WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump withdrew the nomination of Dr. Janette Nesheiwat to be surgeon general Wednesday, days after right-wing provocateur Laura Loomer criticized her, and he simultaneously announced a new pick who has close ties to Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
Trump confirmed Nesheiwat’s withdrawal on Truth Social and praised the forthcoming nominee, Dr. Casey Means, for “impeccable ‘MAHA’ credentials,” referring to the “Make America Healthy Again” slogan.
“Dr. Casey Means has the potential to be one of the finest Surgeon Generals in United States History. Congratulations to Casey! Secretary Kennedy looks forward to working with Dr. Janette Nesheiwat in another capacity at HHS,” Trump wrote.
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Trump said Means, if she is confirmed, would work alongside Kennedy to “reverse the Chronic Disease Epidemic, and ensure Great Health, in the future, for ALL Americans.”
The surgeon general oversees the U.S. Public Health Service Commissioned Corps, more than 6,000 uniformed officers who are public health professionals, according to the Department of Health and Human Services.
Means, who received undergraduate and medical degrees from Stanford University, has held research positions at the National Institutes of Health, New York University and Oregon Health & Science University.
She is a proponent of metabolic health, when your body processes food in a way that keeps your blood sugar, blood pressure, cholesterol, triglycerides and weight within healthy ranges.
Kennedy is a longtime supporter of Means and Calley Means, her brother, whom he characterized as children’s health and chronic disease experts in an interview in August after he ended his presidential campaign and endorsed Trump.
Calley Means, according to Kennedy, worked on his presidential campaign and had also advised Trump about health policy.
The siblings, co-authors of the self-help health book “Good Energy: The Surprising Connection Between Metabolism and Limitless Health,” became MAGA darlings and key architects of the offshoot movement now known as Make America Healthy Again.
Casey Means quickly became a fixture in right-wing media. Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., cited one of her many media appearances as “the catalyst” for his Capitol Hill roundtable event in September titled “American Health and Nutrition: A Second Opinion,” which featured Means and Kennedy, who linked chronic illness to “metabolic dysfunction” and criticized seed oils, processed foods, the food pyramid, microplastics and a host of other factors blamed for the poor health of America’s children.
In a podcast appearance with Tucker Carlson — which now has over 3.7 million views on YouTube — Means questioned the necessity of vaccinating infants according to the schedule recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, specifically against hepatitis B, which she said was “emblematic of how we are put on the pharma treadmill from the moment we are born in this country, for reasons that are very strange.”
Nesheiwat is the second nominee for a top health position the White House has pulled a shortly before Senate confirmation hearings.
In March, Trump pulled the nomination of former. Rep. Dave Weldon, R-Fla., who had been picked to be director of the CDC. A White House official told NBC News that Weldon’s nomination was pulled because it became clear that he did not have the support necessary for Senate confirmation because of past controversial comments about vaccines.
Nesheiwat’s confirmation hearing had been scheduled for Thursday morning before the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee.
She wrote Wednesday evening on X that she is “looking forward to continuing to support President Trump and working closely with Secretary Kennedy in a senior policy role to Make America Healthy Again!”
“My focus continues to be on improving the health and well-being of all Americans, and that mission hasn’t changed,” she added.
According to her website, Nesheiwat is a board-certified medical doctor who was a medical news correspondent and medical director at CityMD. She previously was a medical contributor at Fox News.
Loomer shared a lengthy post Sunday accusing Nesheiwat of being “entangled in an intricate medical malpractice litigation” and highlighted her past support of the Covid vaccines. While she was a Fox News contributor, Nesheiwat encouraged of the use of the vaccines and boosters.
“We have many vaccines in existence that treat a variety of non-life threatening diseases but to have a COVID vaccine, i.e. a Pfizer or Moderna mRNA that will actually save you from dying is a gift from God,” Nesheiwat wrote in a Fox News opinion piece.
Loomer, who has been influential in the removal of Trump aides, said Nesheiwat’s support for Covid vaccines “render her unfit for the role of United States Surgeon General, and she should not be confirmed by the US Senate to hold the position.”
Loomer also hammered Nesheiwat for what she alleged was “promotion of DEI-focused initiatives.” Trump is a fierce critic of diversity, equity and inclusion programs, and he banned federal agencies in January from implementing DEI programs, fired federal employees who worked in DEI roles and threatened to cut federal funding to schools that maintain DEI practices.
Nesheiwat did not immediately respond to a request for comment Wednesday about Loomer’s social media posts.
Nesheiwat is the sister-in-law of former national security adviser Michael Waltz, who was ousted last week amid scrutiny over his creation of a Signal chat group to discuss sensitive military information that inadvertently included a journalist.
CORRECTION (May 7, 2025, 8:14 p.m. ET): Due to an editing error, a photo caption in a previous version of this article misidentified who was pictured. It was Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer, not Dr. Janette Nesheiwat.
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