RFK Jr. is reviewing resumes for Trump’s top health care jobs, sources say

Stephanie Kelly

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a former independent presidential candidate, is reviewing the resumes of candidates for top positions in U.S. government health agencies in the new Donald Trump administration, a former Kennedy aide and a source familiar with the Reuters matter said on Friday. .

Kennedy, a member of a prominent political family, was asked to recommend candidates for all health regulators, including the Department of Health and Human Services and the Food and Drug Administration, said Del Bigtree, who was communications director for the Kennedy campaign and remains close to him. former candidate.

A source familiar with the situation, who wished to remain anonymous, confirmed that Kennedy has taken on the role.

“The American people re-elected President Trump by a landslide because they trust his judgment and support his policies, including his promise to make America healthy again with respected leaders like RFK Jr.,” Trump-Vance Transition spokeswoman Caroline said in a statement. Leavitt in a statement. application by email.

In August, Kennedy, an environmental lawyer who has spread vaccine misinformation, ended his presidential campaign and endorsed Trump in exchange for a role in the Trump administration focused on public health. Kennedy says he is not anti-vaccine, but in favor of more rigorous testing of vaccines.

While he is looking for people to fill administration positions, Kennedy himself could still take an official position in the Trump administration or act as a consultant, Bigtree said.

However, Howard Lutnick, co-chair of Trump’s transition team, told CNN ahead of Tuesday’s presidential election that Kennedy “didn’t get the job at HHS.”

Bigtree said Trump wanted Kennedy’s ideas to reduce chronic disease to produce results within two years, especially among U.S. children.

Kennedy last week said he would recommend removing fluoride from public water supplies, falsely claiming on X that the chemical is linked to numerous health problems, including broken bones and cancer. The American Dental Association says the decades-old intervention reduces tooth decay by more than 25% in adults and children.

“President Trump is giving him two years to demonstrate success,” Bigtree said. “President Trump is very interested in an election that Bobby Kennedy believes will get the job done.”

Kennedy will recommend scientists and doctors who “don’t have any conflicts of interest with the pharmaceutical industry when it comes to departments that will handle drugs and vaccines,” Bigtree said.

Bigtree, an anti-vaccine activist, is the executive director of MAHA Action, a new organization named after Kennedy’s pledge to “Make America Healthy Again” that Bigtree said will also nominate Kennedy.

Kennedy is being assisted by his daughter-in-law Amaryllis Fox Kennedy, his former campaign manager, and investor Omid Malik, a source familiar with the matter said.

(Reporting by Stephanie Kelly; Editing by Heather Timmons, Cynthia Osterman and William Mallard)