Latest news with #StefanieSpear
South China Morning Post
4 days ago
- Health
- South China Morning Post
RFK Jnr disavows US presidential run, pledges loyalty to Trump
US Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jnr said he is not running for president in 2028 in a social media post on Friday, pushing back on criticism from right-wing commentator Laura Loomer that he is disloyal to President Donald Trump. Advertisement 'The president has made himself the answer to my 20-year prayer that God would put me in a position to end the chronic disease epidemic,' Kennedy wrote. 'That's exactly what my team and I will do until the day he leaves office.' The declaration follows speculation, stoked by Loomer, that Kennedy, 71, has his sights set on the White House. Kennedy also defended one of his top aides, Stefanie Spear, from Loomer's attacks on her loyalty to the president. Last month, Spear joined a grass-roots organising call affiliated with a non-profit organisation that works to promote Kennedy's health policies. That group, MAHA Action, is led by Kennedy's book publisher, who also helped raise money through a super PAC for Kennedy's failed 2024 presidential bid. Loomer, a conservative political activist who has outsize influence in Trump's orbit, suggested Spear's presence on the organising call was evidence Kennedy was planning another campaign. Far-right activist Laura Loomer speaks to the media in New York in April 2024. Photo: TNS 'I think that there's a clear intention by Stefanie Spear to utilise her position to try to lay the groundwork for a 2028 RFK presidential run,' Loomer said on a Politico podcast that was released earlier this week.
Daily Mail
6 days ago
- Politics
- Daily Mail
Report: Laura Loomer sets sights on taking down RFK Jr. staffer
President Donald Trump 's most controversial ally Laura Loomer has set her sights on taking out one of Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy's key aides. Loomer would like to see Stefanie Spear ousted, according to Wednesday's edition of Politico Playbook. Spear now serves as principal deputy chief of staff and senior counselor to RFK at HHS but she previously served as Kennedy's press secretary during his 2024 campaign. She was one of the most visible campaign officials during Kennedy's run at the White House , which ended when the Democrat-turned-independent decided to endorse now President Donald Trump. 'I think that there's a clear intention by Stefanie Spear to utilize her position to try and lay the groundwork for a 2028 RFK presidential run,' Loomer alleged to Playbook. Loomer has tried to root out those disloyal to the president - and was largely credited for the gutting of the National Security Council earlier this year. She appeared to have concerns about Kennedy too - a former political rival of the president who comes from a storied family of Democrats. But she told Playbook she thought Kennedy was likely firmly in his place. 'I'm not naive enough to think that the president is going to get rid of RFK, but I will say that ... there are concerns about some of the staffing decisions over at HHS,' she told Politico before pointing a finger a Spear. Loomer said that her suspicions about Spear forging ahead on a RFK 2028 bid come from 'sources in HHS.' Contacted by the Daily Mail, Loomer didn't have anything to add to Politico's reporting. Requests for comment to HHS and Spear were not immediately returned. Spear was already taking heat from MAGA loyalists during the opening weeks of the administration. In February, Axios reported that Trump-aligned insiders were sharing old social media posts from Spear that show support for Democratic causes. 'This woman just has every appearance of being a disaster from a conservative perspective,' one source from a conservative-leaning organization told the publication. Last month, Axios reported that those involved in Kennedy's Make America Healthy Again movement seemed to be laying the groundwork for him to mount a 2028 campaign. That move could ruffle feathers with Trump. While he is constitutionally barred from running for a third term, the president will want to play kingmaker in the 2028 race. Hundreds of supporters and influencers participated in a mid-July MAHA call that was coordinated by Spear, vaccine skeptic Robert Malone and MAHA PAC leader Tony Lyons. Lyons' involvement signaled to some sources that Kennedy's political infrastructure was getting ready for another bid. But Lyons pushed back on this interpretation of the event. 'This is just a made up story,' he told the Daily Mail last month. 'There's no truth to it whatsoever. The PAC was not involved at all in that media event and is mostly dormant now.' 'Secretary Kennedy has given no indication whatsoever that he's even considering running for president,' Lyons added.
