White House picks top aide to RFK Jr as interim CDC director
The White House has picked an aide to health secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr as acting director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
News of the temporary appointment was first reported by the Washington Post.
The aide is Jim O’Neill, currently the deputy health secretary. A former speechwriter for the health department in the George W Bush administration, O’Neill then worked for Silicon Valley investor, and JD Vance backer, Peter Thiel for a decade.
In 2020, O’Neill’s frequent tweets on the Covid pandemic included this comment about China’s wildlife trade: “It’s almost like the communists want to spread disease.”
He also called Facebook Orwellian for announcing that it would direct users who spread misinformation about the virus to the World Health Organisation.
Key events
Thiel ally named to lead CDC is not a doctor, or a scientist of any kind
When Susan Monarez was confirmed by the senate as CDC director less than a month ago, she was the first non-physician to lead the Centers for Disease Control since 1953, and only the second ever to not be a medical doctor.
But Monarez holds a doctorate in microbiology and did postdoctoral work in immunology at Stanford University School of Medicine. (The non-MD director in 1952 was a public health scientist and world-renowned authority on malaria.)
Her replacement as acting director of the US public health agency, Jim O’Neill, is not a medical doctor or a scientist of any kind. He is a former speechwriter for the health department, who went on to work for the tech investor Peter Thiel.
O’Neill’s work included helping establish the Thiel Fellowship, a two-year program for young people who agree to skip or drop out of college in exchange for a $200,000 grant.
When O’Neill, a critic of the CDC’s work in combatting the Covid pandemic, was sworn in as deputy health secretary in June, Robert F Kennedy Jr, cited his “extensive experience in Silicon Valley and government”, not any public health experience or scientific credentials.
News of O’Neill’s appointment led Atul Gawande, a surgeon, author and public health expert to ask: “Has America run out of actual health practitioners with demonstrated
“Or maybe”, he added, “it is just ones willing to betray the tenets and beneficiaries of public health that Trump and RFK Jr want them to do.”
19 Democratic governors condemn ‘chaotic federal interference in our states’ National Guard’
As Donald Trump threatens to expand federal control over cities and states run by elected Democratic officials by deploying the national guard, 19 of the 23 Democratic governors issued a joint statement on Thursday condemning his actions.
“The President’s threats and efforts to deploy a state’s National Guard without the request and consent of that state’s governor is an alarming abuse of power, ineffective, and undermines the mission of our service members,” the governors said.
The statement comes as Trump hints that his next targets for federal intervention may include two heavily Democratic cities: Chicago and Baltimore.
“This chaotic federal interference in our states’ National Guard must come to an end,” the governors added.
The signatories included several potential candidates for the 2028 presidential nomination, including: Wes Moore of Maryland, Gavin Newsom of California, JB Pritzker of Illinois, Josh Shapiro of Pennsylvania and Gretchen Whitmer of Michigan. The four Democratic governors who did not join the statement include the party’s 2024 nominee for vice-president, Tim Walz of Minnesota, as well as Katie Hobbs of Arizona, Ned Lamont of Connecticut and Josh Green of Hawaii.
White House picks top aide to RFK Jr as interim CDC director
The White House has picked an aide to health secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr as acting director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
News of the temporary appointment was first reported by the Washington Post.
The aide is Jim O’Neill, currently the deputy health secretary. A former speechwriter for the health department in the George W Bush administration, O’Neill then worked for Silicon Valley investor, and JD Vance backer, Peter Thiel for a decade.
In 2020, O’Neill’s frequent tweets on the Covid pandemic included this comment about China’s wildlife trade: “It’s almost like the communists want to spread disease.”
He also called Facebook Orwellian for announcing that it would direct users who spread misinformation about the virus to the World Health Organisation.
Senator Bill Cassidy calls for CDC meeting on Covid vaccines to be postponed amid turmoil
Senator Bill Cassidy, a physician who chairs the Senate’s Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, just called for a vaccine advisory panel to indefinitely postpone its scheduled September meeting.
The Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, which was reshaped by the health secretary, Robert F Kennedy Jr, in June, when he fired all 17 of its members and replaced them with a smaller number of experts, including several Covid vaccine critics, was expected to meet 18 September to decide on whether or not to approve updated Covid vaccines.
