PERSONNEL IS POLICY — Kennedy attended a day of meetings Wednesday at Trump’s Mar-A-Lago resort with Elon Musk, Amaryllis Fox Kennedy, donor Tom Barrack, Calley Means, Tucker Carlson and Donald Trump Jr. to talk about the transition of power and potential candidates for health positions in the next administration. Two people familiar with the discussions say four names are being floated by Kennedy's camp: — Dr. Jay Bhattacharya, director of Stanford’s Center on the Demography and Economics of Health and Aging; — Dr. Joseph Ladapo, Florida’s surgeon general; — Dr. Marty Makary, Johns Hopkins public policy researcher and surgeon; and — Dr. Casey Means, a chronic disease entrepreneur linked to the “Make America Healthy Again” movement. “He wants gold-star scientists and a reform mindset, an independent-thinking mindset,” one person familiar with the talks said. A second person said others are trying to offer additional candidates for Trump to consider for the FDA and related agencies. The coming vetting: Most of those choices are likely to draw pushback from public health experts and Democrats. Ladapo personally edited a state-driven study about Covid-19 vaccines to suggest the risks of cardiac death were more severe than had been established by the broader medical community, according to a document released under a public records request . Bhattacharya and Makary advocated against lockdowns and mask mandates for children, respectively, during the Covid pandemic. Taking a beat: What’s unclear for now is exactly how much influence Kennedy will have on personnel decisions — as well as how far his acolytes can make it into the administration. FDA commissioner is a Senate-confirmable position, and while Republicans have a comfortable majority, the remaining moderates could find a few colleagues to help stymie the most controversial nominees. Former Sen. Richard Burr, previously the top Republican on the chamber’s health committee, told POLITICO he didn’t think the Kennedy-associated names were “serious.” “This has been a very controlled process” compared to the last transition, he said. “Either for their own interest or they’re working on behalf of somebody inserting names into consideration, I don’t think you can take that as consideration by the transition team.” Call and response: Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is promoting Ladapo for a Trump administration gig. “Retweet if you’d like to see this man — Dr. Joseph Ladapo — serve as the Secretary of HHS in the new Trump administration,” he posted on X Wednesday. One person familiar with the transition suggested Ladapo would be more likely to be named surgeon general or assistant secretary of health. Makary and Means didn’t respond to requests for comment. “I have not heard that I am being considered for the FDA job,” Bhattacharya said in an email.
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