Daily Mail
6 days ago
- Politics
- Daily Mail
Trump's most controversial ally sets sights on taking down RFK Jr. staffer plotting his secret 2028 presidential run
President Donald Trump 's most controversial ally Laura Loomer has set her sights on taking out one of Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy's key aides. Loomer would like to see Stefanie Spear ousted, according to Wednesday's edition of Politico Playbook. Spear now serves as principal deputy chief of staff and senior counselor to RFK at HHS but she previously served as Kennedy's press secretary during his 2024 campaign. She was one of the most visible campaign officials during Kennedy's run at the White House, which ended when the Democrat-turned-independent decided to endorse now President Donald Trump. 'I think that there's a clear intention by Stefanie Spear to utilize her position to try and lay the groundwork for a 2028 RFK presidential run,' Loomer alleged to Playbook. Loomer has tried to root out those disloyal to the president - and was largely credited for the gutting of the National Security Council earlier this year. She appeared to have concerns about Kennedy too - a former political rival of the president who comes from a storied family of Democrats. But she told Playbook she thought Kennedy was likely firmly in his place. 'I'm not naive enough to think that the president is going to get rid of RFK, but I will say that ... there are concerns about some of the staffing decisions over at HHS,' she told Politico before pointing a finger a Spear. Loomer said that her suspicions about Spear forging ahead on a RFK 2028 bid come from 'sources in HHS.' Contacted by the Daily Mail, Loomer didn't have anything to add to Politico's reporting. Requests for comment to HHS and Spear were not immediately returned. Spear was already taking heat from MAGA loyalists during the opening weeks of the administration. In February, Axios reported that Trump-aligned insiders were sharing old social media posts from Spear that show support for Democratic causes. 'This woman just has every appearance of being a disaster from a conservative perspective,' one source from a conservative-leaning organization told the publication. Last month, Axios reported that those involved in Kennedy's Make America Healthy Again movement seemed to be laying the groundwork for him to mount a 2028 campaign. That move could ruffle feathers with Trump. While he is constitutionally barred from running for a third term, the president will want to play kingmaker in the 2028 race. Hundreds of supporters and influencers participated in a mid-July MAHA call that was coordinated by Spear, vaccine skeptic Robert Malone and MAHA PAC leader Tony Lyons. Lyons' involvement signaled to some sources that Kennedy's political infrastructure was getting ready for another bid. But Lyons pushed back on this interpretation of the event. 'This is just a made up story,' he told the Daily Mail last month. 'There's no truth to it whatsoever. The PAC was not involved at all in that media event and is mostly dormant now.' 'Secretary Kennedy has given no indication whatsoever that he's even considering running for president,' Lyons added.
The Independent
6 days ago
- Politics
- The Independent
Laura Loomer sets her sights on her next target to get the boot from the Trump administration
After playing an outsized role in pushing out roughly a dozen Trump administration officials for supposedly showing insufficient allegiance to the president, far-right extremist and self-appointed MAGA 'loyalty' enforcer Laura Loomer is now setting her sights on a new target. In an interview with Politico Playbook this week, Loomer said she is taking aim at Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and his senior counselor Stefanie Spear over concerns that Kennedy is eyeing a 2028 presidential run. Loomer, who says she is running a tipline to purge 'disloyal' members from the administration, told Politico that while she is realistic about the unlikeliness of her running Kennedy out of Washington, she does feel she can knock out some of his deputies – with Spear being front and center on her list. 'I'm not naive enough to think that the president is going to get rid of RFK, but I will say that … there are concerns about some of the staffing decisions over at HHS,' Loomer said. Spear, who served as the principal communications adviser on Kennedy's long-shot 2024 presidential campaign, is now one of his closest aides at HHS and apparently tightly controls access to the secretary. According to Politico, even before Loomer began targeting her, Spear had begun to run members of the Trump administration the wrong way and had 'been a thorn in their side for months,' with many expressing concern about her influence on Kennedy. However, for Loomer, the main issue is that Spear is apparently steering the 71-year-old MAHA leader towards another presidential run. 