By Ahmed Aboulenein
WASHINGTON, April 30 (Reuters) – U.S. President Donald Trump named radiologist and Fox News contributor Dr. Nicole Saphier as his pick for U.S. Surgeon General on Thursday, his third nominee for the post, after withdrawing the nomination of Casey Means.
The move sets up a standoff between Trump and Republican Senator Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, whom he accused of blocking Means’ nomination and called “a very disloyal person.”
Means was a key ally of Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. but lacked the votes to advance from the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions, which Cassidy chairs.
She is not a practicing doctor and is an integral part of the Make America Healthy Again movement that has undermined vaccines. Her brother Calley Means works for the White House.
Cassidy’s office did not immediately respond to requests for comment on Trump’s accusation or Saphier’s nomination.
Means was not immediately reachable.
FOX NEWS CONTRIBUTOR TAPPED FOR ROLE
As the nation’s doctor, the surgeon general provides Americans with the best scientific information available on how to improve their health and reduce risk of illness and injury.
Saphier, who works at Memorial Sloan Kettering, is the author of books including “Make America Healthy Again: How Bad Behavior and Big Government Caused a Trillion Dollar Crisis.”
“Nicole is a STAR physician who has spent her career guiding women facing breast cancer through their diagnosis and treatment while tirelessly advocating to increase early cancer detection and prevention,” Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social.
He said in an earlier post that Means would continue to fight for the Kennedy-led Make America Healthy Again movement despite Cassidy’s opposition to her nomination.
“Despite Senator Cassidy’s intransigence and political games, Casey will continue to fight for MAHA on the many important Health issues facing our Country,” Trump said.
Kennedy praised Means as one of his movement’s “most powerful evangelist” in a post on X and accused Cassidy of “doing the dirty work for entrenched interests” by stalling her nomination. He said Means would remain a close partner.
THIRD ATTEMPT TO FILL POST
Means was Trump’s second nominee for the role after he withdrew his prior pick, Janette Nesheiwat, in May. Both nominations faced opposition from far-right activists, including Laura Loomer, who is known to have Trump’s ear.
Means faced pointed questioning from Democrats and some Republicans, including Cassidy, at a contentious February confirmation hearing over her views on vaccines, birth control and other areas of public health policy, as well as potential financial conflicts of interest.
She said vaccines are “a key part of any infectious disease public health strategy” but declined to directly reject a long-discredited claim linking vaccines to autism promoted by Kennedy, a longtime anti-vaccine activist.
Lisa Gilbert, co-president of watchdog Public Citizen, called the withdrawal of Means’ nomination a “clear-cut victory for public health.”
“Casey Means is unqualified and unfit to be Surgeon General and the withdrawal of her nomination is a win for the American public,” she said in an emailed statement.
Saphier, unlike Means, holds an active medical license. She is director of breast imaging at Memorial Sloan Kettering, with a doctor of medicine degree from Ross University School of Medicine in Barbados and fellowships at the Mayo Clinic.
She shares some commonalities with the Kennedy-led movement; her book discusses preventing chronic diseases through lifestyle factors such as diet and exercise.
(Reporting by Ahmed Aboulenein; Additional reporting by Julie Steenhuysen in Chicago, Susan Heavey and Ryan Patrick Jones in Washington; Editing by Caitlin Webber, Caroline Humer and Andrea Ricci)
