Donald Trump withdrew Casey Means as his nominee for US surgeon general Thursday, announcing radiologist and Fox News contributor Dr Nicole Saphier as her replacement instead.
Means, who was nominated last May, had languished in limbo since a bruising Senate confirmation hearing in February. Lawmakers from both parties grilled her over vaccine skepticism and her decision to leave surgical residency. Two Republican senators, Lisa Murkowski and Susan Collins, walked away unconvinced, depriving Means of the unanimous GOP committee backing needed to advance her nomination.
Trump framed the withdrawal as keeping Means focused on the broader health agenda. The president said on Truth Social that despite opposition from Senator Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, Means would continue fighting for the "Make America Healthy Again" movement led by Health Secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr.
Saphier, a radiologist and director of breast imaging at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, becomes Trump's third nominee for the post. She sits on a CDC advisory committee and has spent a decade as a Fox News contributor. In a 2020 bestselling book, also titled Make America Healthy Again, she argues that healthy eating habits can lower medical costs without socialized medicine.
Trump called her "a STAR physician" and praised her communication skills, citing her media presence as a qualification alongside her clinical credentials.
Author James Rodriguez: "Saphier may have smoother sailing through confirmation, but putting a Fox News personality in the surgeon general's chair signals where Trump sees the job: part medical authority, part media platform."
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