Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it’s investigating the financials of Elon Musk’s pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, ‘The A Word’, which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.
Read more
Donald Trump’s Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr has made the surprising claim that the president has recently lost 30 pounds – while conceding that his junk food diet still leaves a lot to be desired.
Interviewed by Fox News host Sean Hannity in a branch of Steak ’n Shake in Florida on Tuesday, Kennedy said of Trump: “I saw him yesterday and I think he’s lost 30 pounds.”
Hannity did not challenge the claim and instead agreed: “He looks great. And he told me, he’s not using… for example, if he has a burger now, he usually doesn’t have it with a bun.”
“Oh, I didn’t know that he was actually changing his diet,” Kennedy responded.
He continued: “I have to say this… Even with all the – can I say – crap that he eats… he has a genetic system that, like…”
“…Is second to none,” Hannity said, helping him out.
Trump seldom talks about his weight but was listed it as 215 pounds when he reported to Fulton County Jail in Georgia to have his mugshot taken in August 2023. He did tell another Fox host, Brian Kilmeade, in January 2024 that he had lost 20 pounds through “work.”
open image in gallery
“I have been so busy,” the then-Republican presidential candidate said.
“I haven’t been able to eat very much. I’m not able to sit down and eat like a person like you. You can sit down and eat. Me, it’s a little bit tougher.”
Kennedy and Hannity then joked about the president’s well-documented fondness for KFC, pizza, Diet Coke, and McDonald’s.
Trump famously served a fast-food buffet to the visiting Clemson Tigers in the East Room of the White House during his first term and worked the fryer and manned a drive-thru at a Pennsylvania branch of the Golden Arches during last year’s presidential campaign.
“If you don’t like McDonald’s, you shouldn’t get on the airplane with him!” Kennedy told Hannity, alluding to a picture of himself sitting with Trump, Elon Musk, Donald Trump Jr and House Speaker Mike Johnson posing with Big Macs and boxes of McNuggets en route to a UFC fight last November.
That photograph, circulated on social media by Trump campaign adviser Margo Martin, was possibly a light-hearted act of revenge on the president’s part, given that RFK Jr had appeared on The Joe Polish Show five days previously and disparaged his diet.
open image in gallery
“The stuff that he eats is really bad,” Kennedy told the marketing podcaster.
“Campaign food is always bad, but the food that goes onto that airplane is, like, just poison.”
Hannity also asked the health secretary during his interview whether he planned to ban sugary soft drinks as part of his “Make America Healthy Again” agenda.
“I’m not going to take them away from people, but we shouldn’t be subsidizing them,” he answered.
More controversially, Kennedy said of the measles vaccine: “There are adverse events from the vaccine.
“It does cause deaths every year. It causes all the illnesses that measles itself cause.”
