Florida Governor and GOP presidential candidate Ron DeSantis shot down the idea of choosing Democrat contender Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as his vice president if he wins the 2024 Republican nomination.

DeSantis, who entered the race earlier this year, rejected the idea of a DeSantis/Kennedy Jr. ticket to Outkick’s Clay Travis despite the Democrat candidate gaining popularity in some conservative circles.

Kennedy Jr., the nephew of the late President John F. Kennedy, formally launched his 2024 Democratic presidential campaign in April, vowing to end the merger of state and corporate power. The environmental lawyer and best-selling author garnered attention in recent years for his stance against vaccines and became a vocal critic of the government’s handling of the COVID pandemic.

But despite the two presidential hopefuls coming from different political camps, DeSantis said he “100%” agrees with Kennedy’s position on Dr. Anthony Fauci and health bureaucracy corruption — issues both candidates speak openly about in their respective campaigns.

“Here’s the issue: I’m aligned with him on [former presidential medical adviser Dr. Anthony] Fauci, the corruption, and the health bureaucracy — 100 percent,” DeSantis said. “But, at the end of the day, he’s more liberal, very liberal on some. I mean, he used to say, I don’t know if he still believes this, that if you deny climate change, you should go to jail, things like that. So, it’s like conservative voters, they would want those positions flushed out. He opposed the affirmative action ruling [that said] you can’t racially discriminate … he would have wanted that to remain. So I just think at the end of the day, you need somebody that’s going to reflect the values of the broad coalition.”

“Yes, the medical stuff — I’m very good on that. So that does appeal to me, but there’s a whole host of other things that he’d probably be out of step with.”

Republican presidential candidate Ron DeSantis shoots down the idea of having Democrat Robert F. Kennedy Jr. be his vice-presidential pick.

There also seems to be the notion that he suggested RFK Jr. could lead the CDC or FDA but that's not what the transcript suggests:

CLAY… pic.twitter.com/Huu8m96XsB

— Ryan Saavedra (@RealSaavedra) July 26, 2023

DeSantis, however, floated the idea of siccing Kennedy Jr. on one of the top federal health agencies in the nation.

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“If you’re president, sic him on the FDA [Food and Drug Administration] if he’d be willing to serve. Or sic him on CDC [Centers for Disease Control and Prevention],” DeSantis said. “But in terms of being veep, there’s 70% of the issues that he may be averse to our base on, you know, that just creates an issue.”

In recent months, DeSantis has expressed ongoing criticism of federal agencies, specifically hitting the CDC during the height of the pandemic for imposing mandates on U.S. citizens.

DeSantis reportedly met with Kennedy Jr. during the COVID pandemic and slammed the federal government’s response as “catastrophic” while making it clear that complete destruction of certain institutions might be going too easy on them.

“There was a report that — I had spoken with Bobby Kennedy Jr., and he had said that ‘the governor said that you know, that we need to burn to the ground the CDC’ and all these things,” DeSantis began.

“And I just want to be very clear, full disclosure,” DeSantis continued. “I was not that kind to CDC and NIH and any of those [agencies]. Just for the record, just so your viewers don’t think I’m going soft, but I can’t think of a more catastrophic response than how this country responded to COVID, particularly at the federal level.”

During a hearing on Wednesday, one Republican lawmaker confronted a Biden administration Cabinet secretary with a jar filled with colorful contents.

It was not full of “candies or snacks,” as Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Xavier Becerra had guessed. Rather, as Rep. Kat Cammack (R-FL) explained while holding the jar, what it contained represented a far more “grim” reality.

“These are wristbands that the cartels force people to wear when they cross the border, and if you’re not wearing one and you cross the border, the cartels will take a limb or an appendage,” Cammack said.

Rep. Cammack: Do you see this jar?

Sec. Becerra: It looks like candies or snacks.

Rep. Cammack: These are wristbands the cartels force people to wear when they cross the border. If you're not wearing one when you cross, the cartels will take a limb, like an arm or leg. pic.twitter.com/QSB5dFyAf7

— Rep. Cammack Press Office (@RepKatCammack) July 26, 2023

“This is what these people are forced to wear and it dictates what cartel they belong to, how much they have paid and they are absolutely a part of the horrors of trafficking and smuggling that occurs at our Southwest border,” Cammack added. “And I have to point this out because I want to tell the journey because this has really been laid out in bits and pieces along the way by my colleagues and we’re here to talk about these kids.”

The jar moment went viral on social media, with comments from Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) and others.

“Astonishing — but not at all a surprise,” Cruz said on the X platform. “Earlier this year during a Senate Judiciary hearing, DHS Secretary [Alejandro] Mayorkas denied knowing about the cartel wristbands found at the border. This is the latest example of the Biden administration turning a blind eye to the human trafficking crisis taking place at our southern border.”

In his testimony for a House subcommittee hearing on “Stopping the Exploitation of Migrant Children: Oversight of HHS’ Office of Refugee Resettlement,” Becerra talked about what happens when young people who are transferred to HHS care from the Department of Homeland Security or any other federal entity are then released to a sponsor. Becerra stressed that the sponsors of unaccompanied minors are “thoroughly vetted,” but conceded the children “may find themselves in unsafe situations.”

Challenging the secretary to define what “thoroughly vetted” means, Cammack shared the story of a young migrant girl she encountered who was “terrified” of the man holding her, as seen in a photo the congresswoman showed. That man, Cammack said, later confessed under threat of a DNA test to “renting” the child in a process called “recycling” and turned out to be a convicted sex offender.

Cammack said many migrant children end up having the same phone number written on their arm in sharpie and dozens of them “magically” end up with the same sponsor. HHS releases these children, she added, to sponsors who are in the country illegally.

When given a chance to respond, Becerra pushed back, saying the congresswoman shared “misinformation” and insisted that officials run a “series of tests and assessments of a child when we get them.”

To Cammack, the secretary’s response appeared to be insufficient as she figures such as DNA tests only being conducted in 9% of cases and background checks in 23% of cases. “I think this is disgusting that 85,000 children are missing, and it’s on your watch,” she added as her time to speak expired.