wELDON daVE Rep

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3/12? nom pulled hours before hearing bc not votes?

white-house-pulls-cdc-director-nomination-day-confirmation-hearing-rcna196208

Trump administration

White House withdraws CDC director nomination just before his Senate confirmation hearing

Former Rep. Dave Weldon, R-Fla., was set to face questions at his Senate confirmation hearing Thursday morning.

March 13, 2025, 6:16 AM PDT / Updated March 13, 2025, 11:25 AM PDT

By Garrett Haake, Rebecca Shabad, Berkeley Lovelace Jr. and Erika Edwards

WASHINGTON — The White House has withdrawn the nomination of former Rep. Dave Weldon, R-Fla., whom President Donald Trump had chosen to be director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, a senior administration official said.

The nomination was withdrawn just before Weldon was scheduled to testify at his confirmation hearing Thursday morning before the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee.

Axios first reported the news.

Weldon was told Wednesday night that his nomination was being withdrawn, another Trump administration official said. The White House decided to pull Weldon’s nomination when it became clear that he would not have the votes to be favorably reported out of committee because of his past controversial comments about vaccines, the official said.

The Senate committee chairman, Bill Cassidy, R-La., had been looking forward to the hearing, but Weldon did not have the votes from the committee to get the nomination onto the Senate floor, a source on Capitol Hill close to Cassidy said.

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In a lengthy statement, Weldon said he assumed the White House withdrew his nomination because Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, had reservations and because Cassidy planned to vote against him. He added that Cassidy had asked for his nomination to be withdrawn over concerns that he could be “antivax.”

There are 12 Republicans and 11 Democrats on the committee, Weldon noted, so losing even one of the Republican senators would have been a problem.

“So, he was a big problem, and losing Collins, too, was clearly too much for the White House,” Weldon said, referring to Cassidy. “The president is a busy man doing good work for our nation, and the last thing he needs is a controversy about CDC.”

Former Rep. Dave Weldon (R-FL) in 2005.

Former Rep. Dave Weldon, R-Fla., in 2005.Joe Raedle / Getty Images file

A spokesperson for Cassidy denied that Cassidy asked the administration to withdraw Weldon's nomination and that Cassidy was expected to vote against him.

Cassidy said later in a statement: "I was looking forward to the hearing. I was surprised when Dr. Weldon’s nomination was withdrawn.

"His poor response to this situation shows that the pressures of being CDC director would have been too much,” he said.

Weldon also claimed the pharmaceutical industry lobbied against his nomination, and he defended the work of Andrew Wakefield, the British physician who published a study that falsely claimed the vaccine for measles, mumps and rubella causes autism.

Cassidy, a doctor, had raised concerns about the anti-vaccine advocacy of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. before Kennedy was confirmed as health and human services secretary last month. Weldon has held some vaccine views similar to Kennedy's.

Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., met with Weldon last month and signaled she would oppose his nomination, saying she had little confidence he would stand up to Kennedy. She said Weldon "spent years promoting the false conspiracy that vaccines cause autism, but he has also criticized the CDC’s essential role in vaccine safety research."

After his nomination was withdrawn, Murray called Weldon "a vaccine skeptic who spent years spreading lies about safe and proven vaccines" and "should never have even been under consideration to lead the foremost agency charged with protecting public health."

"While I have little to no confidence in the Trump administration to do so, they should immediately nominate someone for this position who at bare minimum believes in basic science and will help lead CDC’s important work to monitor and prevent deadly outbreaks," she said.

Weldon served 14 years in the House until 2009, during which he criticized the CDC and questioned the safety of vaccines. Similar to Kennedy, Weldon has made statements linking vaccines to autism even though research shows there is no connection, and he has called on the CDC to further research it.

As a congressman, he questioned the safety of the vaccine for measles, mumps and rubella, and he also promoted disproven claims that a mercury-containing preservative, thimerosal, used in children's vaccines caused autism, even sponsoring a bill called the Mercury-Free Vaccines Act.

