RFK Jr. says Trump promised him 'control' of public health agencies

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said Monday that former President Trump has promised him “control” of public health agencies, including the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the Department of Agriculture (USDA), should he win a second term next week, according to a video viewed by The Hill.

“The key that ... President Trump has promised me is — is control of the public health agencies, which are HHS and its subagencies, CDC, FDA, NIH and a few others, and then also the USDA, which is ... key to making America healthy,” Kennedy said in the video. “Because we’ve got to get off of seed oils, and we’ve got to get off of pesticide intensive agriculture.”

Kennedy suspended his own long-shot presidential campaign in August and endorsed Trump. During his endorsement, Kennedy pledged that if he were “given the chance to fix the chronic disease crisis and reform our food production … within two years, we will watch chronic disease burden lift dramatically.”

Kennedy now serves on Trump’s transition team and has become a campaign surrogate. He has been telling voters that the 45th president will “make America healthy again.”

Kennedy, a longtime purveyor of anti-vaccine messaging who founded the anti-vaccine group Children’s Health Defense, has been speaking more insistently in recent months about children’s health and solving the problems of chronic childhood diseases.

The Democrat-turned-independent has been lobbying Trump for a role in his possible next administration. HHS oversees 13 separate agencies — including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Food and Drug Administration and the National Institutes of Health — and Kennedy has long argued they are in desperate need of reform.

Trump has said he would put Kennedy on a panel that would investigate “the decades-long increase in chronic health problems, including autoimmune disorders, autism, obesity, infertility and many more.”

During a campaign rally Sunday in New York City, Trump said he would let Kennedy “go wild on food” and “go wild on medicines” if he wins in November.

The Trump campaign did not deny that the former president promised Kennedy control. Trump has pledged Kennedy would have a role in his administration but has not been specific.

"No formal decisions about Cabinet and personnel have been made, however, President Trump has said he will work alongside passionate voices like RFK Jr. to Make America Healthy Again by providing families with safe food and ending the chronic disease epidemic plaguing our children,” Karoline Leavitt, the Trump campaign’s national press secretary, said in a statement.