i thought, i shouldn't laugh, you can't laugh about anne frank.mebody having a lovely family where they make remarks like that. i'm sure mum would want you to laugh, actually. and one of the things that she said to me that was so striking, when there was that big fuss aboutjustin bieber going to the anne frank house and people couldn't believe that he wrote in the book, "i hope she would have been a belieber". people thought this was unbelievably crass because they see anne frank as like a demigod in some ways. but my mother, knowing her at the time, as contemporaries, and me and my aunt seeing her in belsen, her and margot, they saw them as just kids. my aunt actually said on one of her interview tapes, to her she wasjust a kid in the class. and as a result of that, my mother said, well, actually saying that she would have been a belieber is spot—on. she probably would have been. and my mum managed to be quite... ..to deal with what had happened to her in a very calm way. i think she was determined that these events wouldn't spoil her life. and w

people that even in germany, you could cross the swaths of switzerland, or hide an addict like anne frank did. mr. kennedy, did you think that it is easy for the jewish people to escape the slaughter of the naughty's? >> absolutely not. >> do you think it is just as hard to wear a mask during covid as it was to hide under floorboards or false walls, so you are not murdered or dragged to a concentration camp? that is a comparison that you made. >> i did not make that comparison. >> the measures taken to contain the spread of fatalities related to covid were anyway at all comparable to the murder of 6 million, yes or? no >> absolutely not. >> joining me now, congresswoman debbie wasserman schultz. thank you so much for coming on the program. i want to start with this, it is wonderful to see you. i want to start with this. rfk junior may deny that he made that comparison, but let's go to the tape. >> even in hitler germany you could cross the alps into switzerland, you could hide in an attic like anne frank did. today, the mechanisms are being put in place that will make it so that none of u

he was previously denounced by jewish groups for the comment about ann frank. year, he was attacking vaccine mandates he said even in hitler's germany you could cross the alps into switzerland, hide in an attic like ann frank did, who was killed by the nazi. he eventually apologized. so i'm not sure what he's denying now. >> there's another moment in his testimony that he's now seeming to change previous statements over, and that is his view of vaccines, do you deny you ever spoke out against vaccines. let's listen to that moment. >> i've never been an anti-vaxx i never told the public to avoid vacci vaccination. that's not true. >> it's not true at all. two part statement. this is one of america's most prominent anti-vaxxer. he's on record saying to avoid vaccinations. an nbc news reporter found a comment and tweeted about it today where kennedy, in 2021, said he even encounters strangers on hiking trails and tells them not to vaccinate their babies. listen to that clip. >> our job is to resist and talk about it with everybody. you're walking down the street a

on august 1, 1944, the last entry in the diary of anne frank is dated. diary that anne frank, a jewish girl from the netherlands, kept during the nazi occupation of her country of light flight forty-fourth year. all this time 25 months. she and her family were hiding in the so-called shelter of mystery parts of a house on one of the embankments of amsterdam , but already shortly before the end of the war, following a denunciation of an unknown person against the family. the gestapo came out. all were christened and sent to a concentration camp. anna turned out to be bergen belse, where she died of typhus just a month before the release of the prisoners by the british troops. the diaries of franks, his denunciation of the horrors of nazism, were translated into many languages, the book was first published in forty-seven and immediately became a world bestseller. she was able to unite millions of human tragedies associated with singleness in the fate of one girl. on august 1, 1975, in helsinki, at a meeting on security and cooperation in europe, the leader

never said what happened to anne frank.t she was caught in her attic and taken to a nazi death camp. her father was the only member of her family to survive the death camps. robert kennedy champions a woman who denies the holocaust and who has supported the idea that there were no gas chambers a woman who shared a video online in which the speaker said i believe that the historical evidence is strongly against, is hugely against 6 million jews having been deliberately gassed in gas chambers as a deliberate policy of adolf hitler. i believe there were no gas chambers. robert f. kennedy jr. has called the woman who shared that video a hero, a hero of his anti-vaccination movement. he has called her a stalwart who is leading his movement. all you need to do to be praised by robert kennedy jr. is to praise him. if you are a holocaust denier who praises robert kennedy jr., he will praise you. if you're a democracy denier, as every member, republican member of that committee is, then robert kennedy jr. will praise them. and if yo