'I think that there's a clear intention by Stefanie Spear to utilize her position to try to lay the groundwork for a 2028 RFK presidential run,' Loomer claimed, adding that she knew this through 'sources in HHS.' While Spear did not respond to Politico's story, a senior HHS leader did not deny that Kennedy is indeed weighing a presidential bid. A Trump administration official also said they 'would not be surprised if [Kennedy is] thinking about' running again, even though they 'don't think anyone thinks it's a real threat.' With the 79-year-old president constitutionally ineligible to run in 2028, though he has repeatedly quipped about campaigning for a third term, Trump has suggested that Vice President JD Vance will be the MAGA movement's heir apparent – though he has yet to officially crown Vance as his successor. In response to Loomer's campaign against Spear and Kennedy, HHS acting chief of staff Matt Buckham said Kennedy and his staff 'are laser-focused on delivering President Trump's promise to Make America Healthy Again' while ignoring 'Beltway gossip' and political speculation. 'Secretary Kennedy and the entire HHS team are doing a terrific job as they deliver on President Trump's mandate to Make America Healthy Again,' a White House official told Politico. 'Scores of prominent restaurant chains and food brands dropping artificial ingredients from our food supply and historic reforms at the FDA to fast track lifesaving drugs and treatments prove that the entire HHS team is delivering for the American people.' Spear helped kickstart speculation about a Kennedy 2028 run last month when she joined an organizing call for MAHA supporters and influencers that Kennedy's super PAC co-hosted, Axios reported. Meanwhile, Kennedy has long been in Loomer's crosshairs. Despite his vaccine skepticism and embrace of conspiracy theories, which generally align with Loomer's worldview, she has labeled Kennedy a 'Marxist' and 'very problematic person.' Also, after Loomer successfully launched a campaign to oust FDA vaccine chief Vinay Prasad for being a 'progressive leftist saboteur' last month, the agency brought him back two weeks later as its top vaccine regulator. Besides taking issue with Spear supposedly prepping a Kennedy presidential run, Loomer is also lobbing allegations of disloyalty at the HHS aide. 'There's been some things that have happened,' Loomer cryptically said. 'There's been several things that have happened at HHS that are contradictory to the initial promises made.' Outside of her role as 'Trump's Rasputin,' which has prompted the president's inner circle to grow tired of her influence, the 'proud Islamophobe' has also been busy with her defamation lawsuit against HBO late-night host Bill Maher for joking that she 'might be' sleeping with Trump. In an off-the-rails deposition with HBO lawyer Katherine Bolger late last month, Loomer not only claimed that she lost out on a White House job because of Maher's quip but also repeatedly tried to avoid admitting that she made her own wild accusations about prominent figures. At one point, after Loomer refused to explain what she meant when she tweeted an especially gross allegation about Kamala Harris, Bolger apparently had enough. 'God, you're a coward,' the attorney said. 'You're a coward, you won't even admit to what you did.'
Yahoo
19-02-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
The NIH Memo That Undercut Universities Came Directly From Trump Officials
On the afternoon of Friday, February 7, as staff members were getting ready to leave the headquarters of the National Institutes of Health, just outside Washington, D.C., officials in the Office of Extramural Research received an unexpected memo. It came from the Department of Health and Human Services, which oversees the NIH, and arrived with clear instructions: Post this announcement on your website immediately. The memo announced a new policy that, for many universities and other institutions, would hamstring scientific research. It said that the NIH planned to cap so-called indirect costs funded by grants—overhead that covers the day-to-day administrative and logistical duties of research. Some NIH-grant recipients had negotiated rates as high as 75 percent; going forward, the memo said, they would now be limited to just 15 percent. And this new cap would apply even to grants that had already been awarded. The announcement was written as if it had come from the NIH Office of the Director. It also directed all inquiries to the Office of Extramural Research's policy branch. And yet, no one at the NIH had seen the text until that Friday afternoon, several current and former NIH officials with knowledge of the situation told me. 'None of us had anything to do with that document,' one of them said. But the memo was dressed up in a way clearly intended to make it look like a homegrown NIH initiative. (Everyone I spoke with for this story requested anonymity out of fear of reprisal from the Trump administration. HHS did not respond to requests for comment.) Over the next several days, the memo sparked confusion and chaos at the NIH, and across American universities and hospitals, as researchers tried to reckon with the likely upshot—that many of them would have to shut down their laboratories or fire administrative staff. A federal judge has since temporarily blocked the cap on indirect costs. But the memo's abrupt arrival at the NIH, and the way it bulldozed through the agency, underscores how aggressively the Trump administration is exercising its authority and demanding compliance. 