E-Paper
After Trump fires CDC director, RFK Jr deputy Jim O’Neill to serve as acting chief: Report
O’Neill’s appointment follows the dismissal of CDC Director Susan Monarez, who was fired late Wednesday by US President Donald Trump.
Jim O’Neill, a senior deputy to Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., will serve as acting director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), The Associated Press reported, citing an administration official who spoke on condition of anonymity.
O’Neill’s appointment follows the dismissal of CDC Director Susan Monarez, who was fired late Wednesday by US President Donald Trump. The White House said Monarez was removed because she was not “aligned with the president’s mission” and refused to resign.
Monarez, who had held the position for just a month, is contesting her firing. Her attorneys said she was targeted “for standing up for science.”
Meanwhile, her ouster has shaken the agency’s leadership. Four senior officials resigned in protest on Wednesday. “We knew ... if she leaves, we don’t have scientific leadership anymore,” said Dr Debra Houry, a top CDC official, speaking to AP on Thursday.
“We were going to see if she was able to weather the storm. And when she was not, we were done,” Houry added.
CDC faces turmoil ahead of key meeting
The leadership crisis comes as the agency prepares for a pivotal meeting of its advisory committee, which Kennedy has reshaped to include vaccine skeptics. The turmoil has prompted bipartisan concern, with two Republican senators calling for oversight and several Democrats demanding Kennedy’s removal.
Separately, Trump’s threat to expand federal control by deploying the National Guard to more cities drew sharp criticism from Democratic leaders.
On Thursday, 19 Democratic governors issued a joint statement condemning the move. “The President’s threats and efforts to deploy a state’s National Guard without the request and consent of that state’s governor is an alarming abuse of power, ineffective, and undermines the mission of our service members,” they said.
Trump has suggested Chicago and Baltimore could be next targets for federal intervention. The governors warned, “This chaotic federal interference in our states’ National Guard must come to an end.”
