Trump picks RFK Jr. to supervise the Division of Well being and Human Companies

President-elect Donald Trump has tapped Robert F. Kennedy Jr. — a former impartial presidential candidate who has a historical past of spreading conspiracy theories, together with about vaccines — to supervise the Division of Well being and Human Companies.

“For too lengthy, Individuals have been crushed by the commercial meals advanced and drug corporations who’ve engaged in deception, misinformation, and disinformation in relation to Public Well being,” Trump stated in an announcement on Truth Social. “The Security and Well being of all Individuals is an important position of any Administration, and HHS will play an enormous position in serving to be sure that all people might be shielded from dangerous chemical substances, pollution, pesticides, pharmaceutical merchandise, and meals components which have contributed to the overwhelming Well being Disaster on this Nation. Mr. Kennedy will restore these Businesses to the traditions of Gold Customary Scientific Analysis, and beacons of Transparency, to finish the Persistent Illness epidemic, and to Make America Nice and Wholesome Once more!”

The announcement on Thursday got here as no shock. For weeks, Trump had made clear that Kennedy would have a job in his administration.

“He’ll assist make America wholesome once more,” Trump stated of Kennedy throughout celebratory election night time remarks. “He is a fantastic man and he actually means it. He desires to do some issues and we will let him go do it.”

In an interview with NPR earlier than the selection was introduced, Kennedy stated, “President Trump has given me three directions: He desires the corruption and the conflicts out of the regulatory companies. He desires to return the companies to the gold normal empirically based mostly, evidence-based science and drugs that they had been as soon as well-known for. And he desires to finish the persistent illness epidemic with measurable impacts on a diminishment of persistent illness inside two years.”

If confirmed by the Senate, the position would give Kennedy the possibility to actualize a imaginative and prescient of public well being that’s typically at odds with mainstream well being and science.

Kennedy’s baseless claims have included that Wi-Fi causes most cancers and “leaky mind”; that college shootings are attributable to antidepressants; that chemical substances in water can result in youngsters turning into transgender; and that AIDS is probably not brought on by HIV. He is additionally lengthy stated that vaccines trigger autism and fail to guard folks from illnesses.

Within the NPR interview, Kennedy stated, “[O]f course, we’re not going to take vaccines away from anyone. We’re going to make it possible for Individuals have good info proper now. The science on vaccine security notably has enormous deficits, and we’re going to verify these scientific research are finished and that individuals could make knowledgeable selections about their vaccinations and their youngsters’s vaccinations.”

Even earlier than Trump’s announcement, Kennedy stated he would advise the incoming administration to take away fluoride from all public water — although placing small quantities of fluoride in the water supply has confirmed to have prevented cavities and improved dental well being. He additionally proposed changing 600 workers on the Nationwide Institutes of Well being.

Kennedy first challenged President Biden within the 2024 Democratic major earlier than mounting a long-shot impartial presidential bid. He suspended that campaign in August and backed Trump.

Kennedy is the son of Robert F. Kennedy, the late U.S. lawyer normal, New York senator and Democratic presidential candidate, and is the nephew of former President John F. Kennedy. He had spent the sooner a part of his profession as an environmental lawyer finest recognized for cleansing up the Hudson River and spearheading a world effort to guard waterways.

Kennedy joins a rising crop of nominees named by the president-elect whose {qualifications} have been questioned and who might face tough paths to affirmation, even in a 53-seat Republican-controlled Senate. It is a listing that features former GOP Rep. Matt Gaetz for attorney general and former Democratic Rep. Tulsi Gabbard for director of national intelligence.

Not like Gaetz and Tabbard, nonetheless, Kennedy enjoys enthusiastic ranges of assist from a few of Trump’s most loyal senators, together with Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis. Johnson advised reporters Wednesday that Kennedy had been in talks with Trump to steer the well being company since across the time he dropped his personal impartial presidential bid and endorsed Trump.

“When he known as me up asking, for instance, his possibilities of affirmation, first phrases out of my mouth: ‘Bobby, that is the reply to my prayers,’ and I sincerely imagine that,” Johnson stated. “I believe Bobby Kennedy can do extra working with President Trump to advance America’s well being than anyone, actually, in historical past. This may very well be utterly game-changing.”

Senate Democrats had been fast to criticize the Kennedy choice — whilst they lack the votes to dam his affirmation with out GOP defections.

“Mr. Kennedy’s outlandish views on fundamental scientific details are disturbing and will fear all dad and mom who count on faculties and different public areas to be protected for his or her youngsters,” Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., stated in an announcement. “When Mr. Kennedy comes earlier than the Finance Committee, it may be very clear what Individuals stand to lose underneath Trump and Republicans in Congress.”