Washington – President-elect Donald Trump said in a social media post on Thursday that he would nominate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. will nominate to lead the Department of Health and Human Services.
“I am very pleased to welcome Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to announce as U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS),” he said in a post on disinformation” about public health, and Kennedy would “Make America Great and Healthy Again!”
Kennedy has a long track record of criticism vaccinesincluding spreading misleading claims about their safety.
He has promised to fight an ‘epidemic’ of chronic diseases and believes that big pharmaceutical and food companies are responsible for a wide range of ailments. Kennedy has claimed that a number of health problems have worsened as a result of federal inaction, including autism, ADHD, sleep disorders, infertility rates, diabetes and obesity. He also insisted on it remove fluoride from drinking water.
Kennedy would have to be confirmed by the Senate. His chances of clearing a Democratic-led Senate would have been slim given his long record of what the party called “anti-science, fringe public health positions,” but with Republicans in the majority Come January, Trump’s nominees will have an easier path to confirmation.
Despite the expected opposition to Kennedy’s nomination – along with others controversial choices to target national security agencies and former Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz to lead the Justice Department — Trump has told aides in recent days that he stands by his choice as health care chief.
“No one can talk him out of it,” one of the sources familiar with the choice said Thursday.
Trump pledged during the campaign to “let loose” Kennedy, a vaccine skeptic and former environmental lawyer, on issues related to health, food and medicine.
“I’m going to let him loose on his health. I’m going to let him loose on the food. I’m going to let him go off the drugs,” Trump said in the final days before the election. “The only thing I don’t think I’ll let him even come near is the liquid gold we have under our feet… aka oil and gas.”
The sprawling HHS department includes a number of agencies, including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Institutes of Health, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services and the Food and Drug Administration. As HHS secretary, Kennedy would also oversee the Office of Refugee Resettlementwho is responsible for the care of undocumented and unaccompanied children apprehended along the border.
The Center for Science in the Public Interest, a watchdog group that often clashes with the FDA and in some ways closely aligns with Kennedy’s calls to remove chemicals from food, issued a statement condemning his appointment.
“Nominating an anti-vaxxer like Kennedy to HHS is like putting a Flat Earther at the head of NASA,” said the group’s president, Dr. Peter G. Lurie, in a statement. “CSPI opposes this nomination and any other nominees who pose a direct threat to science and evidence-based solutions.”
But one prominent Democrat, Colorado Governor Jared Polis, said in a social media post that he was “excited by the news” of Kennedy’s nomination. He praised Kennedy for helping defeat vaccine mandates in Colorado in 2019, but said he hoped Kennedy would embrace personal choice on vaccines, rather than ban them. He also said he was optimistic about Kennedy’s vow to take on big pharma and high drug costs for Americans. Polis also supported Kennedy’s criticism of “entire departments, like the food division of the FDA” that are “not doing their jobs, not protecting our children,” especially from pesticides used in agriculture.
At the same time, Polis has also launched a policy entity with Illinois Governor JB Pritzker aimed at adopting other parts of the Trump agenda.
As co-chairman of Trump’s transitionKennedy has vetted a slew of staffers who could fill top positions in the Trump administration. He has said he hopes “every food scientist” within the Department of Health and Human Services and the Department of Agriculture “will be fired on day one.”
Kennedy, who faced a costly and time-consuming process to appear as an independent candidate in the general election, ended his longshot bid for the White House in August and endorsed Trump.
Kennedy said there were three issues that convinced him to support Trump: free speech, the war in Ukraine and what he called the “war on our children.” He said processed foods, chemicals and obesity are destroying the health of children in the US
At a meeting with Kennedy in August, Trump pledged to establish a panel to investigate chronic health problems and childhood illnesses, and to establish an independent Presidential Commission on Assassination Attempts that would be tasked with reviewing all remaining documents related to President John F. Kennedy’s assassination. Kennedy is the nephew of the late president and the son of the late senator, attorney general and presidential candidate Robert F Kennedy.
Caitlin Huey-Burns and Ed O’Keefe contributed to this report.
Finn Gomez