'Their approach seems to be We go in; we bully; we say, 'Do this; you have no choice,'' and shows little regard for the people or research affected, one former official told me. Typically, a memo communicating a major decision related to grants would take months or years to put together, sometimes with public input, and released six months to a year before being implemented, one current NIH official told me—earlier, even, 'if the impact will be more substantial.' In this case, though, Stefanie Spear, the HHS principal deputy chief of staff, told officials in the Office of Extramural Research, which oversees the awarding of grants, that this new memo needed to be posted to the NIH website no later than 5 p.m. that afternoon—within about an hour of the agency receiving it. Soon, the timeline tightened: The memo had to be published within 15 minutes. 'It was designed to minimize the chance that anyone within an agency could even have time to respond,' another former NIH official told me. Substantial changes are generally vetted through HHS leadership, and NIH officials have always 'very much abided by the directives of the department,' the former official said. But in the past, drafting those sorts of directives has been collaborative, a former NIH official told me. If NIH officials disagreed with a policy that HHS proposed, a respectful discussion would ensue. Indirect-cost rates are controversial: The proportion of NIH funding that has gone to them has grown over time, and proponents of trimming overhead argue that doing so would make research more efficient. A cut this deep and sudden, though, would upend research nationwide. And to grant recipients and NIH officials, it seemed less an attempt to reform or improve the current system, and more an effort to blow it up entirely. Either way, a unilateral demand to publish unfamiliar content under the NIH's byline was unprecedented in the experience of the NIH officials I spoke with. 'It was completely inappropriate,' the former official told me. But Spear and Heather Flick Melanson, the HHS chief of staff, insisted that the memo was to go live that evening. Officials immediately began to scramble to post the notice on the agency's grants website, but they quickly hit some technical snares. Fifteen minutes passed, then 15 more. The two HHS officials began to badger NIH staff, contacting them as often as every five minutes, demanding an explanation for why the memo was still offline. The notice went live just before 5:45 p.m., and finally, the phone calls from HHS stopped. Almost immediately, the academic world erupted in panic and rage. At the same time, the news was blazing through the NIH; staff members felt blindsided by the memo, which appeared to have come from within the agency but which they'd known nothing about. The notice's formatting, tone, and abruptness also led many within the agency to suspect that it had not originated there or been vetted by NIH officials. 'I've never seen anything so sloppy,' the current NIH official, who has written several NIH notices, told me. 'We also don't publish announcements after 5 p.m. on Friday, ever … I checked multiple times to be sure it was real.' The NIH had already been caught in the Trump administration's first salvo of initiatives. On January 27, a memo from the Office of Management and Budget froze the agency's ability to fund grants. (In the following week, multiple federal judges issued orders that should have unpaused the funding halt, but many grants remained in limbo.) And in 2017, during Donald Trump's first term, his administration went after indirect costs, proposing to cap them at 10 percent. That prompted the House and Senate Appropriations Committees to introduce a new provision that blocked the administration from altering those rates; Congress has since included language in its annual spending bills that prevents changes to indirect costs without legislative approval. On February 10 of this year—the Monday after the memo restricting those rates went up—yet another federal judge issued yet another temporary restraining order that again instructed the NIH to thaw its funding freeze. Last week, the NIH told its staff to resume awarding grants, with prior indirect-cost rates intact. But 'the damage is done,' the former NIH official said. Scientists across the nation have had their funding disrupted; many have had to halt studies. And at the NIH—where roughly 1,000 staff members recently received termination notices, amid a mass layoff of federal workers that stretched across HHS—those who remain fear for their job and the future of the agency. The nation's leaders, NIH officials told me, seem entirely unwilling to consult the NIH about its own business. If the administration remains uninterested in maintaining the agency's basic functions, the NIH's purpose—supporting medical research in the United States—will crumble, or at least deteriorate past the point at which it resembles anything that the people who make up the agency can still recognize. Article originally published at The Atlantic