In 2007, he unveiled legislation that would have transferred oversight of vaccine safety from the CDC to an independent agency within the Department of Health and Human Services.

Weldon also reportedly helped anti-vaccine researchers Mark Geier and his son, David, access the Vaccine Safety Datalink, a CDC database containing patient health records, according to an account in the 2004 book “Evidence of Harm” by journalist David Kirby.

The CDC has decided to begin researching autism and potential links to vaccines, said a source familiar with the agency's planning.

Garrett Haake

Garrett Haake is NBC News' senior White House correspondent.

Rebecca Shabad

Rebecca Shabad is a politics reporter for NBC News based in Washington.

Berkeley Lovelace Jr.

Berkeley Lovelace Jr. is a health and medical reporter for NBC News. He covers the Food and Drug Administration, with a special focus on Covid vaccines, prescription drug pricing and health care. He previously covered the biotech and pharmaceutical industry with CNBC.

Erika Edwards

Erika Edwards is a health and medical news writer and reporter for NBC News and "TODAY."

Vaughn Hillyard contributed.

[MSNBC News

RFK Jr. is reshaping vaccine policy. Stuart Burns is helping him do it.

Stuart Burns, a senior advisor at Health and Human Services, appears to be leading a network of aligned staff advancing RFK Jr.'s...

2 days ago](https://www.msnbc.com/opinion/analysis/robert-f-kennedy-jr-vaccines-stuart-burns-hhs-rcna220029)

brandy z

“Who is Stuart Burns?” a scientist at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention texted me from the organization’s all-hands meeting in June, attaching a photo of a man seated in front of his name card.

The 60-year-old conservative with a stout build and a boyish haircut was mostly unknown to the doctors, epidemiologists and officials who had gathered to ask questions about what many have described as the gutting of their agency and the threat many believe its new leaders pose to public health.

One former CDC staffer who interacted with Burns all those years ago described it as something like a “religious crusade.”

When asked about the researchers and doctors reportedly aligned with the anti-vaccine movement who had replaced the qualified experts on the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP), a federal vaccine advisory committee, deputy director of public affairs Nina Witkofsky opened the floor to Burns, who was seated at a long table with other agency leaders.

“I’ll catch the football on that one,” said Burns, who had been recently appointed as senior adviser to the CDC director (a position that is still sitting vacant). “We’ve been working really hard over the past few days — over the weekend in particular — to bring on the new ACIP members,” he said with a smile.

Burns said he had been on calls with agency staff, working nights and weekends ahead of the July ACIP meeting, to ensure the replacements were in place — new panelists who, critics later said,would bring anti-vaccine views and conflicts of interest to a group once respected for its scientific rigor and independence. “We’re making good progress,” Burns said, according to a recording of the meeting obtained by MSNBC. He added that several agenda items would be delayed while the new panel got up to speed.

Though not everyone in the room recognized him, Burns had been named in an April memo from Matt Buzzelli, the CDC’s newly politically appointed chief of staff, announcing interim leadership changes after mass terminations and resignations. But among the CDC’s longest-serving employees, especially those in offices related to vaccines, Burns was a known entity. He had been a staffer for congressional Republicans since the early ’90s — best known as a key operator for the anti-vaccine movement.

Kennedy and vaccines loom over Senate confirmation hearing for CDC director

08:06

Originally from Georgia, Burns spent the last three decades in Florida, Texas and Washington, D.C., with his longest tenure, from 1995 to 2008, as legislative director and deputy chief of staff to former Rep. Dave Weldon, R-Fla. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. had wanted Weldon as CDC director, but that nomination was pulled over his anti-vaccine views. But because an adviser position doesn’t require Senate confirmation, Kennedy got Weldon’s number two.

Burns is not a doctor or a scientist. An HHS spokesperson declined to be quoted on the record but defended Burns’ management of vaccine projects for the agency. The spokesperson said that Burns had worked on health policy as a legislative aide for congressional Republicans. Burns did not respond to MSNBC’s requests for comment.

