tell us a little bit more about aaron siri, who is this person and what does he mean and rfk jr.e handles vaccine -related cases, he has long represented clients who say they are injured by vaccines. i first encountered him last year when i wrote a story about a lawsuit in mississippi that revoked the religious -- or restored rather the religious exemption for vaccinations, so they were trying to basically make it easier for parents to opt out of childhood vaccination. and they won. and it turns out that aaron siri is also, as you mentioned, the lead lawyer for the informed consent action network, that is a group, you would call it anti- vaccine, they would call it vaccine safety or medical freedom, but they are clearly, you know, targeting vaccines and the fda and the cdc. aaron siri is their lawyer, he has filed all kinds of petitions, freedom of information act requests, lawsuits, in fact, the mississippi lawsuit was filed on behalf of of i can, and they are ran by victory, kennedy's communications director on the campaign, so they are kind of this triumvirate, if you will, a

aaron siri is their lawyer.freedom of information act requests, lawsuits. that mississippi lawsuit was filed on behalf of icahn. icahn is run by kennedy's communication director on the campaign. they're kind of a trika of call them what you want, vaccine skeptics, anti-vaxxer, resistors. they could end up, we will see, as part of an rfk jr. team which is very different from being on a campaign -- >> they already are part of the team. >> they could end up in government. >> siri -- right now, as kennedy is interviewing candidates for hhs positions should he get confirmed, siri is by his side taking the lead in questioning. he is advising him all the way through. he's been down in west palm beach with kennedy. kennedy would -- has told people privately he would like aaron siri to be his general counsel at hhs. my bet that doesn't happen. aaron siri is a very successful lawyer and probably doesn't want to give up his legal practice. it doesn't mean that he couldn't continue to advise kennedy as some kind of, you kno

. >> joining us now is aaron siri. >> erin siri. >> lawyer aaron siri. >> aaron siri has led severalhting information from the fda. >> he's the guy that has been asking pfizer to release the covid-19 vaccine data. >> i love aaron siri. there is nobody who has been a greater asset to the medical freedom movement than him. >> aaron siri is a lawyer who specializes in vaccine lawsuits and he's been advising kennedy, even reportedly helping him vet candidates for top positions at hhs. according to the new york times, siri has spent the past several years petitioning the fda to pause the distribution of more than a dozen vaccines, including products that cover tetanus, diphtheria, hepatitis a and polio. siri's 2022 petition asks the fda to withdraw or suspend approval for the only polio vaccine that is still used in the u.s. now his concerns are not shared by credible medical professionals but they have been amplified by anti-vaccine media outlets. the one that produced a that highlight reel we just played. last month siri was interviewed on the high wire podcast hosted by del big tree, w

there's nobody who's been a greater asset to the medical freedom movement than him. >> aaron siri is cializes in vaccine lawsuits and has been advising kennedy, even reportedly helping him vet candidates for top positions at hhs. according to "the new york times" siri has spent the past several years petitioning the fda to pause the distribution of more than a dozen vaccines including products that cover tetanus, diphtheria, hepatitis-a, and polio. his 2022 petition asks the fda to withdraw or suspend approval for the only polio vaccine that is still used in the u.s. now, his concerns are not shared by credible medical professionals, but they have been amplified by anti- vaccine media outlets like the one we just played. on that podcast siri suggests he will continue petitioning the u.s. government to pause vaccine access. >> there are lots of things that the federal government, it will help if there are outsiders from the outside attacking in. for example, the fda acts on petitions. if you want to license a product, you have to petition them. if you want a product to be withdrawn or

. >> joining us now is aaron siri. >> he has led several high profile lawsuits against vaccine manufacturers >> aaron, you have been fighting for information from the fda. >> he is the guy that has been asking pfizer to release the covid-19 vaccine data. >> i love aaron siri. nobody has been a greater asset to the medical freedom. >> aaron siri is a lawyer who specializes in vaccine lawsuits and has been advising kennedy, even reportedly helping him vet candidates for top positions at hhs. he has spent the past several years petitioning the fda to pause the distribution of more than a dozen vaccines including products that cover tetanus, diphtheria, hepatitis a and polio. his 2022 petition asked the fda to withdraw or suspend approval for the only polio vaccines in the u.s. last month, siri was interviewed on the high wire podcast. siri suggested he will continue petitioning the u.s. government to pause vaccine access. >> there are lots of things that will help their outsiders from the outside attacking in. for example, the fda acts on petitions. if you want to license a product, you have to

