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Quitting CDC Official Slaps Down Karoline Leavitt’s Attack: ‘I Don’t Care’

August 29, 2025
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Quitting CDC Official Slaps Down Karoline Leavitt’s Attack: ‘I Don’t Care’
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One of the four health agency leaders forced out of the CDC has blasted press secretary Karoline Leavitt’s remarks over his use of the term “pregnant people.”

Dr. Demetre Daskalakis, who says he spent his career as a gay rights supporter, was outraged at attempts by the Trump administration to erase transgender people from the public eye.

Daskalakis resigned from his position as director of the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases on Wednesday in response to the firing of CDC Director Susan Monarez, who was appointed to the role by President Donald Trump.

HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s leadership is being questioned by the wave of resignations. Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Imag

In an interview with CNN’s Kaitlan Collins, Daskalakis responded to Leavitt’s remarks on his use of the term “pregnant people”, telling Collins, “I accept the note and I don’t care.”

At her press briefing on Thursday, Leavitt was asked if there would be further departures from the CDC following the firing of Monarez and the resignation of three agency leaders, including Daskalakis.

“Not to my knowledge,” Leavitt responded. “I understand there were a few other individuals who resigned after the firing of Ms. Monarez. One of those individuals wrote in his departure statement that he identifies pregnant women as pregnant people, so that’s not someone we want in this administration anyway.”

In Daskalakis’ resignation letter, which he posted to X, he slammed Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr’s decision to end COVID vaccine mandates. “The recent change in the adult and children’s immunization schedule threaten the lives of the youngest Americans and pregnant people.”

My resignation letter from CDC. Dear Dr. Houry,I am writing to formally resign from my position as Director of the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), effective August 28, 2025, close of business.…

— DrDemetre (@dr_demetre) August 27, 2025

Given the chance to respond to Leavitt’s remarks by Collins on the Thursday The Source, Daskalakis said, “I have for my entire career been an advocate for the LGBTQ community… I find it outrageous that this administration is trying to erase transgender people.”

“I very specifically used the term pregnant people, and very specifically added my pronouns at the end of my resignation letter to make the point that I am defying this terrible strategy at trying to erase people and not allowing them to express their identities,” he continued.

“So I accept the note from the press secretary, and counter that with: I don‘t care.”

Transgender Americans have been in President Donald Trump’s crosshairs since he took office, with the president issuing a presidential action on inauguration day entitled “Defending Women From Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government.”

Other attacks on transgender people from the Trump administration and its allies include bans on the participation of trans athletes in women’s sports, bans on gender affirming care for minors, and what critics describe as attempts from the Department of Health and Human Services to rebrand conversion therapy for transgender youth.

On Tuesday, the Trump administration directed 40 states, five U.S. territories, and Washington, D.C. to remove references to transgender people from their sex education programs or lose federal funding.

Most recently, several prominent MAGA supporters took advantage of the fact that a 23-year-old transgender woman carried out a school shooting in Minneapolis to demonize trans people, calling them a “ticking time bomb” and arguing “America has a transgender problem.”

Despite the administration’s fixation on transgender people, just 1 percent of Americans aged 13 or over identify as transgender. The American Civil Liberties Union is currently tracking 604 anti-LBGTQ bills across the U.S., 139 of which enforce restrictions on transgender healthcare.

The post Quitting CDC Official Slaps Down Karoline Leavitt’s Attack: ‘I Don’t Care’ appeared first on The Daily Beast.

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