even if hitlerer germany you cod cross the alps to switzerland, hide in an attic like anne frank. today the mechanisms are being put in place. will make it so none of us can run and hide. >> why do you think that he -- that he's backtracking when he's clearly on record with these dangerous conspiracies? >> well, it's worst than that, he's in the backtracking. he lied under oath in front of congressional committee today. when you have your statements on video it's bizarre to me when someone denies they can present them with the evidence they said it. i think he's being called to account for the outragesness of his holocaust when it comes to covid 19 and now he's engaged in repeated anti-semetic tropes and chinese tropes as well just last week, it's a constant barrage of anti-semitism and holocaust and nazi references. republicans decided to have him as witness, even though he has no expertise. beyond that, his disinformation, and misinformation is dangerous to people. to give someone like that a platform is dangerous. >> let me ask you this. because there are always people on the r

you could hide in an attic like anne frank did. >> anne frank was killed, of course. she was one of 6 million jews killed by the nazis. he apologized later that week but he seemed to deny under oath that he had made the comments at all. i don't know what to tell you. >> thank you for the fact checking. so illuminating. joining me now, daily beast columnist matt lewis, author of the brand new book, it is called filthy rich politicians. also, karen finney, cnn contributor sophia nelson, a former house republican investigative committee council, and go the former chief of homeland security and tense for washington, d.c. well, all your reputations precede you. i love that you're here today. the fact that he was there at all has made many democrats say, what are republicans thinking? they tried to go into executive session. they didn't want him to come in the first place because of these facts. yet he's polling still very high. not close, close to biden but as a democratic hopeful, it's there. >> those numbers have been relatively consistent and i do think a lot of that is

did. >> anne frank was killed, of course. she was one of 6 million voted by the 90s. kennedy was denounced by both the auschwitz museum and the u. s. holocaust museum for those comments. he apologized for them later that week, but today, he has seemed to deny under all that he had made the comment at all. so, i don't know what to tell you. >> daniel, thank you very much for the fact checking. so illuminating. joining me now is columnist matt lewis who is also the author of the brand-new book called, filthy rich politicians,. also here, cnn political commentator karen finney, cnn opinion contributor sofia nelson, who is a former house republican and city council, and now -- homeland security and intelligence of the government of washington d. c.. well, all your reputations precede you. i love that you're all here today. listen, the fact that he was there at all has made many democrats say, what are republicans thinking? the triangle an executive sessions. they didn't want to come in the first place because of these facts, yet

in hitler's germany, you could cross the alps into switzerland, you could hide in an attic like anne frankr senior data reporter. andrew, let me start with you and your reporting. rfk jr. is a longtime spreader of vaccine misinformation. but now his campaign is actually paying people who are -- that's their track record, that's their view, that's what they do. what more are you learning about who is making money from rfk jr.'s campaign? >> these links show that some of those people that he paid were antivaccine and public health conspiracy theorists. now, this guy that he paid who wore a jewish star to protest vaccine mandates. and this was in 2019, even a year before covid. now, this guy that he paid, he paid him for communications consulting. those are typically the people that you pay to keep yourself out of the headlines, not to get you into the headlines. another group that he paid were associated with spreading this false claim that genetically modified foods could cause autism, and these are just a few of the people that he paid. somebody that he paid hosts a podcast that frequently

. >> millions of jews including anne frank were killed because of policies by the government, and hezed. >>> after a summer of severe weather, the national weather said that the storm was 158 miles per hour, and when that tornado left, it left a past of 168 miles long, and 58 miles long, and there were no fatalities, but it is going to take days to assess the financial damage. we bring in dianne gallagher in dortches, north carolina, and walk us through some of the damage that you are seeing there. >> rahel, when you see the damage here in dortches, you will see how miraculous it is that nobody was killed. this is what the ef-3 tornado left in the wake as it came through almost 24 hours ago now. according to the national weather service, it started here in dortches, and i will get wes to pan over across the street. look agent that home, people were inside when the tornado came through. they escaped unscathed, and the home is a total loss. all through this community on town hall road, and the people who live here and i spoke with them, and they are so traumatized, and a woman and her

