Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s 2024 running mate, Nicole Shanahan, said late Wednesday that someone is “controlling” his decisions after President Trump named physician-turned-wellness influencer Casey Means as his new surgeon general nominee.
In a post on the social platform X, Shanahan called the announcement “strange,” adding that she was “promised” neither Casey Means nor Calley Means would serve at HHS or be appointed to any post if Shanahan supported Kennedy’s confirmation for the Cabinet post.
Calley Means is a special government employee at the HHS, and the siblings are high-profile proponents of Kennedy’s “Make America Healthy Again” agenda.
“Yes, it’s very strange. Doesn’t make any sense,” Shanahan wrote on X, responding to a post that expressed concern that Casey Means, a graduate of Stanford Medical School, has “just about no clinical experience.”
“I was promised that if I supported RFK Jr. in his Senate confirmation that neither of these siblings would be working under HHS or in an appointment (and that people much more qualified would be),” Shanahan said. “I don’t know if RFK very clearly lied to me, or what is going on.”
“It has been clear in recent conversations that he is reporting to someone regularly who is controlling his decisions (and it isn’t President Trump),” she added.
Kennedy in a Thursday morning post on X called Casey Means a “breath of fresh air” and thanked Trump for her nomination.
“Casey Means was born to hold this job. She will provide our country with ethical guidance, wisdom, and gold-standard medical advice even when it challenges popular orthodoxies,” Kennedy said. “She will be a juggernaut against the ossified medical conventions that have helped make our people the sickest in the world at the highest cost per capita.”
The Hill reached out to the HHS for comment.
Shanahan also said “there is something very artificial and aggressive” about the siblings, “almost like they were bred and raised Manchurian assets.”
Trump pulled his nomination of Janette Nesheiwat as surgeon general and tapped Means instead on Wednesday.
Nesheiwat’s credentials came into question last month when CBS News reported that records showed she had graduated from the American University of the Caribbean School of Medicine, and not the University of Arkansas School of Medicine, as had been said when her nomination was announced.
“I am pleased to announce that Dr. Casey Means, will be nominated as our next Surgeon General of the United States of America. 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 on Truth Social.
“Her academic achievements, together with her life’s work, are absolutely outstanding,” he added. “Dr. Casey Means has the potential to be one of the finest Surgeon Generals in United States History. Congratulations to Casey!”
Casey Means is the co-founder of Levels, a health technology company that focuses on tracking health information through devices like continuous glucose monitors.
Updated at noon EDT
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