West Palm Beach, Florida
CNN
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President-elect Donald Trump has selected Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as his next secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services, a choice that would add to Trump’s list of provocative picks whose confirmation processes will challenge the loyalty of Senate Republicans. will test.

Trump announced the selection on Thursday, confirming CNN’s previous reporting and saying he was thrilled to share the choice.

“The safety and health of all Americans is the most important role of any government, and HHS will play a major role in helping ensure everyone is protected from harmful chemicals, pollutants, pesticides, pharmaceuticals and food additives that have contributed to the overwhelming health crisis in this country,” Trump said in a post on X. “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 make America great and healthy again!”

Kennedy, who accepted the offer Thursday, spent several days in Palm Beach, Florida, after the election.

The move, first reported by Politico, is notable considering Trump’s transition co-chairman, Howard Lutnick, told CNN just days before the election that Kennedy “didn’t get a job for HHS.”

“Wouldn’t he be in charge of HHS?” he was asked on “The Source with Kaitlan Collins.”

“No,” Lutnick said, “of course not.”

That response caused an internal uproar within Trump’s orbit, with Trump making it clear to Kennedy that he would make the final decisions.

Kennedy has been one of the most prominent anti-vaccine conspiracy theorists for years and has regularly spread false conspiracy theories about the safety and efficacy of vaccines.

He launched his own presidential bid last year — first as a Democratic challenger to President Joe Biden, then as an independent — which focused largely on reversing “the chronic disease epidemic.” He proposed numerous policies aimed at revising food safety and environmental guidelines, promoting holistic medicines and restructuring public funding for vaccine research.

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In the final days of Kennedy’s campaign, he met with Trump several times, during which the two discussed the possibility of him supporting Trump in exchange for a role in his administration. Kennedy suspended his campaign in August and endorsed Trump that same day.

In October, Trump teased Kennedy that he would oversee a public health portfolio while speaking at a rally at Madison Square Garden in New York City, telling the audience that he would let Kennedy “run wild on the health’, ‘would go wild on the food’ and ‘would let it go’. wild on drugs” if he is re-elected.

Since Election Day, Kennedy has vowed to take major steps to reshape the nation’s public health guidelines. Last week, Kennedy said he would “immediately” begin studying the safety and efficacy of vaccines, but he vowed “not to take vaccines from anyone.” He also pledged to formally recommend that states and municipalities remove fluoride from public water.

Kennedy has also achieved significant staff turnover in public health agencies. He said in an interview with MSNBC that he would cut workers in “the nutrition departments” of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Speaking at a conference in Arizona on Saturday, Kennedy proposed replacing 600 officials at the National Institutes of Health with hand-picked employees.

In an interview with NPR News after the election, Kennedy laid out his areas of focus within the Trump administration.

“President Trump has given me three instructions,” Kennedy said. “He wants to take the corruption and conflict out of the regulatory bodies. He wants to return the agencies to the gold standard, empirically based, evidence-based science and medicine they were once famous for. And he wants to end the chronic disease epidemic within two years with measurable impact on chronic disease reduction.”

This story has been updated with additional developments.