Will RFK Jr. have a role in Donald Trump’s administration if he wins?
RFK Jr. suspended his campaign for president and endorsed Trump, who has said that if he wins Kennedy “probably would” have a role in his administration.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. suspended his presidential campaign as an independent candidate on Friday and endorsed former President Donald Trump. The move came after weeks of back-channel negotiations between Kennedy and Donald Trump Jr.
During Kennedy’s speech announcing his decision, he said that the Republican candidate had asked to “enlist” him in a future Trump-Vance administration should the GOP ticket win in November. Trump himself earlier in the week told CNN’s Kristen Holmes during an interview that he’d “certainly” be open to having the independent playing a role in his administration if he returns to the White House and “probably would” appoint him to some position.
Will RFK Jr. have a role in Donald Trump’s administration if he wins?
While Kennedy didn’t specify any specific role he did say that “if President Trump is elected and honors his word, the vast burden of chronic disease that now demoralizes and bankrupts the country will disappear.” That would appear to indicate that RFK Jr. is gunning for the position of Health and Human Secretary.
Omeed Malik, a Trump donor, who was also part of the negotiations with Kennedy according to a NBC report, said that no Cabinet position had been promised in exchange for Kennedy’s endorsement. However, he did say that “there are plenty of roles” RFK Jr. could serve in should Trump be victorious in November and that “the area of health is one.”
What RFK Jr says he would do as HHS Secretary
Kennedy has been highly critical of the CDC, FDA and NIH saying that he would “unravel the corrupt corporate capture of these agencies that turned them predatory, against the American public,” in an interview with NBC last year. As HHS Secretary he has said that he would get rid of the people running those agencies and surround himself with “dissidents.”
When announcing the end of his presidential run Kennedy said that under a Trump administration those agencies would be staffed with “honest scientists and doctors.”
Kennedy has been a leading anti-vaccine activist who founded an organization to advocate his views on the topic called Children’s Health Defense. He and that group helped build vaccination hesitation among Samoans that contributed to a measles outbreak in 2019. He has peddled in conspiracy theories and falsely claimed that vaccines “probably caused more deaths than they’ve averted.”
During his bid for the White House, largely supported by the anti-vaccine movement, he said he would stop the NIH from investigating infectious diseases and have the agency refocus its research on chronic diseases. He has also said that in the event of another pandemic, as president he wouldn’t prioritize vaccine research, manufacture or distribution all of which helped save millions of lives during the covid pandemic and bring it to an end.