Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and President Donald Trump were forced to defend their new pick for surgeon general after their own base sharply rebuked her.
Trump announced Wednesday that he would nominate Dr. Casey Means as America’s top doctor, replacing Fox News contributor Dr. Janette Nesheiwat, whose nomination got pulled due to questions over her medical credentials. But the same questions over medical credentials that plagued Nesheiwat have come for Means, too.
Though she received a Stanford education, Means dropped out of her residency at age 30 and has an inactive medical license. When quizzed directly by Fox News‘ Bret Baier on the fact the she doesn’t currently hold a medical license, Kennedy listed Means’ apparent achievements that to his mind are key to undertaking the role, claiming she was at the “top of her medical class” and “won every award that she could win” during her residency.
“Casey Means, we felt, was the best person to really bring the vision of MAHA to the American public,” Kennedy told Special Report on Thursday. “She has this unique capacity to articulate it. She’s written a book that really mobilized, galvanized the movement,” Kennedy added, referencing Good Energy: The Surprising Connection Between Metabolism and Limitless Health, the book she wrote with her influencer brother, Calley.
Means, also a wellness influencer, grew her following by advocating for alternative approaches combining science and spirituality over traditional medicine. She and her brother were the brains behind Kennedy’s Make America Healthy Again movement.
Kennedy said Means walked away from traditional medicine because she felt that she was just “billing new procedures” instead of actually curing patients.
“We actually have to figure out new approaches to medicine, and that’s the kind of leadership that she’s going to bring to our country,” he said.
MAGAworld, led by firebrand Laura Loomer, branded Means a “Marxist tree-hugger.” Kennedy’s own former running mate, Nicole Shanahan, said Means’ nomination was “strange” and “doesn’t make any sense.”
Trump, for his part, pointed the finger at Kennedy when faced with questions over Means’ credentials.
“Bobby thought she was fantastic,” he told reporters. “Bobby really thought she was great. I don’t know her. I listened to the recommendation of Bobby. I met her yesterday, and once before, she’s a very outstanding person, a great academic, actually. So I think she’ll be great.”
REPORTER: You just announced a new nominee for US Surgeon General who never finished her residency, and is not a practicing physician. So can you explain why you picked her to be America’s top doctor?TRUMP: Because Bobby thought she was fantastic … I don’t know her pic.twitter.com/ZYjtiPk4sH
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) May 8, 2025
In the wide-ranging Fox News interview, Kennedy was flanked by Food and Drug Administration chief Marty Makary, Medicare and Medicaid administrator Mehmet Oz, and National Institutes of Health director Jay Bhattacharya.
The health officials rehashed dubious claims that the COVID-19 pandemic was “lab-generated,” food products are “loaded with chemicals that’s gonna poison your children,” and the U.S. is the “sickest country in the world.”
“You got sitting here four people who were all canceled during COVID,” Kennedy said. “The entire leadership of this agency is renegades who are, you know, who are juggernauts against convention, and are trying to look for truth, no matter what the cost.”
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