be revoked by the fda, and he said of aaron siri, this was weeks ago, i love aaron siri, there is no has been a better asset to the medical freedom movement than him. i think my question would be what is aaron siri's role going to be in all of this? i agree donald trump is going to have a huge say in decisions around any vaccines and other decisions that bobby kennedy may want to take. but once you are in there, i think you will have a lot of leeway to do things you want and that are important to you and maybe the polio vaccine, that's okay for now but there are a lot of other things that robert f kennedy will have say over. >> let's talk about that. donald trump said just yesterday in that wide ranging press conference that rfk jr. is much less radical than you think. so beyond vaccines, what are some of the rfk petitions that seem almost certain to cause a stir for lack of a better phrase? >> it is interesting he says he is less radical. some have bordered on crazy or dangerous. some are not. i think he will get wide agreement on food safety and super processed foods. i think most

in fact, aaron siri is a critical player in the antivax movement or what rfk calls the medical freedom movement. "the new york times" adds siri is representing a group "petitioning the fda to pause distribution of 13 other vaccines, including combination products that cover tetanus, diptheria, polio, and hepatitis a until their makers disclose details about aluminum, an ingredient researchers associated with a small increase in asthma cases." before we go any further, we should be crystal clear in stating the established facts and science. siri is fighting to revoke use of vaccines that save lives. that's it, full stop. on the polio vaccine the cdc says just since 2019 an estimated 20 million people who would have been paralyzed by the disease are working and more than 1.5 million lives have been saved. prior to the vaccine the world health organization said a half million people were killed or paralyzed by polio every single year, but since we're doing this, the second trump administration for them those facts, that history that established science around vaccines, appears to be going

vaccine as, quote, the greatest thing, we learned that an adviser to kennedy, an attorney named aaron siri, is seemingly an opponent of the vaccine. two years ago, siri asked the fda to revoke approval for the polio vaccine on behalf of a nonprofit that challenges the safety of vaccines and mandates, the fda told cnn today it is still reviewing the petition. just a quick historical note here. for generations, polio was an often crippling and sometimes deadly virus to anyone who caught it, especially children. for parents, every outbreak was a living terror. the polio vaccine put an end to that nightmare. but now, regardless of what the president elect says, praising the polio vaccine, a vaccine skeptic is set to run. hhs was oversees the fda in the new york times is reporting that this attorney, aaron siri, who has called for the fda to stop authorization of the polio vaccine, is helping kennedy review candidates for top jobs at hhs. more now on all of these developments from cnn political analyst and new york times senior political correspondent maggie haberman. maggie, happy friday night

hhs was oversees the fda, and the new york times is reporting that this attorney, aaron siri, who hasled for the fda to stop authorization of the polio vaccine, is helping kennedy review candidates for top jobs at hhs. more now on all of these developments from cnn political analyst and new york times senior political correspondent maggie haberman. maggie, happy friday night to you. i want to start with you reporting a while back that president elect trump had grown tired of hearing all the negative stories about him and was poised to move on. but what's changed? his mind? sure, john, i think it's still true that he was tired and is tired of negative stories. and what changed was a couple of things. one was he could not find trump, could not find a single person in his orbit, or even really outside of it, who liked this idea of making ron desantis the governor of florida, the defense secretary choi. so and it was not you know, we're going to drop hegseth and going to look for a bunch of other people. it was hegseth or desantis at that point. and so trump was persuaded also after a cal

the paper is also reporting that aaron siri, who is helping rfk jr.. according to the times pic health officials for the incoming administration, is also trying to pause the distribution of 13 other vaccines. that is an alarming prospect for a lot of people in public health, especially those who remember just how devastating the polio epidemic was before the vaccine. it killed or paralyzed more than half a million people each year. many of them were children parents lived in fear of polio's sudden attack, and the tragic aftermath. >> thousands upon thousands of children and adults fell prey to the crippler. >> of course, the most severe cases kept people attached to the so-called iron lung machines because those patients could no longer breathe on their own. it took generations of americans getting vaccinated to eliminate natural transmission just within the united states. and since the late 1980s, it is estimated to have saved 20 million children from being paralyzed. raises the question why then someone in such a position of influence would be pushin

