RFK Jr.’s lawyer and top ally asked FDA to revoke approval of polio vaccine
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(WASHINGTON) — Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s personal attorney previously lobbied the Food and Drug Administration to revoke the approval of the polio vaccine, highlighting an influential Kennedy ally who, sources tell ABC News, has been helping interview candidates for top health jobs in the incoming Trump administration.
Aaron Siri, a partner at the law firm Siri & Glimstad, has long fought against the widespread prevalence of vaccines. He has also filed petitions seeking to pause the distribution of other vaccines, including Hepatitis B, and to revoke the emergency use authorization of COVID-19 vaccines.
The polio petition was made on behalf of one of Siri’s clients, the Informed Consent Action Network (ICAN), a group founded by Del Bigtree, another close Kennedy ally who also has been involved in health-related transition matters, according to sources.
“Petitioner requests that the FDA withdraw or suspend the approval for [the polio vaccine] for infants, toddlers, and children until a properly controlled and properly powered double-blind trial of sufficient duration is conducted to assess the safety of this product,” Siri wrote.
The New York Times reported on the petition earlier Friday.
Siri did not respond to ABC News’ request for comment.
Kennedy, meanwhile, did not respond to written questions about whether he agrees with revoking the approval of the polio vaccine or if, as Health and Human Services secretary, he would intervene in the FDA’s review of Siri’s petitions.
The polio vaccine available in the United States is recommended for children and three doses offer at least 99% protection against severe disease, including paralysis, according to the CDC. Side effects are usually mild and go away on their own, the agency notes, and the vaccine has not been known to cause serious problems.
ABC News’ Youri Benadjaoud contributed to this report.
(WASHINGTON) — During his campaign for president, Donald Trump and his advisers worked to vehemently distance themselves from Project 2025, the controversial plan to overhaul the federal government proposed by a closely aligned conservative group. But several individuals connected to the plan have already received posts in the new administration, and one of the plan’s top architects is under consideration for a top position, according to multiple sources familiar with the discussions.
Russ Vought, who authored a chapter on “Executive Office of the President” for Project 2025’s “Mandate for Leadership: The Conservative Promise,” which Project 2025 describes as “a comprehensive policy guide for the next conservative U.S. president,” is under consideration for a cabinet-level position in the next administration and has been vetted by Trump’s transition team, sources said.
Vought not only authored a chapter in the 922-page Project 2025 plan, but he was also deeply involved in drafting Project 2025’s playbook for the first 180 days of a new Trump administration. His Center for Renewing American is also listed as a member of Project 2025’s advisory board, according to the plan’s website.
Vought — who has been seen at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago Club in recent days meeting with Trump’s top advisers — served in Trump’s first administration as the director of the Office of Management and Budget, and has been in active discussions to return to the next administration, sources familiar with the matter said.
It’s not clear what position Vought could ultimately get, but he’s been discussed as a candidate for his previous job or for a top White House post that focuses on economic policy, the sources said.
When asked for comment, the Trump transition team pointed to President Trump’s comments in his debate with Kamala Harris where he stated, “This was a group of people that got together, they came up with some ideas, I guess some good, some bad, but it makes no difference. I have nothing to do [with it].”
During his run for the White House, Trump claimed he knew “nothing” about Project 2025 and his campaign advisers fiercely worked to distance the campaign from it.
Trump transition co-chair Howard Lutnick told the Financial Times last month that Project 2025 “is an absolute zero for the Trump-Vance transition.”
“You can use another term — radioactive,” Lutnick said.
While personnel decisions are not final until Trump announces them, sources told ABC News that Trump’s transition team has considered several other individuals with ties to the plan, including Project 2025 authors as well as several contributors to the document.
Gene Hamilton, the author of the Department of Justice chapter, is among those being considered for a top legal role in Trump’s administration, according to sources. In his Project 2025 chapter, Hamilton criticizes the DOJ, claiming it has been “captured by an unaccountable bureaucratic managerial class and radical Left ideologues who have embedded themselves throughout its offices and components.”
Hamilton calls for a sweeping “top-to-bottom overhaul” of the Justice Department, as well as an internal review of “all major active FBI investigations,” recommending the termination of any that are deemed unlawful or contrary to national interests.
Another name that has been floated for a potential position in the Trump administration is Reed Rubinstein, who contributed to Project 2025 and is under consideration for the next general counsel for the Department of Treasury, according to one potential personnel list reviewed by ABC News.
In recent days, Trump has announced other selections to fill out the coming administration who also have ties to Project 2025, marking a stark reversal from how he campaigned.
On Sunday, Trump’s team said that Brendan Carr will serve as the chairman of the Federal Communications Commission — a selection that places one of tech billionaire Elon Musk’s active defenders in charge of regulating the nation’s airwaves. Carr, who has used his position to defend Musk’s companies, authored the chapter of Project 2025 that detailed how he intended to run the agency.
Former ICE Director Tom Homan has been picked to serve as “border czar” for the incoming administration, overseeing the mass deportations that have been promised by Trump throughout his 2024 campaign, and immigration hard-liner and top adviser Stephen Miller will serve as Trump’s deputy chief of staff for policy. Both Homan and Miller have ties to Project 2025.
Homan is a Visiting Fellow at The Heritage Foundation, the Trump-aligned group behind the controversial plan, and is also listed as a contributor to the Project 2025 document. Miller’s organization, America First Legal, originally appeared on the list of advisory board members to Project 2025.
ABC News reported in July that Miller asked for his group to be removed from the Project 2025 website’s list of advisory board members amid ongoing attacks from Democrats about the plan on the campaign trail.
A major part of Project 2025’s agenda is to expand presidential power and drastically cut federal agencies like the Department of Education — moves that Trump, on the campaign trail, has supported.