In a statement on Thursday, attributed by his office to “Dr Cassidy”, the Republican senator and longtime vaccine advocate who reluctantly voted to confirm Kennedy as health secretary, said:
“Serious allegations have been made about the meeting agenda, membership, and lack of scientific process being followed for the now announced September ACIP meeting. These decisions directly impact children’s health and the meeting should not occur until significant oversight has been conducted. If the meeting proceeds, any recommendations made should be rejected as lacking legitimacy given the seriousness of the allegations and the current turmoil in CDC leadership”.
The new vaccine advisory panel members chosen by Kennedy, an anti-vaccination advocate, include Retsef Levi, a professor at the MIT Sloan School of Management, who has baselessly claimed that Covid vaccines are killing young people and should be stopped and Robert Malone, who did early on mRNA technology but beame a hero to anti-vaxxers during the pandemic by claiming, without evidence, that mRNA Covid vaccines might cause cancer.
Bernie Sanders calls for bipartisan investigation into firing of CDC director
Senator Bernie Sanders, ranking member of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) committee, has called for a bipartisan congressional investigation into Susan Monarez’s firing as director of the CDC.
In a letter to his Republican counterpart, senator Bill Cassidy, Sanders called the termination “reckless” and “dangerous”. He urged Cassidy to open a bipartisan investigation, and require secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr to testify at a hearing in front of the HELP committee.
“It is absolutely imperative that trust in vaccine science not be undermined. The well being of millions of people are at stake,” Sanders wrote.
Yesterday, Cassidy posted on X that the CDC “departures” would require “oversight”.
Debra Houry calls out RFK Jr’s vaccine messaging in warning on public health
Robert Mackey
Debra Houry, who served as chief medical officer and deputy director for program and science at the CDC, said that she, Daskalakis and Jernigan agreed to leave together because of their work on vaccine science and outbreaks.
“We have reached the tipping point and we knew it was a powerful statement for the three of us to do this together,” Houry said.
She encouraged reporters to “report on the harms that are being done by losing our staff,” and called out secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr’s vaccine messaging. “Look at measles, we have the highest number of cases in the US in 30 years because we had unvaccinated populations, and a secretary that’s promoted vitamins over vaccines,” she said.
‘Let’s get the politics out of public health,’ say resigning CDC officials
Some of the senior CDC officials who recently resigned just spoke at the demonstration opposite the agency’s Atlanta headquarters.
“Let’s get the politics out of public health,” said Daniel Jernigan, who worked at the CDC for 30 years and played a key role in influenza and pandemic preparedness. “Let the science lead us, because that’s how we get to the best decisions for public health.”
Demetre Daskalakis, known for his leadership in HIV prevention and vaccination programs, as well as the Biden administration’s response to the Mpox outbreak, addressed the staffers who walked-out today. “You are the people that protect America, and America needs to see that you are the people that protect America, and we are going to be your loudest advocates,” he said.
Hundreds of CDC staffers protest firing of director and subsequent resignations
George Chidi
Hundreds of staffers have gathered across the street from the CDC headquarters to support vaccine research, and public health leaders who resigned or fired by the Trump Administration in recent days.
Demonstrators held up signs that read “you are heroes” and “CDC saves lives”.
The senior leaders that resigned yesterday, Debra Houry, Demetre Daskalakis, Daniel Jernigan and Jennifer Layden, were escorted off campus this morning, denied a dignified exit by agency leaders.
The agency is reeling from the firing of CDC chief Susan Monarez by the White House, and is still recovering from the attack of a gunman – who fired more than 500 rounds into the Atlanta offices before killing DeKalb police officer David Rose.
Here’s a recap of the day so far
-
The dispute over the firing of Susan Monarez, director of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), continued today. Earlier, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters that a new nominee for CDC director would be announced “very soon”, but Monarez’s lawyers have said that she won’t leave her post unless the president himself terminates her. A Trump spokesperson said today that secretary Kennedy’s firing stands, and Monarez wasn’t “aligned” with the administration’s Maha agenda.
-
Following Monarez’s firing, four senior CDC leaders abruptly resigned, expressing frustration with Kennedy’s approach to vaccines and his management style. Read more from my colleague, Marina Dunbar here.
