Trump will nominate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. for HHS secretary
washington — President-elect Donald Trump said in a social media post Thursday that he will nominate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to lead the Department of Health and Human Services.
“I am pleased to announce Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as Secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS),” he said in a post on The industrial food complex and pharmaceutical companies are crushing “their public health deceit, misinformation, and disinformation,” and Kennedy will “Make America Great and Healthy Again!” “
Kennedy had a long record of criticism vaccineincluding dissemination misleading statement About their safety.
he has vow to fight Chronic disease is an “epidemic,” and Big Pharma and food companies are held responsible for many illnesses. Kennedy claimed that many health problems have been worsened by federal inaction, including autism, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, sleep disorders, infertility rates, diabetes and obesity. He also urged Remove fluoride from drinking water.
Kennedy needed to be confirmed by the Senate. His chances of passage in the Democratic-led Senate are slim, given his longstanding support for the Democratic-led Senate. “Anti-science, fringe public health stance” But with Republican majority Trump’s nominees will have an easier path to confirmation come January.
Although Kennedy’s nomination is expected to face opposition — and others controversial choose Leader of national security agencies and former Florida Rep. Matt Gates To lead the Justice Department — Trump has told colleagues in recent days that he is standing by his pick for health secretary.
“No one can talk him out of that option,” a source familiar with the option said Thursday.
Trump promised during the campaign to get Kennedy, a vaccine skeptic and former environmental lawyer, “Go wild” Questions about health, food and medicine.
“I’m going to make him crazy on health. I’m going to make him crazy on food. I’m going to make him crazy on medicine,” Trump said in the final days before the election. “The only thing I don’t think I’d let him get close to is the liquid gold … sometimes called oil and gas beneath our feet.”
The vast HHS department includes many agencies, including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the National Institutes of Health, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, and the Food and Drug Administration. As Secretary of Health and Human Services, Kennedy will also oversee Office of Refugee Resettlementresponsible for caring for undocumented and unaccompanied children apprehended at the border.
The Center for Science in the Public Interest, a watchdog group that often clashes with the FDA and is in some ways closely aligned with Kennedy’s calls to remove chemicals from food, issued a statement condemning his nomination.
Dr. Peter G. Lurie, the organization’s president, said in a statement, “Nominating an anti-vaxxer like Kennedy to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services is like putting a flat-earther at the helm of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Head of the Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).” statement. “CSPI opposes this nomination and any other nomination that poses a direct threat to science and evidence-based solutions.”
But one prominent Democrat, Colorado Gov. Jared Polis, said in a statement social media posts He was “excited” by the news that Kennedy had been nominated. He praised Kennedy for helping defeat Colorado’s vaccine mandate in 2019, but said he wished Kennedy would embrace personal choice about vaccines rather than ban them. He also said he was optimistic about Kennedy’s pledge to shoulder Big Pharma and high drug costs for Americans. Polis also backed up Kennedy’s criticism of “entire departments, like the Nutrition Division of the Food and Drug Administration,” which “are not doing their jobs and not protecting our children,” particularly from pesticides used in agriculture of infringement.
Meanwhile, Polis is also working with Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker to form a policy entity designed to take on other parts of Trump’s agenda.
as co-chair Trump’s transitionKennedy has been vetting a slate of staffers who could fill top positions in the Trump administration. He said he wanted “every nutritional scientist” at the Departments of Health and Human Services and Agriculture “fired on day one.”
Kennedy faced an expensive and time-consuming process of getting on the general election ballot as an independent candidate, ending his tough campaign for the white house August and supports Trump.
Kennedy said three issues convinced him to support Trump: free speech, the war in Ukraine and what he called “a war on our children.” He says processed foods, chemicals and obesity are destroying the health of American children
At an August rally with Kennedy, Trump vowed to create a panel to investigate chronic health problems and childhood illnesses and create an independent Presidential Commission on Assassination Attempts tasked with releasing information related to President John F. Kennedy all remaining files. Kennedy was assassinated. Kennedy was the nephew of the late president and the son of the late senator, attorney general and presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy.
contributed to this report.
