Centers for Disease Control and Prevention nominee pulled by White House
WASHINGTON — The Trump administration has withdrawn its nominee to lead the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, according to a White House official who was not authorized to speak publicly.
President Donald Trump nominated former Florida U.S. Rep. Dave Weldon in late November and he was scheduled to testify at a confirmation hearing in front of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions, or HELP, Committee on Thursday morning.
The hearing, which was canceled shortly before it was set to begin, was expected to include questions about reports the CDC is planning to fund a study revisiting whether there might be links between autism and vaccines.
Numerous scientific studies have shown that vaccines do not cause autism.
Chairman Bill Cassidy, R-La., as well as members of the HELP Committee from both political parties, have pressed some of Trump’s nominees to recognize that fact during confirmation hearings.
Axios was the first to report the news.
Next nominee unclear
The White House official declined to answer questions about when Trump might nominate another person to lead the CDC, based in Atlanta, Georgia.
Washington state Democratic Sen. Patty Murray, who used to lead the HELP Committee, wrote in a statement that “a vaccine skeptic who spent years spreading lies about safe and proven vaccines should never have even been under consideration to lead the foremost agency charged with protecting public health.”
“RFK Jr. is already doing incalculable damage by spreading lies and disinformation as the top health official in America,” Murray wrote, referring to Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. “While I have little to no confidence in the Trump administration to do so, they should immediately nominate someone for this position who at bare minimum believes in basic science and will help lead CDC’s important work to monitor and prevent deadly outbreaks.”
Weldon targets Collins, Cassidy
A four-page statement from Weldon, obtained by the New York Times, assumes that at least two Republicans on the HELP Committee were considering voting against his nomination and might have blocked him from advancing to the floor — Cassidy and Maine Sen. Susan Collins.
“Twelve hours before my scheduled confirmation hearing in The Senate, I received a phone call from an assistant at the White House informing me that my nomination to be Director of CDC was being withdrawn because there were not enough votes to get me confirmed,” Weldon wrote.
The statement said that HHS Secretary Kennedy “was very upset” by the Trump administration’s decision. But it doesn’t say that Weldon, or Kennedy, or anyone was actually told that Cassidy and Collins would vote against the nomination in the HELP Committee.
Weldon wrote that Collins “had reservations” and that he “can assume” that Cassidy would have opposed his nomination advancing out of committee.
Cassidy said in a statement that he was “looking forward to the hearing.”
“I was surprised when Dr. Weldon’s nomination was withdrawn,” Cassidy said. “His poor response to this situation shows that the pressures of being CDC director would have been too much.”
A staffer for Cassidy, speaking on background, told States Newsroom the Trump administration’s decision to pull Weldon’s nomination was not in response to any requests from the senator.
Also speaking on background, a staffer for Collins refuted that anyone from the office was “hostile in any capacity. They were asking questions, which is their job.”
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