Trump Taps MAHA Influencer for Surgeon General, Replacing First Pick

The Washington Post

13:37 JST, May 8, 2025

The White House pulled the nomination of Janette Nesheiwat to be the surgeon general in favor of Casey Means, a key figure in the “Make America Healthy Again” movement.

The decision came a day before Nesheiwat, a physician and former Fox News medical commentator, was scheduled to appear before the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee on Thursday for a confirmation hearing. She faced intense conservative criticism for her past advocacy for coronavirus vaccines and scrutiny of her medical education claims.

Casey Means, along with her brother, Calley Means, are key allies to Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Both helped drive momentum behind Kennedy’s MAHA initiative to tackle chronic disease and childhood illness, which gained prominence during the fall campaign season. Calley Means serves as a White House senior adviser focusing on food and other MAHA-related health issues.

“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,” President Donald Trump wrote in a Truth Social post Wednesday. “Her academic achievements, together with her life’s work, are absolutely outstanding.”

Casey Means has said she earned a medical degree at Stanford University but dropped out of a residency program because she was frustrated the health-care system did not focus enough on the root causes of poor health. She went on to become a chronic-disease entrepreneur and health influencer with a large social media following. Along with her brother, she wrote a book titled “Good Energy: The Surprising Connection between Metabolism and Limitless Health,” which details how Americans can take control of their own health care to avoid chronic disease.

Last year, she – at times along with her brother – appeared on a range of podcasts and shows, such as those hosted by Joe Rogan and Tucker Carlson. The latter appearance has racked up nearly 4 million views on YouTube since August.

“I think the assumption that Americans are stupid and they don’t understand things, they rejected that,” Casey Means said of voters in the 2024 election during an appearance on “Real Time With Bill Maher” in November. “And they said, ‘We’re going to come out and vote for people who trust us to make nuanced decisions and have nuanced ideas.’”

Trump officials last year considered her to run the Food and Drug Administration, The Washington Post previously reported.

Means emphasizes food and nutrition in her messaging but has also raised concerns about vaccines.

“Yeah, I bet that one vaccine probably isn’t causing autism, but what about the 20 that they are getting before 18 months?” Means said in the Rogan podcast episode, KFF Health News reported. On the Carlson show, she questioned whether infants should be vaccinated for hepatitis B.

Trump said Nesheiwat would work “in another capacity at HHS.”

Nesheiwat’s selection in November prompted an uproar from some conservative activists angered by her statements early in the coronavirus pandemic praising vaccines and masking.

Nesheiwat and Means did not immediately return requests for comment. White House officials did not immediately return a request for comment on why her nomination was pulled. Bloomberg News first reported the pulled nomination.

Nesheiwat is the sister-in-law of embattled Michael Waltz, whom Trump ousted as national security adviser and nominated to instead serve as ambassador to the United Nations.

Laura Loomer, a far-right activist who successfully pushed for the firings of several national security officials, also targeted Nesheiwat, recently describing her in an X post as a “pro-COVID vaccine nepo appointee.”

The critiques escalated after CBS News reported last month that Nesheiwat misrepresented her educational credentials, listing a medical degree from the University of Arkansas School of Medicine when she actually earned the degree from the American University of the Caribbean School of Medicine.

Liz Wheeler, a conservative media figure who has been highly critical of Nesheiwat since her selection, praised the White House decision to pull the nomination, describing her on X as “a Covid freak who supported masking kids, called the mRNA jab a ‘gift from God,’ and thanked Facebook for censoring ‘anti-vax’ info.”

Wheeler was referencing a 2021 Fox News opinion piece in which Nesheiwat called “miraculous” coronavirus vaccines “a gift from God” and television appearances in summer 2021 supporting children masking in schools to avoid the highly contagious delta variant.

Peter Hotez, a pediatrician and prominent vaccine proponent whom Nesheiwat has praised, said she offered a bright spot for public health in an administration in which high-profile vaccine critics serve in top federal health roles.

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

Nesheiwat in recent years adopted a more critical tone toward coronavirus vaccines, blasting mandates and calling the addition of them to routine childhood immunization schedule unethical.

Nesheiwat is not the only Trump administration nomination to fall apart. Chad Chronister, a Florida sheriff tapped to head the Drug Enforcement Administration, withdrew after conservative criticism of his enforcement of pandemic restrictions, including arresting a pastor who held large church services in March 2020 in defiance of health orders.

Vaccine views drove the White House in March to withdraw the nomination of Dave Weldon to lead the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In that case, Weldon’s past promotion of the false claims that vaccines can cause autism raised concerns about political consequences.