aaron siri, did some pod casts as just about all the trump picks have done. a ttle bit of that for you. >> so much to talk about, but really i just want to look forward. i want to look at the cases we have going on right now because we could sit here and do happy dances over all this that's been achieved but it's not over. let me ask you this question to start out with. i think a lot of people go, well, it looks like the government -- you know, bobby kennedy's taking the government. why are legal cases going to be important? why not just say we did it, it's over? >> absolutely. to the extent that robert f. kennedy jr. is able to really rein in these federal health authorities, and we're talking within hhs you've got 85,000 employees, 1.$1.7 trillion department, 13 operations, numerous offices of the secretariat. it's a sprawling, massive behemoth, and i think if anybody can do it, i hope that mr. kennedy -- we hope to hope soon call him secretary kennedy. >> i mean, so the plan to take over the cdc and the fda was the plan all along. trump has gone along with

aaron siri, did some podcasts, as just about all of the trump picks have done. let me play a little bit of that for you. >> so much to talk about, but really i just want to look forward. i want to look at the cases that we have going right now. because we could sit here and do, you know, happy dances over all that's been achieved, but it's not over. let me ask you this question just to start out with. i think a lot of people are going, well, it looks like, you know, the government, you know, bobby kennedy's taking the government, why are legal cases going to be even important? >> oh, absolutely. well, to the extent that robert f. concern did i jr. is able to really rein in these federal health authorities, and we're talking within hhs you've got 85,000 employees, $1.7 trillion department, 13 operating divisions, cdc, fda, numerous offices of the secretariat. it's a sprawling massive behemoth, and i think if anybody can do it, i hope that mr. kennedy, we hope to soon call him secretary kennedy. >> for the plan to take over the cdc and the fda was the plan all alo

the new york times is reporting that kennedy's lawyer, a noted vaccine skeptic, aaron siri, joined kennedyquestioning and choosing candidates for top health positions. deepening concerns about vaccine hesitancy taking the wheel and driving us back to when we had to be concerned about diseases like the measles, diphtheria, and polio. the new york times adds that in 2022, he petitioned the government to revoke its approval of the polio vaccine, saying that because the clinical trials relied upon to license this product does not include a control group, the fda, therefore, must either withdraw or suspend the approval of this project, adding, "it is likely and wrongly believed that this product can prevent infection and transmission." late today, rfk jr.'s spokesperson responded to this report, telling nbc news in a statement that "the polio vaccine should be available to the public and thoroughly and properly studied." "and properly studied." it is worth a reminder that by the mid-20th century, polio was killing or paralyzing over half 1 million people a year around the world. but, after the

this also follows a report that a lawyer advising rfk about the hhs role aaron siri filed a petitionnt approval for the polio vaccine, widely credited with erratic, aiding the crippling disease in much of the world. siri later stating he was talking about one specific polio vaccine that's been in use since the 1990's, senate republican leader mitch mcconnell who survived polio as a child, had a stern warning to all of trump's nominees following the revocation report saying, quote, efforts to undermine public confidence and proven cure ers are not just an informed they're dangerous. anyone seeking the senate's consent to serve in the upcoming administration would do well to steer clear of even the appearance of association with such efforts. despite the backlash to the report and democrats repeated criticism over our of kay's vaccine stance. some lawmakers are open to discussing any common ground that they may share with kennedy. i look forward to sitting down and talking with them. obviously vaccines woodridge polio. >> well, covid have saved millions and millions of lives and i stro

attorney aaron siri wants petitioned the fda to revoke approval of the polio vaccine and pause distributions reports siri is now helping rfk jr. review candidates for health department roles. both party leaders in the senate -- talk about bipartisanship, have slammed siri's work against the polio vaccine with senator mcconnell, a polio survivor, warning the trump administration to steer clear of even the appearance of association with such efforts. however, in an interview with time magazine this past week, trump said he is open to circumventing the senate confirmation process for cabinet picks like rfk jr. with trump telling time magazine, "i really don't care how they get them approved as long as they get them approved." joining me now, former new york congressman max rose, senior adviser to vote betts, maya wiley, civil rights attorney and president and ceo of the leadership conference on civil and human rights, and former new jersey governor christine todd whitman. thank you all very much for coming to the sunday show. so, governor whitman, i am starting with you, because i understand y

