New Leadership in DC

I'm pleased that my friends Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Jay Bhattacharya, Marty Makary, and John Sauer will all be joining the new Administration in January.

Here’s my ten-minute conversation with Jesse Kelly regarding Trump’s new medical cabinet picks. This post may sound like shameless name-dropping, but I’m pleased that friends and colleagues I have worked closely with over the past few years will be assuming leadership positions in the federal government, particularly our public health agencies.

There has been a lot of talk about Robert F. Kennedy, and my own view is that Bobby is the right person to take the helm as Secretary of Health and Human Services. I tell a brief personal anecdote about Bobby in the interview above that illustrates his attention to details and his penetrating mind.

My friend, colleague, and co-plaintiff in the Missouri v. Biden case, Jay Bhattacharya, has been tapped as the next NIH Director. If I was President, I would have picked Jay for this role. He is not only a brilliant and brave scientist, he is a man of enormous integrity, fundamental decency, and sincere humility—one of the finest people I know. The former NIH Director, Francis Collins, covered himself in shame during the pandemic: we have an internal email from Collins to Fauci calling for a “swift and devastating takedown” of the premises of the Great Barrington Declaration, which Bhattacharya and our co-plaintiff, Martin Kulldorff, authored. The previous NIH Director called not for an open scientific debate about the Declaration, mind you, but a character assassination and attempt at censorship of competing ideas. Collins topped it off by calling Bhattacharya (of Stanford), Kulldorff (of Harvard), and Sunetra Gupta (of Oxford) “fringe epidemiologists”. I therefore see poetic justice in the fact that Bhattacharya will soon be taking over Collins’ job at the NIH. I am working closely with Jay and his chief of staff on policies to reform this agency, which funds 85% of biomedical research in the United States.

I’m also delighted that my friend Marty Makary of Johns Hopkins will be the next FDA Commissioner. As I have written about here in the past, this agency has largely been captured by the very industry it is meant to regulate. Marty proved during covid to be an independent thinker not beholden to the interests of big Pharma. He has also authored some excellent books on reforming our healthcare system which I recommend.

Finally, in an appointment that has received less attention, a key attorney and legal mastermind in our Missouri v. Biden free speech case, John Sauer, has been tapped as the next Solicitor General of the United States—the lead litigator in the Attorney General’s office. Full disclosure: I like to joke that John is my “second brother in law once removed” because he’s married to my brother’s wife’s sister (not actually sure what that makes us). More importantly, he’s a brilliant litigator with a photographic memory and the rhetorical skills to make: a real tornado in the courtroom. (See my previous post on John’s congressional testimony regarding government censorship based upon information obtained in our case.) And most importantly, John is a good family man who understands and believes in the Constitution and loves this Country—just the sort of person you want serving in a leadership role. If I may suggest it, John would also make a superb Supreme Court justice when the next vacancy opens up.

Given that several of my friends and colleagues are moving to Washington to take up positions in the next Administration, many of you have asked me if I plan to do the same. The transition team has spoken to me about taking a position at the NIH, but I have decided to remain in a purely advisory capacity, working with friends and colleagues on the inside but without moving inside the Beltway myself. I’m not built to be a government bureaucrat, and can do more damage remaining as an independent writer, thinker, and consultant. Fresh winds are blowing in DC and I look forward to helping them in whatever way I can to move in the right direction.

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