WASHINGTON – Scott Gottlieb, who served as Food and Drug Administration commissioner in the first Trump administration, is raising concerns with Senate Republicans about the president-elect’s choice of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to lead the Department of Health and Human Services, he said. in a television appearance Friday.
Gottlieb claimed that there is “skepticism in the Republican party [on RFK Jr.’s nomination]more than the press is currently reporting.”
“I have had conversations and expressed my concerns and I will continue to raise my concerns,” Gottlieb said. on CNBC in response to a question about whether he has spoken to individual senators about the prospect of running RFK Jr.
Gottlieb’s comments reflect an attempt to challenge RFK Jr.’s. to undermine. nomination before the Senate reconvenes after the Thanksgiving break, while RFK Jr. that was possible start meeting with senators to discuss his confirmation.
So far, moderate Republicans have refrained from saying whether they would support RFK Jr.’s nomination. will support. Given the overwhelming Republican majority in the Senate next year, RFK Jr. losing four Republican votes and failing to convince a single Democrat to fail in his nomination.
The former commissioner listed a number of potential issues facing RFK Jr.’s appointment. might have to deal with. Among them: Given his views on the U.S. food industry, senators with strong agricultural interests might withhold their support, as might anti-abortion senators given RFK Jr.’s past support. pro-abortion rights, along with “public health-oriented” senators express skepticism about — some critics say opposition to — vaccines for children.
Gottlieb expressed skepticism that Congress might attempt to build guardrails around RFK Jr. by attaching conditions to HHS financing. He said it’s unlikely senators will have the will to rein in an executive agency in that way, and that Congress is already facing delays in passing full government spending instead of just stopgap measures.
“That’s not going to be successful,” Gottlieb said.
Gottlieb also suggested that there might be a divide between RFK Jr.’s views. about vaccines for children and those of newly-elected President Trump himself.
“I don’t think the president wants to see a resurgence of measles, that he wants to see a resurgence of whooping cough in this country, that he wants to see – God forbid – cases of polio in this country… I think if RFK follows through with his intentions , and I believe he will, and I believe he can, will cost lives in this country,” Gottlieb said.
Gottlieb warned that RFK Jr. could take specific actions harmful to public health, including by disbanding a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention vaccine advisory committee and then re-establishing it with like-minded people, and by frustrating vaccine funding for vaccinations. Children’s program, which provides free vaccines if their health insurance won’t pay for them. Gottlieb named the team that RFK Jr. building is “very experienced,” and pointed to individuals associated with the anti-vaccine group that RFK Jr. founded the Children’s Health Defense.
“These guys are capable, I think they’re deadly serious and they’ve been very clear about their intentions, and I think sometimes you have to take people at their word,” Gottlieb said.
In addition to his criticism of RFK Jr. Gottlieb also called David Weldon, Trump’s pick to lead the CDC, a “very committed anti-vaxxer.” For the first time, after a change by Congress, that post must be confirmed by the Senate.
Tensions between Gottlieb and Trump’s choices for his new administration have long been high.
Calley Means, an advisor to RFK Jr., has accused Gottlieb of “undermining President Trump’s reform agenda” and “demonstrating disloyalty to President Trump.”
On Friday means posted on X in response to Gottlieb’s CNBC appearance: “Confidence in public health has plummeted as government officials like Scott have gone straight from the FDA to the Pfizer boardroom.”
Even before RFK Jr. came to the fore, Vivek Ramaswamy, who is now leading a lawsuit aimed at drastically cutting government spending, took a dig at Gottlieb during an early presidential debate in December 2023.
“The leader, the commissioner of the FDA, ends up on the board of Pfizer…. I don’t care if it’s a Republican or a Democrat. We need some basic principles that will end corruption in the government,” Ramaswamy said.
Gottlieb isn’t the only former Trump administration to raise concerns about RFK Jr.’s position. about vaccines for children.
Former Surgeon General Jerome Adams recently expressed concern about the increase in whooping cough cases and global deaths from measles.
“Chronic diseases are important, but you can’t die of cancer at 50 if you die of polio at 5,” Adams wrote on the website social media platform.
RFK Jr. and his advisers have called for greater attention by federal agencies to chronic diseases, as opposed to infectious diseases.
This article has been updated with a social media post from Calley Means.