Dem Leader Slams ‘Rando’ Dr. Oz as ‘a Joke’

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries isn’t holding anything back about his feelings on Dr. Mehmet Oz.

During a press conference on Monday amid the ongoing government shutdown, Jeffries, 55, interjected when a reporter began a question about the Affordable Care Act with “Dr Oz said…” referring to the Trump-appointed administrator for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.

Dr. Mehmet Oz and President Donald Trump. ED JONES/AFP via Getty Images

“Who?” Jeffries quipped amid scattered laughter. “That’s like the most random way to start a question on a serious topic, nobody whose serious in this country takes Dr. Oz seriously—no one,” Jeffries said.

Then, the Brooklyn lawmaker went even further. “I mean, it’s shocking that the guy was even confirmed. But this is part of the reality that Republicans here in the House and over in the Senate—they’re nothing more than a rubber stamp for Donald Trump’s cruelty and extreme agenda.”

Oz, a failed Senate candidate, was tapped by Trump to lead a sprawling agency that provides healthcare coverage to more than 160 million Americans and enforces federal standards for healthcare suppliers and providers.

The former talk show host has previously come under fire for promoting dubious weight loss products and alternative therapies on his television program, The Dr. Oz Show—something Jeffries touched on during his rant.

Oz claimed the Trump administration's actions on Medicaid are due to a “passionate desire to get people to believe they have agency over their future.” — Oz, a former talk show host, was tapped by Trump to lead a massive agency that provides healthcare coverage to more than 160 million Americans. Win McNamee/Getty Images

“I have no idea what Dr. Oz is talking about and neither do the American people,” Jeffries rambled on.

“I’m not going to respond to any comments from randos like Dr. Oz, who is woefully unqualified to be in whatever position he holds in the administration. He’s a joke, these people are a joke.”

He concluded, “But the issue of the healthcare of the American people is very serious, and that’s what we’ll continue to focus on.”

Oz, 65, is also known for being one of Trump’s most staunch defenders, standing by a number of the 79-year-old president’s often eyebrow-raising claims. Most recently, he praised Trump as a “wonderful man” for speaking over the phone with the wife of the man who fainted in the Oval Office Thursday—even though he was filmed standing around watching during the medical emergency itself.

President Donald Trump looks on after a man fainted during an announcement about weight-loss drugs in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, DC on November 6, 2025. — Trump looks on after a man fainted during an announcement about weight-loss drugs in the Oval Office last week. Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/AFP via Getty Images

“And I just think he’s just a wonderful human being—that he would take time. He could’ve gone and done ten other things, but he actually cared that the wife of a man that he’s never met before felt in a safer place,” Oz told MSNBC reporter Jake Traylor last week.

Oz has also raised ethical concerns over conflicts of interest in his current role. During his 2022 Senate run, Oz disclosed investments of tens of millions of dollars in healthcare, medical technology, and food companies, according to the Los Angeles Times, which would be a conflict of interest in his current role if he still held them.

The Daily Beast has reached out to the Department of Health and Human Services for comment.

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