:{:{Weldon’s office was central to the early-2000s push to link vaccines to autism, and Burns was a key operator within the effort, acting as a liaison among activists and researchers. His work as deputy chief of staff in the early 2000s, chronicled inbooks and news reports from the time, was also described to MSNBC by long-serving CDC employees and three former legislative staffers who served alongside Burns. He was interviewed several times for a sympathetic history of the period’s anti-vaccine activism, “Evidence of Harm.”}:

Burns facilitated dozens of meetings between anti-vaccine activists and government officials, and arranged access to CDC data for Mark and David Geier, father-son researchers who falsely linked autism to vaccines and served as experts in legal cases alleging vaccine injuries. He coordinated press and lobbying strategies with activists, pushed medical journals to publish anti-vaccine research that had been rejected, and asked anti-vaccine activists to advise on government-funded research. He also publicly discounted studies that debunked purported links between vaccines and autism, and was repeatedly described in books, news articles and autism forums as a tireless behind-the-scenes organizer.}:

One source with knowledge of calls between Weldon’s office, CDC staffers and anti-vaccine researchers described Burns as “explosive.” Burns, they said, organized meetings, brought anti-vaccine researchers like the Geiers onto calls without warning, and repeatedly demanded access to databases containing private patient information. They recalled Burns at times screaming and threatening agency funding, as Weldon sat on the House Appropriations Committee at the time.

Burns has stayed out of the public eye, as reflected in the absence of publicly available photographs. He does appear in a 2013 video from America’s Future Foundation in which he talks about his career:

IFrame Content

It’s not clear what has motivated his passion over vaccines, but one former CDC staffer who interacted with Burns all those years ago described it as something like a “religious crusade.”

Burns is one of dozens of new political appointees across HHS agencies, some with minimal public health experience and others with clear ties to the anti-vaccine movement that Kennedy helped build.

In the last six months, Kennedy has dismantled and partly remade the country’s largest federal agency, overseeing the firings of thousands of employees and shuttering programs related to issues including mental health, senior care, cancer, and HIV and AIDS. The CDC has been without a director since March, when Trump withdrew Kennedy’s pick, Weldon, and nominated Susan Monarez. Leadership roles have been left vacant or filled with political appointees who lack public health experience. Kennedy has also placed anti-vaccine allies in roles that are reshaping vaccine policy — some subtly, others more overtly — both domestically and abroad. And it is Burns who appears to be leading this network of ideologically aligned staff embedded across HHS agencies.

According to meeting recordings, internal communications reviewed by MSNBC and three sources familiar with the situation, Burns has become a central figure in subverting vaccine policy under Kennedy. It’s unclear from his job title of “senior adviser” what Burns is officially tasked with, but officials with knowledge said Burns’ duties were, in part, specifically targeting vaccines.

RFK Jr.’s CDC plans study on long-debunked link between vaccines and autism

07:31

In addition to organizing the destruction and rebirth of the ACIP panel, Burns personally ordered the removal of a webpage that hosted a scientific review on the safety of thimerosal, an ingredient falsely linked to autism by anti-vaccine activists. (The ACIP panel ultimately recommended removing the preservative from influenza vaccines.) The decision to remove the report from the website, made after communication with Kennedy’s office, broke from standard practice, which allows such panels to act independently of the agency. An HHS spokesperson defended the removal to MSNBC, saying the report had been posted without permission, but did not address Burns’ involvement.

Kennedy’s sweeping plans for vaccines include the re-examination of settled vaccine safety studies, particularly around autism. Kennedy has said that this fall he will announce preliminary findings from a reanalysis of health data — findings that critics, including those inside CDC, say are preordained and are likely to reignite disproven claims around autism and vaccines.

