Robert F. Kennedy Jr. During Weaponization Hearing: Censorship Is the ‘Beginning of Totalitarianism’

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. warned during a Thursday hearing on censorship at the House Weaponization Subcommittee that “a government that can censor its critics has license for every atrocity.”

Kennedy, a Democrat presidential candidate, made the comments in response to a question from Rep. Kat Cammack (R-FL), asking witnesses to describe the potential ramifications of not talking about and exposing the weaponization of the United States government.

“A government that can censor its critics has license for every atrocity. It is the beginning of totalitarianism. There’s never been a time in history when we look back, and the guys who were censoring people were the good guys,” Kennedy replied.

“All of us grew up reading Arthur Koestler, Robert Heinlein, Aldous Huxley, George Orwell, and they were all saying the same thing: once you start censoring, you’re on your way to dystopia and totalitarianism,” he added.

Democrats notably tried to censor Kennedy after his opening statement during the hearing, in which he defended his record on racism and antisemitism, and disputed claims by 102 Democrats in a letter that he had allegedly “spread vile and dangerous antisemitic and anti-Asian conspiracy theories.”

Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL), who had used an earlier hearing to attack the practice of professional journalism itself, subsequently moved that the hearing be moved into “executive session,” ending the public testimony. She cited rule 11, section 2, of the House, which provides for an executive session if testimony “would tend to defame, degrade, or incriminate any person.” Republicans moved to table the motion, with Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) later exclaiming: “This is a hearing on censorship that began with an effort…to censor Mr. Kennedy!”

WATCH: Democrats Try To Censor Robert F. Kennedy Jr. In Censorship Hearing

House Committee on the Judiciary

Breitbart News’ own political editor, Emma-Jo Morris, testified at the hearing about the censorship of her reporting on Hunter Biden’s laptop. She responded to Rep. Cammack’s question about the weaponization of government by stating, “I can’t even believe this is a conversation.”

“This is not controversial or taboo,” Morris continued. “We live in the United States of America, and you have the right to say whatever you want, print whatever you want, and to read whatever you want.”

Katherine Hamilton is a political reporter for Breitbart News. You can follow her on Twitter @thekat_hamilton.