kennedy, his name is aaron siri, a new york lawyer, and he has represented vaccine injured plaintiffshe's also representing a group called the informed consent action network run by dell bigtry, kennedy's campaign director on the campaign. siri, the lawyer, has petitioned the fda for withdraw of the polio vaccine on the grounds that it's not -- it wasn't subjected to a placebo controlled trial and as you saw, mitch mcconnell is up in arms about this. i think mitch mcconnell is really the senator to watch here. you also saw interestingly, the president himself or the president-elect himself say, you know, we're not going to touch the polio vaccine. that's a third rail for kennedy. i will say while kennedy is not the petitioner in in this case to withdraw the vaccine, he has espoused the same ideas in the petition. in other words, he wants the vaccine to be tested against placebo. that's where all that concern is coming from. i think kennedy will probably downplay it as your other folks have said and we'll see if senators like mitch mcconnell believe him. >> well, let's see where we are

build his team, aaron siri, asked the fda two years ago to revoke approval of polio vaccine.onnell a childhood survivor of polio telling nbc news that anyone looking for senate confirmation should, quote, steer clear of efforts to undermine the value of the polio vaccine. a kennedy spokesperson saying, quote, the polio vaccine should be available to the public and thoroughly and properly studied. all this as a settlement has been reached between abc and the president-elect. abc agreeing to make a $15 million donation to a future trump presidential foundation and museum. trump filed the defamation lawsuit after abc news anchor george stephanopoulos said on air that trump had been found liable for rape in the e. jean carroll case when the jury instead found trump civilly liable for sexual abuse. abc agreeing to pay $1 million to cover legal fees and public a statement of regret. abc news saying in a statement, quote, we are pleased that the parties have reached an agreement to dismiss this lawsuit. alex? >> okay. aaron gilchrist at the white house, thank you for that. >>> so wh

the man that president elect trump wants to lead the department of health and human services, aaron siri a lawyer helping select health officials to serve under kennedy at hhs. and according to the times, siri petitioned the fda as recently as two years ago to pull the polio vaccine. the reported argument from from the man is that the polio vaccine has not been, quote, tested against placebos in randomized, double blind clinical trials, unquote, therefore should be pulled off the market until those trials happen. polio is not some long eradicated disease. outbreaks of this highly infectious viral disease are happening right now. just two months ago, pakistan reported more than a dozen new cases of polio. gaza has reported cases. it's an area desperate for medical care with the hamas and israel war ongoing polio attacks, the nervous system, it can cause paralysis. it can cause respiratory issues, even death, and mainly affects young children. it often spreads through contaminated water or food. the biggest problem there is no cure. once you have it. i want to bring in doctor james campbel

and that lawyer mentioned aaron, siri and robert's team for the past couple of weeks. i'm enraged by this. for senator warren to question the motivations of robert f kennedy and his amazing team is outlandish. it's offensive. she should apologize. robert kennedy is focused on one thing and one thing only, and that is president trump mandate to him to reverse the chronic disease crisis for children. he has said that he has prayed about an opportunity to do this for 19 years. and president trump has answered his prayers. he has answered the prayers of the millions of maha moms who voted trump for the first time, to give leverage to president trump's promise to reverse this crisis among our children, to get the toxins out of our food. and he's putting together a fantastic team to do that. that is what is being focused on every single day, every single hour. and this is completely offensive that senator warren is questioning his motivations. and let me be very clear when it comes to vaccines, when it comes to vaccines, he is saying one thing and one thing only, and that is

aaron siri filed the petition in 2022 on behalf of the informed consent action network, a nonprofit thathallenges the safety of vaccines and vaccine mandates. the fda says that review continues. senate majority leader mitch mcconnell, a childhood childhood polio survivor, did not mention kennedy by name today. but he said in a statement, quote, efforts to undermine public confidence in proven cures are not just uninformed, they're dangerous. stop. you're scaring me. >> stop. >> new body camera video shows the struggle leading up to a bart police officer shooting a woman. coming up, why? the officer said he needed to shoot. >> also ahead, why the city of oakland may be forced to close two of its fire stations and a potential ban on tiktok. >> inching closer to realy. today's jen b asks, "how can i get fast download speeds while out and about?" jen, we've engineered xfinity mobile with wifi speeds up to a gig, so you can download and do much more all at once. it's an idea that's quite attractive. or... another word... -fashionable? i was gonna say- "popular! you're gonna be pop-uuuu-larrr!

