in his department, according to multiple colleagues,” Stolberg wrote. “Instead, they say, he is single-mindedly focused on his top priorities, including food recommendations and pesticide exposures, and hunting for evidence to support his long-held beliefs that vaccines are harmful.”
Sheryl. Your article exemplifies the biased reporting we have come to expect from you and @nytimes. It was unfair, inimical, and inaccurate. All one needs to refute your argument is to glance at my publicly available calendar and to review my unprecedented list of accomplishments… https://t.co/IhD2qDRCo7
— Secretary Kennedy (@SecKennedy) June 10, 2026
The article also said Kennedy has made only one known visit to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention headquarters in Georgia. That visit came after a gunman opened fire at the facility and killed a police officer.
The Times described Kennedy as “deeply mistrustful” of career civil servants and said he has surrounded himself with advisers who share his views. The article also pointed to major vacancies at HHS and the departure of veteran health experts and scientists, saying Kennedy has remained isolated from much of the department’s senior staff.
Kennedy pushed back, saying the Times ignored changes he says he has made since taking over the department.
“When I took this job, the building was empty. About 90% of the employees were not coming to work. I changed that, but your newspaper never covers my reforms,” Kennedy wrote. “Nor did you cover the fact that my predecessor almost never showed up for work here during his four years in office.”
He also criticized the paper’s use of unnamed sources.
“Standards have devolved, and journalism is dead. The Times now employs propagandists,” Kennedy wrote. “The fact that you have minimal access to decision makers leaves you covering trivia and relying on your own capacity for invention.”
The New York Times defended its reporting in a statement to Fox News Digital, saying Kennedy declined an interview and did not respond to detailed questions before the story was published.
“The Times set out to examine Secretary Kennedy’s leadership and management style in light of numerous vacancies within the Department of Health and Human Services and concerns internally about his detachment from key issues and officials,” a Times spokesperson said.
“The secretary declined an interview request and did not address detailed questions before publication about his approach to running the department,” the spokesperson added. “This article is based on conversations with a dozen people who have worked directly with Mr. Kennedy during his tenure as secretary. We are confident in our reporting.”
