President Donald Trump's Health Secretary, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., refused to directly answer when asked during an interview with Scripps News on Monday what message he had for CDC employees who are worried about the culture of misinformation and skepticism around vaccines.
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Although law enforcement officials have made clear the shooter was targeting the public health agency over the COVID-19 vaccine, Kennedy said in the interview that not enough was known about his motives.
He described political violence as "wrong" and said his job is to protect employees.
He went on to criticize the public health agency's actions during the COVID-19 pandemic.
"One of the things that we saw during COVID is that the government was overreaching in its efforts to persuade the public to get vaccinated and they were saying things that are not always true," Kennedy said.