last year he implied holocaust victim anne frank had more freedoms than those living under vaccine confinements our guest. can you break down the history? think is certainly far from the first time. >> he's been an anti-vaccine advocate for a long time, even before covid-19. what this does is, you know, you see he's saying these things now that are racially targeted against chinese and jews. you have to look at the chinese covid numbers. that's a major thing he's doing now. >> it lends to the disinformation around it as well. i want to turn back to what's going on in congress and sort of the state of the republican party because i was struck on friday when i was in with the speaker about the ways he wouldn't engage on the fact this was a bill that is typically bipartisan that came out of committee and bipartisan fashion and then all of these different riders were added to it on everything from fighting diversity inclusion and trying to defund abortion travel to the pentagon. what does it tell you about the fact that even typically bipartisan things are now completely thrown into flux in this ho

even in hitler germany, you could cross into-to-swider land, you could hide in and at tick like anne frank did. it was possible. today the mechanisms are being put in place that will make it so none of us can run and none of us can hide. >> reporter: analysts say republicans on the house panel who invited him to testify see kennedy as someone who can validate their claims about democrats. >> the idea that democrats want to cekcensor critics or take aw people's freedoms vis-a-vis covid or masking or vaccinations. >> reporter: analysts point out this is a far cry from the problem robert f. kennedy years ago who spearheaded years to clean up the hudson river and founding an environmental group devoted to plans that worked around the world. brian todd, cnn. >>> and anticipation is building to see if former president trump will be indicted for a third time. >>> and plus a deadly blast. >>> and thieves target the set of the new beetlejuice movie. the props swiped, next. so, we sn business internet. they have business grade internet, nationwide. (vo) make the switch. it's your business. it's your

like if he says -- if he used like anne frank in an analogy and does it poorly and apologizes, it's ale and a bad one. he apologizes but i'm a adult and i go on and live with it and i do it because it's age appropriate. the dems have abandoned that concept. instead they use in their world censorship and book bans and right to privacy and let radical sexual content roam free into the hands of children. who cares if rfk has theories on vaccines that you disagree with. he has every right to talk about them. you have every right to say that's bs. but you don't have a right to shut him down and you don't have a right to try and destroy people's reputations because you disagree with them, which happens to be i guess the real practice here if you look at what real sen correspondent ship is, the -- censorship here is which is kabol is the word used and the democrats and the big media destroying the reputation of people. that was censorship and they pull that had story out and if you dare mention it, you're out. >> dana: jessica, i thought the stratify junior the deputies was a little over the

he tried to rewrite history on previous comments he made about anne frank and vaccines, all sorts ofhim will come back to bite republicans? >> i don't know whether it will, but it ought to. it's disgraceful. it's disgusting, and they know most of what he is saying is absolutely untrue, and they are participating in the misinformation and disinformation spread because they think it will benefit them politically. both their nominee for president and probably their own re-election races. politics sinks to low depths sometimes, and this is setting a new standard for at least the 2024 presidential election. >> and i just have to ask you because you have studied the kennedys and wrote the book about the kennedy half century. is there something that ties the tragedies of the kennedy assassinations in the 1960s to what has become of rfk jr.'s life, or is that just being too charitable? he's a man, he should be held responsible for what he says. could it be it was such an awful experience being rfk jr. that he became this person with all of these theories. like you said earlier, not a psychia

like if he says if he used say anne frank in an analogy and he does it poorly and apologizes it is aerbole and bad one he apologizes but i'm an adult i live with it. i can do it because it's age appropriate. the dems have abandoned that concept. instead they use in their world of censorship book bans and right to privacy to let radical sexual content roam free in schools and into the hands of children. who cares if rfk has theories on vaccines that you disagree with. he has every right to talk about them. you have every right to say that's bs. but you don't have a right to shut him down and you don't have a right to try to destroy reputation because you disagree with them that is the real practice if you look at what real censorship what was the word that time used when using media allegedly destroying reputation of people who had mentioned the laptop. so that was actual censorship because they pull that story out and if you dare mention it, you're out. >> jessica i did think that the strategy for democrats today was over the top, i mean, are they really that worried about robert f.