Kennedy’s overhaul of vaccine policy is also coming amid a growing number of public health emergencies. Measles outbreaks tore through the country this year, hospitalizing hundreds and killing two unvaccinated children. The country’s elimination status is under threat while vaccine hesitancy grows: a recent study found that only 40% of pregnant Americans and parents of young children said they plan to follow the recommended vaccine schedule.

Meanwhile, Burns appears to be benefitting from a power vacuum. Two Trump loyalists — Heather Flick Melanson, Kennedy’s chief of staff, and Hannah Anderson, a senior policy adviser — were fired this week. Key positions, including CDC director and several division heads, remain unfilled. Nearly a third of top HHS leadership positions currently sit vacant, according to the agency’s website. With few career leaders in place, political appointees have been operating with unusual authority. Burns has wielded his new power to realize an old dream.

“He’s a senior adviser to the director, but there is no director,” said one official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they aren’t authorized to speak publicly about the agency. “And all that he does, all day long, is work in this covert vaccine space.”

Dr. Paul Offit, the inventor of a rotavirus vaccine and a longtime critic of Kennedy and the anti-vaccine movement, suggested that Kennedy’s actions are like the dinosaur in “Jurassic Park,” testing the fence before it breaks through.

“Activists have been shouting from the sidelines for decades,” Offit said. “Now they are making policy.”

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an 1224

Florida once had a reputation for being a volatile swing state that, like Pennsylvania, could make or break a presidential candidate.

After the U.S. Supreme Court ended a vote recount in Florida in the 2000 presidential race, then-Vice President Al Gore gave a concession speech and congratulated Republican George W. Bush on being president-elect. Bush won Florida twice, but so did Democratic former President Barack Obama.

But Florida has since taken a very Republican turn. Far-right Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis was reelected by 19 percent in 2022, and President-elect Donald Trump carried the Sunshine State by 13 percent in 2024.

READ MORE:[How Don Jr. is making sure Trump picks 'absolute warriors for the movement' to his Cabinet

Pennsylvania was close in 2024, with Trump narrowly defeating Vice President Kamala Harris in the Keystone State. Florida wasn't close at all.

In an article published on November 28, Politico's David Kihara stresses Florida has become the epicenter of Trump's MAGA movement and will play a prominent role in his incoming second administration.

"Florida is America's punchline, a state that exports as many memes as it does oranges," Kihara explains. "It's prone to hurricanes and presidential hopefuls — at least six in the last 50 years — and now will be Donald Trump's power center and the ideological wellspring for his administration."

Kihara **lists some of the Florida residents who could be a part of that administration — a group that, if they are confirmed, could include Susie Wiles as White House chief of staff, Sen. Marco Rubio as secretary of state, Rep. Mike Waltz as national security adviser, and former Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi as U.S. attorney general.

Before Trump nominated Bondi, he had another Floridian in mind for that position: Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Florida). But Gaetz withdrew from consideration.

Trump himself is a Florida resident, living on his Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach.

"If anything, Florida is a place of contradictions," Kihara explains. "It's economically lax and also morally overbearing, freewheeling and uptight. It's home to two cities — Miami and Orlando — that, according to the Census Bureau, have some of the highest concentrations in the U.S. of gay-coupled households. But at the same time, the state restricts how teachers, even up to high school, can teach LGBTQ+ issues."

According to Kihara, Trump's second administration could make Florida's agenda a national U.S. agenda.

"And now, the rest of America could become a little more like Florida," Kihara observes. "Trump's pick to lead the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, former Florida Rep. Dave Weldon, is a vaccine safety skeptic; Rubio is a traditional hawk with a from-the-cradle hatred of communism but a desire to negotiate a quick end to the Ukraine war; Bondi wants to go after 'bad prosecutors' much like DeSantis did with two state attorneys. They have the potential to being much more than Florida vibes to the country and could reshape the country in the image of the Sunshine State."

READ MORE:['Up to us to stop him': Petition to block Trump Cabinet picks gets 44K signatures in 5 days

*Read Politico's full article at this link.

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