US President-elect Donald Trump on Thursday nominated Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a vaccine skeptic, to be his health and human services secretary.
“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,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform in announcing the pick.
Health and Human Services “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,” Trump 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!”
Trump had indicated during campaigning that he planned to hand the portfolio to the nephew of the assassinated president John F. Kennedy.
After Kennedy abandoned his independent presidential bid in August and endorsed the Republican nominee, Trump said he would let him “go wild” with health and food policy, alarming many experts.
Often known as RFK Jr., Kennedy has dismayed other members of one of America’s most famous Democratic families.
Like other picks for Trump’s cabinet, he was once an outspoken critic of the New York real estate tycoon, reportedly calling him “a terrible human being” in a text message in July, according to the New Yorker magazine.
He was previously a well-respected climate lawyer and was widely reported as a leading candidate for chief of the Environmental Protection Agency under former Democratic president Barack Obama, before ultimately being passed over.
Kennedy’s presidential run featured some bizarre moments — including his claim to have recovered from a parasitic brain worm and an admission that he dumped a dead bear cub in New York’s Central Park after initially picking it up to “skin” it.