Trump changes Surgeon General nomination

In a post on Truth Social, Trump said that Nesheiwat would work "in another capacity at HHS" and announced that he would be nominating Casey Means for Surgeon General.

"Casey has impeccable 'MAHA' credentials, and will work closely with our wonderful Secretary of Health and Human Services, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., to ensure a successful implementation of our agenda in order to reverse the Chronic Disease Epidemic, and ensure Great Health, in the future, for ALL Americans," Trump wrote.

Trump withdrew Nesheiwat's nomination a day before she was scheduled to appear before a key Senate committee.

Nesheiwat, who is a medical doctor and Fox News contributor, has come under fire in recent weeks for comments she previously made online supporting the COVID-19 vaccine and masking during the pandemic.

Laura Loomer, a far-right activist who has pushed for the firings of several national security officials, recently described Nesheiwat in a post on X as a "pro-COVID vaccine nepo appointee," referring to the fact that Nesheiwat is the sister-in-law of Michael Waltz, who was recently ousted as national security advisor and nominated to serve as ambassador to the United Nations.

Similarly, conservative media figure Liz Wheeler described Nesheiwat as "a Covid freak who supported masking kids, called the mRNA jab a 'gift from God,' and thanked Facebook for censoring 'anti-vax' info," referencing a 2021 Fox News op-ed in which Nesheiwat called "miraculous" COVID-19 vaccines "a gift from God" and television appearances in summer 2021 supporting children masking in schools.

Peter Hotez, a pediatrician and co-director of the Texas Children's Hospital Center for Vaccine Development, said Nesheiwat "was sincere and someone really positive about vaccines and immunization and would have been good at carrying that message. Finally you get someone who's done her best to defend vaccines, and she's the odd person out."

CBS News also reported that Nesheiwat received her medical degree from a school in the Caribbean and not from the University of Arkansas School of Medicine, as she claimed.

"I am looking forward to continuing to support President Trump and working closely with Secretary Kennedy in a senior policy role to Make America Healthy Again!" Nesheiwat wrote in a post on X Wednesday.

Who is Casey Means?

Casey Means is a former Stanford Medical School-trained doctor who dropped out of her residency because she was concerned by what she described as a lack of training on the root causes of illness. She then became a functional medicine doctor and started Levels, a health technology company where she is still listed as CMO.

Casey Means has gained a significant following on social media, where she promotes a healthy diet as a form of disease prevention. Last year, she published a self-help and diet book alongside her brother Calley Means, who cofounded the startup Truemed, which helps people with health savings and flexible spending accounts get reimbursed for wellness products like gym memberships and supplements. Calley Means is currently serving as an advisor to Kennedy.

Both Casey and Calley Means have espoused controversial views, with Calley Means saying that COVID-19 vaccine mandates for children are a "war crime" and Casey Means championing reliance on "divine gifts of intuition and heart intelligence" rather than "blindly 'trusting the science.'"

Casey Means has also pushed for a concerted effort to reel back corporate-friendly policies related to the production and sale of food and medicine, including serving more nutritious meals in public schools, investigating the use of chemicals in American food, putting warning labels on ultra-processed foods, preventing pharmaceutical companies from advertising directly to patients on television, and reducing the influence of industry among drug and food regulators.

"American health is getting destroyed," Casey Means said at a Senate round table event on food and nutrition last year. "If the current trends continue, if the graphs continue in the way that they're going, at best we're going to face profound societal instability and decreased American competitiveness, and at worst, we're going to be looking at a genocidal-level health collapse."