The actor Cheryl Hines has said she does not believe her husband, Robert F Kennedy Jr, will run for the White House after Donald Trump’s presidency.
Hines was asked by Elizabeth Vargas, a NewsNation anchor, on Monday, “Is your husband going to run for president in 2028? And, if so, are you ready for that?”
“Gosh, he’s not going to run for president,” Hines replied, though she subsequently conceded that Kennedy at one point “didn’t think he was going to go into politics – and the next thing you know he’s telling me he wants to run”.
The Emmy-nominated Curb Your Enthusiasm star has been married to the US health secretary since 2014. She delivered her remarks to Vargas amid renewed news coverage and commentary about her husband’s 2024 presidential bid.
That media coverage stemmed in large part from a memoir released on 2 December by the political journalist Olivia Nuzzi, American Canto, which described an emotional affair that the author had with Kennedy on the campaign trail.
Trump chose Kennedy to serve as his second administration’s top health official after the latter spent years advocating against vaccines as well as pushing conspiracy theories about their safety. On Friday, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices handpicked by Kennedy voted to limit hepatitis B vaccines.
The panel opted to remove the well-established recommendation that all newborns in the US receive a hepatitis B vaccine. Instead, it recommended that parents of infants whose mothers test negative for the virus consult with their healthcare provider to decide when – or if – their child should receive the vaccine series.
Experts say any change to the hepatitis B vaccine schedule could have significant, far-reaching consequences. Notably, a study published in 2023 in the official journal of the US surgeon general found that infant immunization drove a 99% decline in reported cases of acute hepatitis B among children, adolescents and young adults between 1990 and 2019.
Kennedy first unsuccessfully pursued the Democratic nomination and then signed up to run as an independent before Trump defeated Kamala Harris in the November 2024 election to win a second presidency.
Kennedy endorsed Trump, a Republican, on 23 August 2024, defecting from the party to which his father – Robert F Kennedy, a former US senator – and uncle, John F Kennedy, belonged before their assassinations in the 1960s.
“We are aligned on many key issues,” Kennedy said at the time of Trump, whom he had once previously referred to as a “a terrible president”.
As the Hill noted, Kennedy is one of a handful of Trump allies who could run to succeed the president after his second term ends. Others are JD Vance, the vice-president, and Marco Rubio, the secretary of state.
