Kennedy claims CDC director was fired because she was untrustworthy

Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on Thursday told lawmakers that he fired former Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) director Susan Monarez because she admitted to being untrustworthy. 

Monarez was terminated late last month after less than one month officially on the job. Top Kennedy advisor Jim O’Neill is the acting CDC director until a new one has been confirmed. 

Kennedy testified in front of the Senate Finance Committee about his plans for the agency, when Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren, a Democrat, questioned him about firing Monarez.

“I told her she had to resign because I asked her, ‘Are you a trustworthy person?’ and she said ‘No,’” Kennedy said. “If you had an employee who told you they weren’t trustworthy, would you ask them to resign, senator?”

Kennedy also denied that he fired Monarez because she refused to rubber stamp recommendations from a group of CDC advisers he personally chose. Monarez made the accusation in an op-ed for the Wall Street Journal on Thursday morning.

“If she wrote that I fired her because she refused to sign on in advance for the [Advisory Committee on Immunization Practice], no that’s not accurate,” Kennedy said. “I told her I didn’t want her to have a rule that she’s not going to sign on to it.” 

Monarez’s legal team denied Kennedy’s characterization of the events, claiming that his defense that she was fired for allegedly admitting that she was not trustworthy was “patently ridiculous.”

“Dr. Monarez stands by what she said in her op-ed in The Wall Street Journal, would repeat it all under oath and continues to support the vision she outlined at her confirmation hearing that science will control her decisions,” the attorneys told Politico. 

Misty Severi is a news reporter for Just The News. You can follow her on X for more coverage.