President Donald Trump’s nominee to lead the Food and Drug Administration sparked outrage by refusing to say whether Trump can ever be wrong.
On Thursday, top Trump White House health adviser Heidi Overton faced a confirmation hearing in the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee. However, one of its Democratic members wanted to see how much Overton is willing to push back on Trump.
“Do you think it’s possible for the president to ever be wrong about something?” asked Sen. Maggie Hassan (D-NH) during the hearing.
“Senator, as I’ve shared here before, I’ve had the privilege of working for the president for over a year and a half, and have had robust discussions with him along with all of his advisers,” Overton responded.
“Right,” Hassan responded. “Is it possible for him to be wrong?”
Overton again danced around the question by talking about how “it is the president who sets the policy directions,” but Hassan kept returning to the question. At one point, Hassan brought up when Trump said the combined measles, mumps and rubella vaccine could be “lethal,” and asked Overton if he was wrong then, while also pointing out that Overton was standing behind him when he said that.
“Senator, the MMR vaccine is safe and effective,” Overton said, but didn’t directly respond to whether Trump’s comments were wrong despite Hassan’s insistence, which prompted online critics to pile on.
“Just so pathetic,” blasted Ron Filipkowski, the editor-in-chief of the MeidasTouch political news network. “One after the other, Trump nominated people to the most important positions solely because they are sycophantic cultists who refuse to even say he is wrong about something that impacts public health even when they know he is. This is a nightmare for America.”
“Shame on anyone who votes to confirm her,” lambasted former U.S. Attorney Joyce Vance. “They may think there will not be consequences, but there will be. That time is coming.”
“President Trump’s nominees are so scared of him that they can’t say that he would EVER be wrong about something,” Sen. Hassan wrote on X in response to a video of the hearing. “That’s disqualifying.”
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