RFK Jr.’s Awkward Reaction to Question About Cousin’s Run for Congress

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. had no words for a reporter who asked him about his anti-Trump relative running for Congress.

Kennedy, the Health and Human Services Secretary, is the first cousin once removed of Jack Schlossberg, the 32-year-old grandson of former President John F. Kennedy. Schlossberg on Tuesday declared his candidacy as a Democrat for New York’s 12th congressional district in Manhattan.

Schlossberg has been a critic of the Trump administration and Kennedy personally, which may explain Kennedy’s silence when MSNBC correspondent Jake Traylor raised the topic Thursday after a White House event.

Just asked HHS Sec. RFK Jr. his thoughts on Jack Schlossberg, his cousin, running for Congress.
He didn’t answer. pic.twitter.com/OFzuLJ6ivA

— Jake Traylor (@jake__traylor) November 13, 2025

“Secretary Kennedy,” Traylor said as Kennedy, 71, turned to face him. “What do you make of Jack running for Congress in New York?”

Kennedy immediately looked away and kept walking.

Kennedy’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment from the Daily Beast.

Schlossberg, one of several Kennedy family members who opposed his cousin’s endorsement of Donald Trump and his subsequent nomination to lead the country’s health department, has attacked Kennedy on a number of fronts.

In a since-deleted Instagram post in April after Kennedy made controversial comments about autism, Schlossberg issued a challenge.

“RFK Jr.—sexual deviant, possible murderer and top public health official, I have got a challenge for you,” Schlossberg said. “Me and you. One on one, locked in a room, we hash this out. Nobody comes out until one of us has autism. What do you say?”

Schlossberg, 32, is running to replace retiring Rep. Jerry Nadler in New York's 12 congressional district, which is all in Manhattan. — Schlossberg, 32, is running to replace retiring Rep. Jerry Nadler in New York’s 12 congressional district, which is all in Manhattan. JackforNewYork

Schlossberg has also accused Kennedy of being a “lifelong antisemite,” mocked his odd behaviors involving dead wildlife, and imitated his spasmodic dysphonia. And when Kennedy, a vaccine skeptic, was briefly running for president on the Democratic ticket, Schlossberg called it an “embarrassment.” Kennedy was “trading in on Camelot, celebrity conspiracy theories and conflict for personal gain and fame,” he said.

In his campaign announcement for the solidly blue seat, Schlossberg continued his criticisms of the Trump administration. The U.S. is “at a turning point,” he said.

“It’s a crisis at every level: a cost-of-living crisis sponsored by the Big Beautiful Bill… It’s a corruption crisis. The president has made almost a billion dollars this year. He’s picking winners and losers from inside the Oval Office. It’s cronyism, not capitalism,” Schlossberg said.

In his campaign announcement for the solidly blue seat, Schlossberg continued his criticisms of the Trump administration. The U.S. is “at a turning point,” he said.

“It’s a constitutional crisis with one dangerous man in control of all three branches of government,” he continued. “He’s stripping citizens of their civil rights and silencing his critics. The worst part is: It doesn’t have to be this way. And it wasn’t, always.”