you can hide in an attic like anne frank did.isms are being put in place that will make it so none of us can run and none of us can hide. >> our reporters are still around the table. what are your thoughts on this hearing? >> well, republicans say they had invited him to talk about the idea of being censored on social media, but in part, or the most part of it, they are trying to troll the president a little bit here, because while we know that joe biden is obviously the main candidate in the democratic primary, he's not the only candidate, and there are some pollings that have shown, buoyed primarily by the ken kennedy name, i'm presuming, that kennedy is polling in double digits, pulling that support from biden. so there is a little bit of that trolling element here. democrats, considering they don't have the power to -- on who republicans invite, they're really using this platform that they have to show, using and showing that we hear at cnn are doing as well, just how dangerous his views are, his words are, how offensive, and

howard: you saw the clip of rfk apologizing after comparing covid measures to holocaust and anne frank think gets you in trouble politically. but then, he says, well i didn't really say that. it is media kinard, the media made it up. we have it on tape. >> he is saying hearing recently as thursday he is not anti-vax. he is definitely anti-vax. howard: whole history of it. say it causes autism. >> in case of nazis saying essentially jews during nazi germany had more freedom than americans during covid that is not a good statement. he knows it will get a lot of attention. therefore you can't deny it. he has risen from 14% in the "qunnipiac poll" to fox's 17%. he is getting momentum. where it goes i don't know. it is self something now a part of this campaign as we move forward. howard: i don't think he is a serious threat to president biden but certainly getting a huge amount of attention. republicans embarrassed the democrats at the tech censorship hearing. they tried to shut him down. the whole time was censorship. in fact contend sy has been censored he said at hearing both trump and

. >> even in hitler germany, you could cross the alps to switzerland or hide in an attic like anne frankisms are in place that none of us can run or hide. >> reporter: republicans on the house panel who invited him to testify see kennedy as someone who can validate their claims about democrats. >> the idea that democrats went to censure critics or that democrats want to take away people's freedoms vis-a-vis covid or masking or vaccinations. >> reporter: analysts point out this is a far cry from the robert f. kennedy jr. of several years ago, who was a credible and effective environmental lawyer, spending years spearheading efforts to clean up the hudson river and founding an environmental group devoted to water protection plans that worked all around the world. wolf, this seems like a very, very different person. >> certainly does. brian todd, thank you for that report. let's discuss all of this with our political commentators, bakari sellers and ali. he's still polling 15% to 20% with democrats. that's clearly not negligible. what does that say to you? >> i would actually say it is negl

you could hide in an attic like anne frank did. it was possible.an run, and none of cuss hide. >> reporter: analysts say the republicans on the house panel who invited him to testify see kennedy as someone who can validate their claims about democrats. >> the idea that democrats want to senn censor critics or democrats want the take away people's freedoms vis-a-vis covid or masking or vaccines. >> reporter: analysts point thought is a far cry from the robert f. kennedy jr. of several years ago who was a credible environmental lawyer spending years to clean up the hudson river, and founding an environmental group devoted to water protection plans that worked all around the world. brian todd, cnn, washington. >> democrat stacey plaskett is the ranking member of the subcommittee on weapons inspection of the federal government which held the hearing today. she pushed back you heard kennedy made prior to the hearing that covid was ethnically targeted. >> these are individuals who would bring a witness who has promoted a video that compared the covid vac

we don't have to speak on anne frank's short and sad life.o get you to weigh in on what role exactly is he playing in this campaign? >> yeah, jonathan, i mean, again, there should be no space in either side of the political spectrum here for comments like that to be made. the fact that someone who is masquerading as a democrat running for president who, by the way, is funded by ron desantis donors and other republicans, you know, this is the most anti-democratic thing you can say when it comes to the values of the democratic party. it is dangerous and disconcerting, that this week on thursday right now, jim jordan and his so-called weaponization subcommittee at the judiciary committee is planning rfk to be the star witness, to give him another platform to elevate his cuckoo for cocoa puffs nonsense. jim jordan, kevin mccarthy, the leadership of the republican party should be held accountable for giving these anti-semitic and racist views this platform. this is their idea, jonathan, of a so-called credible witness. we already saw just the othe

said in hitler's germany, you could cross the alps to switzerland, you could hide in an attic like anne frank did, to imply jews in nazi germany had more freedoms than unvaccinated americans during the covid-19 pandemic. now many of my republican colleagues across the dais will rush to cover that they have mr. kennedy here because they want to protect his free speech, that they do not believe in american censorship. this is not the kind of free speech that i know of, the free speech that is protected by the constitution's first amendment, but free speech is not an absolute. the supreme court has stated that. and others' free speech that is allowed, hateful, abusive rhetoric, does not need to be promoted in the halls of the people's house. this republican charge of free speech is being used by republican members to promote quasi-science, things such as the replacement theory that says that brown people are replacing good white americans here in this country. let's not remember that this country first belonged to brown native american people. it's a rallying cry for bigotry and hate. there are

