Robert F. Kennedy Jr. argued Saturday that the incoming Trump administration should “act fast” to implement massive changes at the National Institutes of Health, including replacing as many as 600 people at the federal agency.
“We need to act fast, and we want to have those people in place on Jan. 20, so that on Jan. 21, 600 people are going to walk into offices at NIH and 600 people are going to leave,” Kennedy said during an appearance at the Genius Network Annual Event in Scottsdale, Ariz.
The Democrat-turned-Donald Trump ally has long argued that federal health agencies have been “captured” by the pharmaceutical industry that they are supposed to regulate, likening it to “corruption” that has had a negative impact on the health and safety of Americans.
Kennedy, 70, noted at the Genius Network event that he’s working to raise $10 million before President-elect Trump’s inauguration to help fill key Department of Health and Human Services roles, according to ABC News.
The former presidential candidate noted that he, his daughter-in-law Amaryllis Fox Kennedy, and billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk are among the people in the room when Trump is making personnel decisions.
“These are all alpha people,” Kennedy said. “They’re, you know, they have very strong ideas about what should happen, but [Trump] makes the decisions.”
Kennedy is expected to have some sort of major health policy-related role in Trump’s administration.
Prior to the election, however, Trump’s White House transition co-chair Howard Lutnick dismissed the possibility of RFK Jr. becoming HHS secretary.