The proposal also calls for a reversal of the Food and Drug Administration’s approval of the abortion pill mifepristone and calls for health agencies to promote “fertility awareness” as an “unsurpassed” method of contraception.
(WASHINGTON) — Pete Hegseth, President-elect Donald Trump’s pick for defense secretary, was back on Capitol Hill on Thursday to meet with Republican lawmakers as misconduct allegations continued to cloud his selection to lead the Pentagon.
Behind the scenes, Trump’s political team is focused on figuring out where female Republican senators stand on Hegseth, according to two people involved in the conversations. Trump’s advisers are fully aware that with such a thin GOP Senate majority, Hegseth’s fate could all come down to the women in the conference.
Sen. Joni Ernst, a key Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee that will hold his confirmation hearings, notably declined to voice support for Hegseth after meeting with him on Wednesday and then again on Thursday on Fox News, which Trump is known to watch.
Ernst told Fox News host Bill Hemmer she had a “very frank” and “productive” discussion with Hegseth. When pressed by Hemmer that that didn’t sound as if she had gotten to a yes on his confirmation, she replied, “I think you are right.”
Ernst is the first female combat veteran to serve in the Senate and a sexual assault survivor herself. Hegseth has faced allegations of sexual assault (which he’s denied) and previously said that women should not serve in ground combat roles in the military.
ABC News was told Trump has expressed to those close to him that Hegseth should have been more honest and forthcoming about the challenges he could face getting through the confirmation process given his history.
Trump, who is considering other options (a list that includes Ernst) for the role, has not been working the phones for Hegseth — as he did for Matt Gaetz.
Gaetz was Trump’s original pick for attorney general but said he withdrew his name from consideration as he faced his own allegations of sexual misconduct. Trump has since tapped former Florida attorney general Pam Bondi to head up the Justice Department, pending Senate confirmation.
Hegseth has told senators his mother has been making calls to senators on his behalf, according to sources familiar with the matter. He has also told senators he is open to a background check, according to multiple sources.
“The allegation was made about him being intoxicated at several times and so the questions that every member will be asking him led to his statement,” said Sen. Roger Wicker, current ranking member of the Senate Armed Services Committee and expected to take over the chairmanship in January — presiding over Hegseth’s confirmation hearings.
Hegseth on Thursday was expected to meet with Republican Sens. Rick Scott of Florida, Mike Rounds of South Dakota, Jim Banks of Indiana, Tom Cotton of Arkansas and Ron Johnson of Wisconsin.
Hegseth told reporters as he walked through the Capitol that he’d spoken with Trump on Thursday morning.
“He is behind us all the way,” Hegseth said when asked by ABC News’ Jay O’Brien what Trump had told him during their conversation.
When asked if he thought he had the votes to be confirmed, Hegseth dodged the question but said he was continuing to work his way through the process.
(NEW YORK) — Former President Donald Trump used his appearance on “The Joe Rogan Experience” to push false claims about the 2020 election, bash his opponent, Vice President Kamala Harris, and attack his former White House staff.
The episode, which went live Friday night, likely reached one of the biggest podcast audiences in the country, with over 15.7 million followers on Spotify. Trump’s interview caused a three-hour delay at a planned rally in Michigan Friday night.
With just over a week to go until November’s election, Trump continued to spread doubts about the election results, slammed secure voting practices, such as mail-in voting and voting machines, and doubled down on his false beliefs that he won the 2020 presidential election.
“You had old-fashioned ballot screwing,” Trump told Joe Rogan, making unfounded claims about unsigned ballots and “phony votes.”
Rogan compared the label of election denialist to the labeling of anti-vaxxer, with Trump railing against mail-in voting despite telling his supporters to go out and vote however they want.
When Rogan asked Trump why he didn’t publish comprehensive evidence of alleged voter fraud in 2020, the former president got combative, falsely claiming he did and argued he lost the election because judges “didn’t have what it took.”
When Rogan brought up Democrats and Harris labeling him a fascist, Trump shot back.
“Kamala is a very low IQ person. She’s a very low IQ,” the former president said.
Trump, who has come under fire after former Chief of Staff John Kelly said in interviews that Trump praised Nazi generals, told Rogan he had an affinity for Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee. “He took a war that should have been over in a few days, and it was, you know, years of hell of vicious war,” Trump said.
The unedited episode was more of a conversation than an interview as Rogan asked Trump to reminisce on his political arch and let him ramble about various topics from the environment to the economy to health care.
However, in the freeform format, even Rogan got lost at times.
“Your weave is getting wide. I wanna get back to tariffs,” Rogan said at one point.
Trump referenced his style of talking at a rally in August, calling it “the weave.”
“I’ll talk about like, nine different things and they all come back brilliantly together,” he said at the time.
On the Rogan podcast, Trump defended his own age and cognitive acuity while attacking President Joe Biden’s cognitive ability.
“Biden gives people a bad name because that’s not an old – that’s not an age. I think they say it because I’m three or four years younger, you know? I think that’s why they say it. They say his age. It’s not his age. He’s got a problem,” Trump said.
While talking about the first presidential debate between Trump and Biden, Rogan floated a disproven conspiracy theory that Democrats wanted the debate to happen earlier than usual to get Biden out of the race.
Trump acknowledged it but disagreed, saying, “I don’t think anybody thought he was going to get out,” referring to Biden.
Toward the end of the podcast, Rogan asked Trump about extraterrestrial life and if Trump believed in aliens to which the former president went on to say there may be life on Mars.
“Mars, we’ve had probes there and rovers, and I don’t think there’s any life there,” Rogan pushed back.
“Maybe it’s life that we don’t know about,” Trump retorted.