museum here in washington, dc and they gave us an advisor to work with we work with some of the anne frankassociations, help us with the book and that is just an important and sadly so relevant book today. how to talk an age appropriate level to your kids about such an important and amazing topic. so you know that to me, those are my answers. here's where i tell you, because you ask that brave question. i'm going to tell you what the next am books are. but the only thing i ask i'm very serious about don't tell anyone. all those people who did not come here tonight, we screw them. we do not. we don't care about them. we don't even like those people, right? forget them. i'm going to tell you. just don't put it on social media. i'm serious. you are all nice people, right? you came here tonight. don't put it on social media. don't tell my editor if she hears she can be so mad at me because. they want to have a big announcement. so here's the story. so we just did. i am dolly parton was the one that came out, which was really fun to do. and we did superman and batman, so we did that, which was

i quote, even hitler's germany you could cross the alps to switzerland or hide in an attic like anne frank did. do you think it was easy for the jewish people to escape the systematic slaughter of nazis? mr. kennedy: absolutely not. ms. wasserman schultz: do you think it was as hard to wear a mask in covid as it was to hide under floor boards or behind walls to not be dragged to a concentration camp. yes or no. the doorkeeper: i didn't hear the question. ms. wasserman schultz: do you think it's just as hard to wear a mask during covid as it was to hide under floor boards or false walls to you weren't dragged to a concentration camps. mr. kennedy: of course not. ms. wasserman schultz: that's a comparison you made. mr. kennedy: i did not. ms. wasserman schultz: was covid comparable to the holocaust. mr. kennedy: absolutely not. ms. wasserman schultz: there's no legitimate comparison to the holocaust. doesn't matter if you're talking about a.i. or anything else. if this were a slip of the tongue or a one-off comment, we'd all move on. buts that recurring problem. when discussing efforts to en

that's like saying the nazi holocaust was good because it gave us anne frank's diary.ng the evil for what it is there's an attempt to absolve. so this connects back to the feeling of guilt. right? and this is at the heart of it. and it also connects to the question of addressing the ongoing legacy of racial inequality as a result of the institution of slavery itself. >> but eddie, i worry about -- there's something disorienting about it as well, right? and i worry that if they succeed in disorienting -- you've even got some republicans, not enough for my appetite for clarity, but even a couple of republicans are saying flat out no, wrong, you know, survey says no. but there is something disorienting. and i think republicans see the success trump has had in disorienting his own base. and that feels like the other insidious piece of this. >> absolutely. it's disorienting because it in some ways -- it turns over the well, nicolle, to use herman melville's analogy. and what do you see on the bottom of the belly of the whale? all of these barnacles, the detritus of american

and, frank, you have big shoes to fill, at least high shoes to fill, because we have ann compton here and we had four episodes of white house history with ann compton. and that was great fun as well. this program is put together by the david rubenstein national center for white house history here at the association, led by dr. colleen shogun, dr. matthew costello, and all of their colleagues who are here today. put in a tremendous amount of work to put on this series, as well as our other substantive programs that we have as part of our education mission here at the association. i'd like to acknowledge a member of our board of directors, anita mcbride, who is here, and three distinguished former members of our board, bob mcgee, martha kumar and mike mccurry, who are also on the panel. we have several members of our national council on white house history who are the real wind in a in the sails of our work. and we're very, very grateful for their support to helps make our nonprofit and nonpartisan mission possible without their financial support, we could not do what we do. we receive

and it's not about curriculum that includes details about slavery or the trail of tears or anne frank. that's not what most voters and parents care about. what they care about, number one, they care about getting students the support they need. and in some instances that's one-on-one support to meet the needs of their students. they care deeply about addressing the educator shortages that we see across the country. they care deeply about ensuring that their students have the mental health services that they need. and they care deeply about the dangers of gun violence in their schools. they want candidates to address these issues. they want leaders who will address these issues. and i will say, the needs of parents are really not that different from the needs and the desires of students. i've spent quite a bit of time traveling across vermont, speaking to predominantly middle school and high school students about what it is that they are concerned about. and they talk about the same kinds of things. they talk about needing mental health supports. they talk about how afraid they are to