President Donald Trump’s first top doctor is trying to sabotage his successor’s chances.
Jerome Adams, who was appointed as the U.S. Surgeon General under the first Trump administration, is trying his best to prevent Trump’s new pick, Casey Means, from being confirmed to the position.
“The role of surgeon general has centuries of precedent and requirements, and she doesn’t meet them,” Adams, 51, told The Washington Post in an interview published Sunday.
Means, a functional medicine influencer whose medical license is currently inactive, was nominated by Trump, 79, to be the nation’s chief medical doctor and health educator last May, though has yet to be confirmed.
Adams, who served as the nation’s chief medical officer during the COVID-19 pandemic, had previously served as a state health commissioner in Indiana under then-Gov. Mike Pence. He is a licensed anesthesiologist who holds a master’s degree in public health.
The MAHA poster child’s nomination has been held up in the Senate, as even Republican lawmakers have questioned her medical credentials, her stance on vaccines, and her publicly stated mistrust of the medical establishment.
Adams remarked that if Means, 38, were to be installed, she would lead the 6,000 government health workers under the Public Health Commissioned Corps not as a licensed physician, but as another classification of health-service worker.
“The irony would be the nation’s doctor wouldn’t even be in the corps as a doctor,” Adams said.
Throughout her testimony before the Senate, Means has defended her qualifications—or lack thereof—by citing her work as a co-founder of a healthcare technology company and as a speaker on chronic diseases.
The Good Energy author also said she had willingly placed her Oregon medical license on inactive status because she hasn’t seen patients at her private practice, which she started in 2019, for several years.
“My professional history has prepared me to meet these very complex times as an innovative, unifying, and practical leader focused on reversing chronic disease,” she said in a response to questions from senators, according to the Post.
Means also criticized past Surgeon Generals, saying that under their tenures, “America’s health and lifespans have worsened.”
The Daily Beast reached out to HHS and the White House for comment.
Trump initially nominated Janette Nesheiwat for the role of Surgeon General last year, but the White House replaced her with Means, apparently after the Fox News contributor was pressed on her pro-vaccine views by allies of Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the Post reported.
Her alliance with RFK Jr. might not be as beneficial to Means now, as reports surface that some White House insiders fear that his extreme stances may hurt GOP chances in the midterms.
After leaving her otolaryngology residency at Oregon Health and Science University in 2018, Means developed a close allyship with Kennedy during his run for the 2024 presidency, ingratiating herself with the vaccine skeptic who now operates as the country’s health secretary.
Asked by members of Congress last month whether she would advocate for vaccines if confirmed, Means said, “I absolutely am supportive of the measles vaccine, and I do believe vaccines save lives and are an important part of the public health strategy.”