that campaign is just one front in a war that the lawyer, aaron siri is waging against vaccines of allds. much of mr. siri's work, including the polio petition, has been on behalf of the informed consent action network. it's a nonprofit whose founder is an ally of mr. kennedy, and this is also the lawyer that represented kennedy during his presidential campaign. this is a significant stuff. >> donald trump has always been an autism hoaxer. he he tried in his first administration in 2017 to bring rfk jr. in. then trump has often said things that imply completely falsely, that saving children from measles and other deadly diseases is the reason that autism occurs, which is, by the way, a slur on autistic people. it's not a tragedy that there are autistic people. measles is a tragedy. um, it's it's ignorant, it's emotive. it's something. it's it's it's anti-science. but that's been donald trump's position on this all along. >> and rfk jr. undertake operation warp speed. >> he he certainly that certainly happened during his presidency. that's true. >> and he did not admit that he took that

s campaign lawyer, aaron siri, filed a petition in 2022 asking the fda to revoke approval of the poliocine. well, now, senate minority leader mitch mcconnell, a polio survivor himself, has a strong warning for anyone questioning the vaccine's efficacy. white house bureau chief for the washington post, toluse olorunnipa joining us now. good morning, toulouse. let's start with mitch mcconnell's statement, and it reads in part, efforts to undermine public confidence in proven cures are not just uninformed. they are dangerous. anyone seeking the senate's consent to serve in the incoming administration would do well to steer clear of even the appearance of association with such efforts. trump himself has also called the polio vaccine the greatest thing. mcconnell is clearly sending a message to rfk jr. and his lawyer. could this have an effect on kennedy's potential confirmation to lose well, it totally could. >> mitch mcconnell is influential in the senate right now. he's the senate minority leader. he's going to be stepping down from that post, but still going to have a lot of influence w

. >> but his lawyer and his top ally aaron siri recently petitioned the fda to pull its approval of the vaccine in 2022. and while president elect trump seemed all in on the polio vaccine, listen closely to what else he said about vaccines do you believe there's a connection between vaccines and autism? >> do you believe there's a link? >> well, i don't look right now. you have some very brilliant people looking at it. if you look at autism. so 30 years ago we had i've heard numbers of like 1 in 200,000, 1 in 100,000. and now i'm hearing numbers of 1 in 100. so something's wrong. >> do you think schools should mandate vaccines? >> i don't like mandates. i'm not a big mandate person. >> and joining us now is doctor peter salk, whose father you heard the president elect mention, jonas salk. he invented the initial polio vaccine. doctor salk is also the president of the jonas salk legacy foundation. he's a professor of infectious diseases and microbiology at the university of pittsburgh school of public health. doctor, thank you so much for taking the time to speak with us today. it's such

he was a critic kennedy lawyer, aaron siri, who's been helping him pick federal health officials for the incoming administration asked the fda to revoke the approval of the vaccine two years ago according to "the new york times." mcconnell who's a polio survivor said efforts to undermine cures are not poor informed, they're dangerous. rfk jr. released a statement saying the polio vaccine should be, quote, thoroughly and properly studied. >> aaron, thank you. >> secretary of state anthony blinken is in the middle east hoping to ensure peace for syria after overthrowing bashar al assad last weekend. matt, what are we learning? >> reporter: good morni, peter. it's bip nearly a week since rebels here ousted syrian dictator bashar al assad, and the country's transfer of power is continuing relatively peacefully. there are new images showing russian forces, which have long propped up assad's regime, they're packing up and they're leaving the country. and syrians are still celebrating. we wept to huge dem stations yesterday where there were thousands of syrians, women and children waving th

s top aide, aaron siri has asked the fda to revoke approval of the polio vaccine.confirmed. vaughan, kennedy has stayed under the radar for a little bit, that will change next week when he heads to the hill. you've been covering all of this, these efforts to get these cabinet members confirmed and the trump team out of mar-a-lago has changed tactics in the last ten days or so they've gone much more on offense, they're being aggressive and really badgering and mobilizing their minions to go after the republican senators they feel like are deemed insufficiently loyal. give us your read -- give us your reporting on how that's taking place but also whether or not you think it's effective. we've heard both. publicly some republican senators are saying we're acknowledging the pressure, lisa murkowski said so yesterday, but others behind the scenes feel like this may backfire. >> this is the difference in power for donald trump in 2025 kplard to 2017 and 2018. a lot of this is implicit power. donald trump doesn't have to say i'm going to primary you, joni ernst. he's buil