Trump picks Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to be his secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services

West Palm Beach, Florida (CNN) — President-elect Donald Trump has picked Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to be his next secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services, a source familiar with the move told CNN, a choice that would add to Trump’s list of provocative picks whose confirmation processes will test the loyalty of Senate Republicans.

The source said Kennedy accepted the offer Thursday, and multiple sources told CNN that Trump could announce the choice later in the day. Kennedy has been in Palm Beach for several days following the election.

I am thrilled to announce Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as The United States Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS). For too long, Americans have been crushed by the industrial food complex and drug companies who have engaged in deception, misinformation, and disinformation when it…

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 14, 2024

Politico was first to report the selection.

The move is a notable one given that only days before the election, Trump’s transition co-chair Howard Lutnick told CNN that Kennedy was “not getting a job for HHS.”

“He would not be in charge of HHS?” he was asked on “The Source with Kaitlan Collins.”

“No,” Lutnick said, “of course not.”

That answer set off an internal uproar in Trump’s orbit, with Trump making clear to Kennedy that he would make the ultimate decisions.

Kennedy has been one of the nation’s most prominent anti-vaccine conspiracy theorists for years and has frequently spread false conspiracy theories about the safety and efficacy of vaccines.

He launched his own presidential bid last year – first as a Democratic challenger to President Joe Biden, then as an independent – focused largely on reversing “the chronic disease epidemic.” He proposed numerous policies aimed to overhaul food safety and environmental guidelines, promote holistic medicines and restructure public funding for vaccine research.

In the final days of Kennedy’s campaign, he met with Trump on multiple occasions, in which the two discussed the possibility of him endorsing Trump in exchange for a role in his administration. Kennedy suspended his campaign in August and endorsed Trump that same day.

In October, Trump teased Kennedy would oversee a public health portfolio while speaking at a rally at Madison Square Garden in New York City, telling the audience he would let Kennedy “go wild on health,” “go wild on the food” and “go wild on medicines” if reelected.

Since Election Day, Kennedy has pledged to take major steps to reshape the nation’s public health guidelines. Last week, Kennedy he would “immediately” begin studying vaccine safety and efficacy but promised to not “take vaccines away from anybody.” He also committed to formally recommending states and municipalities remove fluoride from public water.

Kennedy has also floated significant employee turnover at public health agencies. He said in an interview with MSNBC that he would cut workers in “the nutrition departments” at the US Food and Drug Administration. While speaking at a conference in Arizona on Saturday, Kennedy proposed replacing 600 officials at the National Institutes of Health with hand-picked staff.

In an interview with NPR News following the election, Kennedy laid out his areas of focus in Trump’s administration.

“President Trump has given me three instructions,” Kennedy said. “He wants the corruption and the conflicts out of the regulatory agencies. He wants to return the agencies to the gold standard, empirically-based, evidence-based, science and medicine that they were once famous for. And he wants to end the chronic disease epidemic with measurable impacts on a diminishment of chronic disease within two years.”

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This is a breaking story and will be updated.