President-elect Donald Trump on Thursday announced that he will nominate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to head the Department of Health and Human Services.
Mr. Trump said he is nominating Mr. Kennedy, a former presidential candidate and renowned vaccine skeptic who believes the U.S. food supply is causing an epidemic of childhood diseases, to lead the sprawling department charged with “improving the health, safety and well-being of America.”
“I am thrilled to announce Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. as the United States Secretary of Health and Human Services,” Mr. Trump said in a statement. “For too long, Americans have been crushed by the industrial food complex and drug companies who have engaged in deception, misinformation, and disinformation when it comes to public health.”
Mr. Kennedy’s outspoken questioning of vaccines, concerns about government censorship and skepticism of foreign entanglements—including U.S. assistance to Ukraine—have driven his appeal among Mr. Trump’s loyal supporters. His skepticism of vaccines gained prominence during COVID-19, but his views on the subject long predate the pandemic.
He is a proponent of alternative medicine and healthy eating, and recently described Mr. Trump’s diet as “bad” and lamented how the food of the Trump campaign was “just poison.”
When Mr. Trump won the election last week, he encouraged Mr. Kennedy to “go wild” in his new role, before it was announced.
“The safety and health of all Americans is the most important role of any administration, and HHS will play a big role in helping ensure that everybody will be protected from harmful chemicals, pollutants, pesticides, pharmaceutical products, and food additives that have contributed to the overwhelming Health Crisis in this Country,” the president-elect said.
“Mr. Kennedy will restore these agencies to the traditions of gold standard scientific research, and beacons of transparency, to end the chronic disease epidemic, and to Make America Great and Healthy Again!” he said.
The son of former U.S. Attorney General Robert Kennedy and nephew of former President John F. Kennedy, Mr. Kennedy, if confirmed by the Senate, would lead a department with a budget that tops $1 trillion.
It oversees insurance programs such as Medicare and Medicaid and plays a key role in promoting and operating Obamacare.
The portfolio at HHS also includes health guidance through the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, research at the National Institutes of Health and pharmaceutical approvals through the Food and Drug Administration, among other duties.
It’s a far less conventional pick by Mr. Trump than during his first term, when he tapped former Rep. Tom Price to lead the agency.
Mr. Price left amid controversy over his use of private planes for travel, clearing the way for Alex Azar, a former pharmaceutical executive, to take the top post.
Since launching a brief bid for the Democratic presidential nomination, Mr. Kennedy has carved out a unique political profile, which has soured relationships with his family and made him an unexpected star of the MAGA movement.
Mr. Kennedy pulled the plug on his independent presidential bid and endorsed Mr. Trump in late August, saying Mr. Trump “asked to enlist me” in his administration.
Senate Finance Committee Chair Ron Wyden, Oregon Democrat, panned the announcement.
“Mr. Kennedy’s outlandish views on basic scientific facts are disturbing and should worry all parents who expect schools and other public spaces to be safe for their children,” Mr. Wyden said in a statement. “When Mr. Kennedy comes before the Finance Committee, it’s going to be very clear what Americans stand to lose under Trump and Republicans in Congress.”
Likewise, Sen. Patty Murray of Washington said Mr. Kennedy’s confirmation would be “nothing short of a disaster” and urged Republican senators to block the nomination.
“Donald Trump’s selection of a notorious anti-vaxxer to lead HHS could not be more dangerous — this is cause for deep concern for every American,” said Ms. Murray, a senior Democrat on the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee. “There is no telling how far a fringe conspiracy theorist like RFK Jr. could set back America in terms of public health, reproductive rights, research and innovation, and so much else.”
Sen. Bill Cassidy, the Louisiana Republican in line to lead the Senate HELP Committee in the next Congress, said Mr. Kennedy “has championed issues like healthy foods and the need for greater transparency in our public health infrastructure.”
“I look forward to learning more about his other policy positions and how they will support a conservative, pro-American agenda,” Mr. Cassidy said.
Despite the blowback from Democrats on Capitol Hill, the pick did win some praise from the party outside the Beltway.
Gov. Jared Polis of Colorado said he was “excited by the news.”
“He helped us defeat vaccine mandates in Colorado in 2019 and will help make America healthy again by shaking up HHS and FDA,” Mr. Polis said of Mr. Kennedy in a social media post. “I hope he leans into personal choice on vaccines rather than bans (which I think are terrible, just like mandates) but what I’m most optimistic about is taking on Big Pharma and the corporate ag oligopoly to improve our health.”
Mr. Kennedy thanked Mr. Polis for the kind words, saying, “I look forward to working with you.”
Mr. Trump has been moving quickly on his Cabinet nominations, and his picks that have roiled establishment Washington —including South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem to lead Homeland Security and former Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida as attorney general—have made it clear that he values loyalty.
Mr. Kennedy fits the bill.
The 70-year-old left the Democratic Party after launching a short-lived challenge against President Biden that infuriated party leaders and his family.
In the campaign’s closing weeks, Mr. Kennedy became a top Trump campaign surrogate and received the star treatment from the MAGA faithful.
Tony Clarke, of Accountable.US, a non-artisan government watchdog group, said Mr. Kennedy “has spent years recklessly promoting unfounded, anti-scientific conspiracies about everything from vaccines to antidepressants.”
“Not only does he lack any serious credentials, but his troubling grasp of facts pose a serious threat to the health of millions of Americans,” he said.
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