KEEPING RFK JR. AT BAY — Powerful agriculture industry groups, including lobbyists and trade groups representing farmers, are defending their interests as former President Donald Trump’s campaign embraces Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s health claims, POLITICO’s Marcia Brown, Grace Yarrow and Brittany Gibson report. Why it matters: The reaction to Kennedy’s agenda marks one of the ways the agricultural industry world is bracing for the possibility of a Trump return. As one food industry lobbyist put it, Kennedy has “taken on a whole life of his own in the last few weeks.” Kennedy claims “control” over health: On Monday, Kennedy claimed at a virtual event that Trump promised him “control of the public health agencies,” which he said included HHS. Trump transition co-chair Howard Lutnick said on CNN Wednesday night that Kennedy “is not going to be in charge of HHS,” though he suggested the noted anti-vaccine conspiracy theorist could get a role examining health and vaccine data. People familiar with the transition conversations have told POLITICO that Trump would be more likely to name Kennedy to some sort of food and health “czar” role that doesn’t require Senate confirmation. Kennedy declined to directly answer Pulse’s questions but said in a statement that he’s grateful to Trump for his commitment to end chronic disease. Steven Cheung, the Trump campaign’s communications director, said that “formal discussions of who will serve” in a Trump administration are “premature.” Cheung didn’t deny Trump promised Kennedy control of health and food agencies. A former Trump HHS official cautioned that no one knows how much influence Kennedy would wield if the former president wins next week. For now, the Trump team is engaging Kennedy on his “healthy living” aims rather than “aggressive FDA ideas,” said the former official, granted anonymity to talk freely about campaign conversations. Sen. Bill Hagerty (R-Tenn.), who’s expected to be influential in a potential Trump administration , said he wouldn’t speculate on potential roles but left the door open to Kennedy. “As someone who has met with Bobby Kennedy on multiple occasions, I think President Trump utilizing his extensive work on improving America’s health and our government’s role in this effort is smart,” Hagerty said in a statement to POLITICO. “It shows that Republicans are a big-tent party willing to embrace innovative ideas and new partners in order to tackle the serious health challenge facing our nation.” FORMER HHS DEPUTY TAPPED FOR TRANSITION — A former Trump administration deputy chief of staff is helping the Trump campaign with transition plans, Chelsea and POLITICO’s David Lim report. That’s according to two people familiar with the Trump transition and a third person close to the campaign granted anonymity to speak freely about the effort. Paul Mango, former HHS deputy chief of staff, worked closely with then-HHS Secretary Alex Azar on Operation Warp Speed in the early days of the pandemic. He is now a public adviser at Paragon Health Institute, a conservative think tank. Steven Cheung, a spokesperson for the Trump campaign, confirmed that there’s a transition leadership group “to initiate the process of preparing for what comes after the election.” But he didn’t reply to a direct question about whether Mango is a part of that team. Mango comes with deep institutional knowledge of the department — before becoming deputy chief of staff, he was chief principal deputy administrator and chief of staff at CMS in the Trump administration. At one point, Mango was rumored as a possible replacement for Seema Verma, Trump’s CMS administrator, who often clashed with Azar. He also worked for several decades at McKinsey & Company. Mango didn’t respond to multiple requests for comment.
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