Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., demanded Friday that President Donald Trump fire Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., claiming Kennedy’s “stubborn, pigheaded and conspiracy-based attacks on proven science are going to make many more people sick and cause more deaths.”
Schumer’s demands came two days after Susan Monarez was fired as head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The Hill reported Monarez’s firing led to the resignations of other senior officials, including Demetre Daskalakis, director of the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases; Daniel Jernigan, director of the National Center for Emerging and Zoonotic Infectious Diseases; and Debra Houry, the chief medical officer.
“Donald Trump knew Robert F. Kennedy Jr. would be a disastrous pick to lead healthcare in America, and he nominated him anyway,” Schumer said in a statement on the Senate Democrats’ website. “Donald Trump made this mistake and now he must fire RFK Jr. immediately.”
The White House reportedly said Wednesday that Monarez was fired because she “refused to resign despite informing HHS leadership of her intent to do so,” adding that she was not “aligned with the president’s agenda of Making America Healthy Again.”
The Hill reported her firing was over the rescinding of approvals for COVID-19 vaccinations. On Thursday, Kennedy said the CDC “is in trouble, and we need to fix it, and we are fixing it. And it may be that some people should not be working there anymore.”
But that wasn’t enough to satisfy Schumer, whose rhetoric took a harsh turn.
“RFK Jr.’s stubborn, pigheaded, and conspiracy-based attacks on proven science are going to make many more people sick and cause more deaths,” Schumer said. “Americans are in greater danger every day Robert Kennedy Jr. remains as HHS secretary.
“By keeping Robert Kennedy in charge of HHS, Trump is doubling down on his own failure. President Trump must admit his mistake and remove Kennedy now.”
White House spokesman Kush Desai told Newsmax on Friday that Schumer’s criticisms ring hollow given his support for the Biden administration’s COVID-19 mandates and school closures during the pandemic.
“Any Democrat who openly abetted Joe Biden’s COVID mandates and school closures – which resulted in historic learning losses and spikes in mental health crises – doesn’t have a leg to stand on to criticize the Administration’s push to Make America Healthy Again,” he said.
Newsmax reached out to HHS for comment.
© 2025 Newsmax. All rights reserved.
