Trump Picks Fox Host for DC Prosecutor and Wellness Influencer for Surgeon General
Barf Bag: Mind you, these are the people he chose after his previous nominees proved too controversial for Senate confirmation.
Photos: Getty Images/Levels
President Donald Trump withdrew two nominations this week: that of a Fox News medical contributor for the country’s top doctor and a Capitol insurrection supporter for the top prosecutor in Washington, D.C. Unfortunately, he replaced them with people who are insane in their own special ways. The picks need to be confirmed by the Senate, but this is pretty terrifying stuff.
Trump chose wellness influencer Casey Means for Surgeon General, and Fox News host and former prosecutor Jeanine Pirro to be U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia. One Fox host in the cabinet is already one Fox host too many, and Pete Hegseth isn’t exactly covering himself in glory right now!
This is how we got here.
On Thursday morning, Fox News medical contributor Janette Nesheiwat was set to have her confirmation hearing before the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee. Trump had nominated Nesheiwat, a medical director for a New York urgent care company and the sister-in-law of former national security adviser Mike Waltz, back in November.
But far-right activist Laura Loomer had been trash-talking Nesheiwat recently, writing on Twitter this week that we can’t have as Surgeon General “a pro-COVID vaccine nepo appointee who is currently embroiled in a medical malpractice case and who didn’t go to medical school in the US.” (Apparently, Nesheiwat claimed her degree was from the University of Arkansas School of Medicine, when in actuality it was from American University of the Caribbean School of Medicine in St. Maarten.)
And, wouldn’t you know it, Trump announced on Truth Social Wednesday afternoon that he was nominating Means. He concluded his post by saying that Nesheiwat would work “in another capacity at HHS.”
While Means did go to medical school, she did not finish her residency and isn’t a practicing physician. Instead, the Associated Press notes, “she founded a health tech company, Levels, that helps users track blood sugar and other metrics. She also makes money from dietary supplements, creams, teas and other products sponsored on her social media accounts.” So while she promotes “lifestyle” changes to improve health and rails against food and pharma companies, she’s more than happy to take people’s money directly.
Means and her brother Calley served as advisors to the failed presidential campaign of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. She has not been as outspoken on vaccines as RFK, but she does say on her website that she supports more safety investigations and wants to make it easier for patients to sue drugmakers in the event of vaccine injuries. Don’t love that.