President-elect Donald Trump announced on Thursday that he had nominated Robert F. Kennedy Jr. for secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services, a move with an uncertain path through the Senate.
If confirmed as HHS secretary, Kennedy would be at the helm of the agencies that direct much of public health in the U.S., including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the National Institutes of Health and the Food and Drug Administration.
Kennedy’s nomination to a cabinet-level position culminates in a meteoric rise into the mainstream for the former environmental lawyer turned anti-vaccine activist and a remarkable partnership between two one-time political rivals. After Kennedy’s own presidential bid ended in August, he endorsed Trump after unsuccessfully seeking meetings with the Harris campaign.