Trump Picks RFK Jr. as Secretary of Health and Human Services

President-elect Donald Trump on Nov. 14 said he is “thrilled to announce” Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as his nominee to lead the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), in a statement on social media.
“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 HHS, created in 1979, oversees 13 separate agencies. The most well-known are the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and the National Institutes of Health (NIH).
Kennedy said he looks forward to “working with more than 80,000 employees at HHS to free the agencies from the smothering cloud of corporate capture so they can pursue their mission to make Americans once again the healthiest people on Earth.”
“Together we will clean up corruption, stop the revolving door between industry and government, and return our health agencies to their rich tradition of gold-standard, evidence-based science. I will provide Americans with transparency and access to all the data so they can make informed choices for themselves and their families,” he added.
The president-elect later on Thursday flagged his expectations for Kennedy as HHS secretary.
“And I think you’re going to do some unbelievable thing—nobody’s going to be able to do it like you.”
“If you work for the FDA and are part of this corrupt system, I have two messages for you: 1. Preserve your records, and 2. Pack your bags.”
The post requires Senate confirmation in a chamber that is projected to have a 53–47 Republican majority, come January 2025.
HHS is currently led by Secretary Xavier Becerra, formerly a member of the House of Representatives and California’s attorney general.
Kennedy’s selection drew praise from some Republican lawmakers.
Johnson is known for his hearings on Capitol Hill that highlighted patients with vaccine injuries related to the COVID-19 vaccines.
Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) wrote, “Finally, someone to detox the place after the Fauci era,” in reference to former NIH director Dr. Anthony Fauci. Kennedy and Paul have both been outspoken critics of Fauci’s track record with vaccines and the public health response to COVID-19.
Meanwhile, some public health officials and congressional Democrats criticized the selection.
Rep. Robert Garcia (D-Calif.) called Kennedy a conspiracy theorist and suggested that “he will destroy our public health infrastructure and our vaccine distribution systems.”
Fighting chronic disease, improving children’s health, and addressing corporate capture of government agencies were vital parts of Kennedy’s campaign platform.
“I prayed to God every day for the past 19 years that America’s health crisis would be solved for the next generation. That is a major reason why I ran for president,” Kennedy said.
“President Trump wants to leave as his legacy healthy children and a healthier country. Those are deep interests we share.”
On stage with Trump in August, Kennedy said, “If I’m given the chance to fix the chronic disease crisis and reform our food production, I promise that within two years, we will watch the chronic disease burden lift dramatically.”
During a rally at Madison Square Garden in New York City on Oct. 27, Trump proclaimed about Kennedy: “I’m going to let him go wild on health. I’m going to let him go wild on the food. I’m going to let him go wild on the medicines.”
In his victory speech in the early hours of Nov. 6, Trump said Kennedy is “going to help make America healthy again.”
A staunch advocate for regulating chemicals in food, Kennedy recently suggested that McDonald’s should use tallow fat instead of seed oils to make its French fries healthier. He has chastised American food manufacturers for using ingredients like artificial dyes.
Kennedy has also said that if given the chance, he will dismiss the officials who lead those agencies and appoint replacements who will “turn them back into healing and public health agencies.”
On Nov. 6, Kennedy said that the FDA should be trimmed.
“There are entire departments, like the nutrition department at the FDA … that have to go—that are not doing their job. They’re not protecting our kids,” Kennedy told MSNBC.
Fighting “corporate capture of government agencies” and ending the chronic disease epidemic are related, Kennedy said on Sept. 30 at Rescue the Republic, a day-long rally that brought 6,500 supporters of the Make America Healthy Again movement to the National Mall in Washington.
“We enriched these corporations and their captive agencies. And now, they want to go and commoditize all of the things we value in our lives,” Kennedy said.
He believes little will change until corporations stop controlling the FDA, CDC, and the Department of Agriculture.
The CHD website highlights potential problems linked to vaccines administered to children under the recommendation of the CDC. The organization questions whether that vaccine regimen is linked to widespread children’s health problems.
“I can get the corruption out of the agencies. I’ve been doing it for 40 years [as an attorney]. I’ve sued all those agencies,” Kennedy told The Epoch Times in September.
“I have a PhD in corporate corruption.”