By Stephanie Kelly
NEW YORK (Reuters) – Robert F. Kennedy Jr, the former independent presidential candidate, is reviewing candidate resumes for the top jobs at the U.S. government’s health agencies in Donald Trump’s new administration, a former Kennedy aide and a source familiar with the matter told Reuters on Friday.
Kennedy, of the famed political family, has been asked to recommend appointees for all regulatory health agencies, including the Department of Health and Human Services and the Food and Drug Administration, said Del Bigtree, who was director of communications for Kennedy’s campaign and remains close to the former candidate.
A source familiar with the matter, who declined to be identified, echoed that Kennedy had taken on that role. Trump’s transition team did not respond to a request for comment.
In August, Kennedy, an environmental lawyer who has spread misinformation about vaccines, ended his presidential campaign and endorsed Trump in exchange for a role in Trump’s administration focused on public health. Kennedy says he is not anti-vaccine but for more rigorous testing of vaccines.
While he is looking for individuals to fill administration jobs, Kennedy could himself still take an official position in Trump’s administration or serve in an advisory capacity, according to Bigtree.
Howard Lutnick, co-chair of Trump’s transition team, told CNN before Tuesday’s presidential election, however, that Kennedy was “not getting a job for HHS.”
Bigtree said Trump wanted to see Kennedy’s ideas for reducing chronic illness produce results within two years, especially in U.S. children.
Kennedy last week said he would recommend fluoride be removed from public water supplies, falsely claiming on X the chemical is associated with numerous health issues including bone fractures and cancer. The American Dental Association says the decades-old intervention reduces tooth decay by more than 25% in adults and children.
“President Trump is giving him two years to show success,” Bigtree said. “President Trump is keenly interested in the selections that Bobby Kennedy thinks would get the job done.”
Kennedy will recommend scientists and doctors who “don’t have any conflicts of interest with the pharmaceutical industry when it comes to the departments that are going to be dealing with drugs and vaccines,” Bigtree said.
Bigtree, an anti-vaccine activist, is chief executive of MAHA Action, a new organization named after Kennedy’s Make America Healthy Again pledge that Bigtree said would also propose appointees to Kennedy.
Kennedy is being assisted by daughter-in-law Amaryllis Fox Kennedy, his former campaign manager, and investor Omeed Malik, the source familiar with the matter said.
(Reporting by Stephanie Kelly; Editing by Heather Timmons and Cynthia Osterman)