Trump taps Robert Kennedy Jr to lead Department of Health and Human Services

Washington: US President-elect Donald Trump has selected Robert F. Kennedy Jr, an environmental activist who has spread misinformation on vaccines, to lead the country’s top health agency, the Department of Health and Human Services.

The department is a massive cabinet agency that oversees everything from drug, vaccine and food safety to medical research and the social safety net programs Medicare and Medicaid.

Prominent anti-vaccination voice Robert F. Kennedy Jr.Credit: AP

Kennedy ran for president in this year’s election as an independent before dropping out in August and endorsing Trump in exchange for a role in the Republican’s administration.

“He’s going to help make America healthy again,” Trump said in his victory speech on November 6. “He wants to do some things, and we’re going to let him get to it.”

Kennedy, the son of senator Robert Kennedy and nephew of president John F. Kennedy, has been a part of Trump’s transition team and has been reviewing candidate resumes for the top jobs at US health agencies.

Over posts on social media platform X and interviews in recent weeks, Kennedy has indicated his priorities include addressing what he calls the “chronic disease epidemic” of conditions including obesity, diabetes and autism, and reducing chemicals in food.

Despite high levels of spending on healthcare and pharmaceuticals, Americans are unhealthier than their peers in wealthy countries around the world, according to a report from the Commonwealth Fund in 2023.

Kennedy also suggested he would gut the 18,000-employee Food and Drug Administration – which ensures the safety of food, drugs and medical devices – and replace hundreds of employees at the National Institutes of Health.

As news spreads of Trump’s nominates, his adviser Elon Musk met with Iran’s ambassador to the United Nations on Monday (US time) in New York, the New York Times reported. Officials said Musk discussed how to defuse tensions between Iran and the US.

“FDA’s war on public health is about to end,” he wrote on X in late October, adding that included its “aggressive suppression” of psychedelics, peptides, stem cells, raw milk, sunshine, and other items.

As expectations for Kennedy’s appointment were disclosed, Trump’s nominee for attorney-general, Matt Gaetz, came under increasing scrutiny with a top Republican senator saying he “absolutely” wants to review an unreleased report examining allegations of sexual misconduct.

Matt Gaetz, Trump’s pick to be US attorney-general.Credit: AP

A lawyer representing an alleged victim also called for the report to be made public.

Senator John Cornyn, who holds a top spot on the committee that will consider Gaetz’s nomination next year, said he and other lawmakers should be granted access to the report by the House of Representatives Ethics Committee, which examined allegations of sexual misconduct and illicit drug use.

“I don’t want there to be any limitation at all on what the Senate could consider,” Cornyn told reporters. When asked if that meant he wanted to see the ethics report, he replied: “Absolutely.”

Gaetz resigned his House seat after he was nominated for attorney-general, which would end the Ethics Committee probe. He has denied wrongdoing. According to several news outlets, the panel had intended to release the report on Friday.

Senator John Cornyn wants to see the House ethics probe report of Gaetz.Credit: AP

Gaetz also was investigated by the Justice Department for nearly three years over sex-trafficking allegations involving a 17-year-old girl. His office said prosecutors told him in 2023 that he would not face criminal charges.

“Mr Gaetz’s likely nomination as attorney-general is a perverse development in a truly dark series of events. We would support the House Ethics Committee immediately releasing their report. She was a high school student and there were witnesses,” John Clune, a lawyer representing the alleged victim, posted on X.

Like Trump’s other nominees, Gaetz needs to win confirmation in the Senate next year, which Republicans will control with at least 52 members in the 100-seat chamber. “It’s premature to count votes – but a lot of questions,” Cornyn said of Gaetz’s prospects.

Cornyn is currently the No. 2 Republican on the Judiciary Committee, which would handle Gaetz’s confirmation.

Multiple Republican senators have expressed scepticism at the nomination of Gaetz, 42, a provocateur who has never worked for the Justice Department or as a prosecutor at any level of government.

On Thursday, Gaetz mused about abolishing the FBI, a Justice Department unit.

Gaetz is seen as key to Trump’s plans to carry out mass deportations, pardon January 6 rioters and seek retribution against those who prosecuted him.

Trump also tapped Todd Blanche for Deputy Attorney General plus Emil Bove as Principal Associate Deputy Attorney General. Blanche and Bove were his defence team for the Stormy Daniels hush money case for which Trump is still awaiting sentencing.

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