-
In response to the tumult at Health and Human Services, there have been several calls from public health experts for secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr to resign, and Senator Bernie Sanders, ranking member of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) committee, has also called for a bipartisan investigation into Monarez’s firing.
-
Meanwhile, Federal Reserve governor Lisa Cook has filed a lawsuit claiming Donald Trump has no authority to fire her. A notable feature of Cook’s lawsuit against the president is that Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell, and the rest of the board, are also listed as defendants. Cook’s lawyers argue that she only “found out about the attempt to remove her through President Trump’s Truth Social post,” which they say afforded her “neither a notice nor a hearing” guaranteed by the Federal Reserve Act. A judge has set a hearing in the case for Friday 29 August at 10am ET.
-
The president extolled the “great success” of the GOP on Truth Social today, and said he’s floating the idea of a national convention for the Republican Party, “just prior to the Midterms.” An event which traditionally takes place every four years to select the party’s presidential nominee.
-
At the White House earlier, Border czar Tom Homan said that there will be a “ramp up” of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) operations in Chicago, and other Democratic-led cities, after Labor Day. He added that these cities “refuse to work with ICE” and release “public safety threats” into the country.
Bondi and Patel to face questions over handling of Epstein case – report
Attorney general Pam Bondi and FBI director Kash Patel are set to testify in front of the House judiciary committee, and face questions about the justice department’s handling of the Jeffrey Epstein case, according to a report from Politico.
Per the two sources granted anonymity to speak with Politico, Patel is set to give testimony 17 September, and Bondi will face the committee on 9 October.
Judge schedules hearing in Lisa Cook lawsuit challenging firing
A federal judge in DC has scheduled a hearing in the lawsuit filed by Lisa Cook, the Federal Reserve governor that Donald Trump has moved to fire.
Judge Jia Cobb – a Biden appointee – has been assigned the case. The hearing is set for 29 August at 10am ET.
The press secretary was also misleading when asked whether the president believes Covid vaccinations should be covered by health insurance, regardless of age and pre-existing conditions.
“The FDA decision does not affect the availability of Covid vaccines for Americans who want them,” Leavitt said. But the agency has authorized the updated vaccines for people 65 and older, who are known to be more at risk from serious illnesses from Covid infections.
As my colleague, Oliver Milman, reported yesterday, younger people will only be eligible if they have an underlying medical condition that makes them particularly vulnerable.
This means that the upcoming fall and winter seasons will be the first where the US government hasn’t recommended widespread Covid vaccinations.
Karoline Leavitt avoids a reporter’s question asking why Donald Trump has yet to acknowledge the shooting at the CDC headquarters in Atlanta earlier this month. Instead, she recounts the response from health secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr.
We absolutely were very much aware of that shooting, the secretary of health and human services put out a statement immediately. He was in touch with the CDC, and he actually traveled to Georgia to assess the situation, and to mourn with the people who work in that building there.
Leavitt also said that she wasn’t aware of any kind of taskforce going through high level appointees who aren’t “aligned” with the administration’s agenda.
When asked if agency officials should be afraid of repercussions for speaking out publicly or privately, Leavitt’s answer was opaque:
If you’re doing your job well, and if you are executing on the vision and the promises that the president made to the public who elected him back to this office, then you should have no fear about your job. Just do your job. That’s what this president wants to see.
Trump or Kennedy to announce new CDC director nominee ‘very soon’, Leavitt says
When asked about the firing dispute of Susan Monarez, Karoline Leavitt confirmed that the director was “not aligned with the president’s mission to make America healthy again.”
Leavitt said when Monarez refused to resign, at secretary Kennedy’s behest, the president fired her. “Which he has every right to do,” she added.
“This woman [Monarez] has never received a vote in her life, and the president has the authority to fire those who are not aligned with his mission. A new replacement will be announced by either the president or the secretary very soon,” Leavitt said.
Leavitt makes misleading claims about Chicago homicides
Karoline Leavitt said today that Chicago has seen the “most murders of any US city” for 13 consecutive years.
While Chicago saw 573 homicides last year, according to FBI data, the city didn’t experience the highest murder rate in the US. St Louis, Missouri, actually saw the highest rate of homicides in both 2023 and 2024.
