DeSantis suggests he could pick RFK Jr. to lead the FDA or CDC

Democratic presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. might have an offer to run a federal agency in 2025 — but not for the party he is running to gain the nomination from.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who is struggling to gain steam in the GOP primary, mused on Wednesday in an interview with Clay Travis on OutKick that he generally aligns with Kennedy’s conservative views on Covid-19 policies and vaccines. Those views, DeSantis indicated, could make him a pick to lead a federal agency with medical jurisdiction.

“If you’re president, sic him on the FDA if he’d be willing to serve. Or sic him on CDC,” DeSantis said, in response to a question about whether he would pick Kennedy as a running mate. “In terms of being veep, if there’s 70 percent of the issues that he may be averse to our base on, that just creates an issue.”

Kennedy, who remains a long shot for the Democratic presidential nomination, has aired contentious views over vaccines, having questioned their effectiveness on several occasions. In the past few weeks, he came under sharp fire from liberals for suggesting that Covid was engineered to be less lethal to Asian and Jewish people. He has also been a critic of Anthony Fauci, the former head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, commenting once that he would prosecute him if “crimes were committed.”

It wasn’t long before DeSantis’ remarks were slammed by one of his Republican opponents. Former Vice President Mike Pence on Wednesday evening called out DeSantis on the social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter — though it wasn’t RFK Jr.’s questionable vaccine rhetoric the former head of the White House’s coronavirus task force took issue with.

“When I am President, I will only consider Pro-Life Americans to lead FDA, CDC, or HHS,” Pence said in his post. “To be clear, pro-abortion Democrats like RFK, Jr. would not even make the list.”

DeSantis’ comments fit into the governor’s ongoing criticism of the federal bureaucracy, which he has described over recent years as becoming too “woke” and corrupted. DeSantis has pledged to abolish several government agencies and departments if elected president, including the IRS and the Department of Education.

Conservatives like DeSantis have railed against health-related agencies in particular, animating fervor over pandemic-related lockdowns and mandates. As Florida governor, DeSantis has waged a verbal and legal war against the CDC and FDA — two agencies with broad jurisdiction over health matters that he especially targeted during the peak of the pandemic for mandates.

Kelly Garrity contributed to this report.