Latest news with #healthmovement
The Independent
13-05-2025
- Health
- The Independent
MAHA at war: RFK Jr's inner circle accusing each other of leaking false info in expletive-ridden phone call
Key players within the Make America Healthy Again movement are locked in a bitter public fight after one of Robert F Kennedy Jr 's top advisers clashed with a supplement CEO in an expletive-ridden phone call. Calley Means, a special government employee for the Health and Human Services, accused The Wellness Company of leaking 'provably untrue information' about his company, Truemed, to MAGA hardliner Laura Loomer. The in-fighting comes as the MAHA movement has seen its influence grow considerably since President Donald Trump entered office, installing vaccine-skeptic Kennedy at the helm of the department. Means called the company's CEO, Pete Gillooly, in a rage Saturday and threatened to involve Kennedy and National Institutes of Health Director Jay Bhattacharya, Politico first reported. Last week, Loomer accused Means of committing tax fraud through his company, Truemed, which provides customers with letters from doctors that enable them to use pre-tax dollars to purchase health and wellness products via their insurance. Means vehemently denies the allegation. Means pointed the finger at The Wellness Company as the source of the allegation, which the company denies. 'I am going to sue the s*** out of you and escalate this if it continues,' Means said, according to a transcript of the call seen by The Independent. 'Now, if you want to get this into a thing, okay, where it blows up and I talk to Jay Bhattacharya, I talked to Bobby, I f***ing go crazy with all your of whom are friends with me, okay?' 'If one more thing happens, I'm going to go to Jay Bhattacharya and Bobby and tell him that you and your cadre of Peter McCullough and Kelly Victory are spreading lies and trying to f*** with him and hurt his administration,' Means added, referring to two members of The Wellness Company's medical board. The Wellness Company, a supplement vendor whose medical board is made up of vaccine critics, has filed an official ethics complaint about Means's conduct to the Office of the Special Counsel and other agencies. The complaint accuses Means of 'misusing his position as a Special Government Employee to negotiate and level threats in the name of direct financial gain in his business Truemed.' Loomer has been posting allegations on X about Calley and his 'wellness influencer' sister Casey Means, who was tapped last week to serve as Trump's surgeon general. Means accused The Wellness Company's founder, Foster Coulson, of leaking the false information to Loomer, which he denied to Politico. 'I have never spoken to Laura Loomer in my entire life,' Coulson told the outlet. Loomer also denied the allegation and said, 'I look up stuff on my own.' The right-wing conspiracy theorist taunted Means ahead of the publication of Politico 's report Monday and posted on X that a 'massive' and 'devastating' story involving him was about to drop. 'No Laura - filing a fake complaint and leaking it to Politico is not 'devastating,'' Means responded on X. 'I received info that The Wellness Company engaged in an effort to compile and share provably untrue information. I called the CEO to inform him and request he stop before legal action.' Means called the complaint 'ridiculous' and accused Loomer of 'throwing the absolute kitchen sink of stuff that is just lies.' 'It was completely appropriate to call the Wellness Company CEO and request he stop spreading lies,' Means added. A cease and desist letter was sent by a lawyer for Truemed to Gillooly and Coulson on Monday, according to Politico. 'In order to protect the integrity of our investigative process, HHS is unable to confirm any specific investigations or inquiries that may be taking place within the office,' a Health and Human Services spokesperson told The Independent. 'The Office of Civil Rights thoroughly reviews each complaint and determines if it has the legal authority to review and investigate the complaint,' the spokesperson added.
Daily Mail
13-05-2025
- Health
- Daily Mail
MAHA civil war erupts as wellness CEO makes bombshell accusation against top RFK Jr. adviser
A civil war is threatening to tear apart the 'Make America Healthy Again' movement as a top RFK Jr advisor and the CEO of a supplement company beloved by conservatives have levelled bombshell allegations against each other. The rift was opened in recent weeks as Peter Gillooly, the CEO of The Wellness Company, and Calley Means, a 'special advisor' to HHS chief Kennedy, accused each other of wrongdoing. Gillooly launched an official complaint on Saturday accusing Means of abusing his position in RFK Jr's inner circle to threaten him with retribution directly from Kennedy and National Institutes of Health Director Jay Bhattacharya. According to the complaint, obtained by Politico, Means called Gillooly on Saturday morning accusing him of leaking information to far-right activist Laura Loomer, telling him: 'If one more thing happens, I'm going to go to Jay Bhattacharya and Bobby.' He threatened to 'tell him that you and your cadre... are spreading lies and trying to f*** with him and hurt his administration', according to a transcript in the reported complaint. The crux of the fallout appears to be an X post from Loomer on Friday accusing Means' company TrueMed with tax fraud. The company provides patients with doctor's letters that allow them to purchase health products through their insurance, which Loomer alleged are auto-generated without any proper medical reviews. Gillooly denied ever contacting Loomer, but now says that Means' threat to bring Kennedy and Bhattacharya into the fight is an abuse of his position and violates federal law on conflicts of interest. The allegations against Means come as he has faced backlash from figures such as Loomer of being anti-Trump, despite his position as a close advisor to RFK Jr. His sister Casey Means was also recently nominated to be the next Surgeon General by Trump, a move that sparked controversy as she has often made claims about holistic health benefits on shows such as The Joe Rogan Experience and the Tucker Carlson Show. As a special advisor to Kennedy in the HHS, Calley Means has been allowed to maintain his business ties to the healthcare industry by serving in a temporary capacity. The potential conflicts of interest between his government role and business came under the spotlight following Loomer's post, which alleged that TrueMed has given patients doctor's notes that are 'not actually reviewed by a doctor.' Loomer claimed that sources told her TrueMed's letters are 'allegedly auto-generated instantaneously and auto-signed', which she said would be tantamount to tax fraud. 'This could create a massive scandal for the Trump admin. We don't want the Trump admin being accused of having advisors involved in any tax scandals,' Loomer added. Gillooly denied ever having had contact with Loomer, and the firebrand activist told Politico that she was never sent any information about Means, adding that she 'looks stuff up on my own.' In his call to Gillooly that was cited in the complaint, Means threatened to 'sue the s*** out of you' and 'escalate this if it continues.' The complaint was filed Saturday to the Office of Special Counsel, HHS Office of Civil Rights, HHS Office of Inspector General and the Federal Trade Commission. In a statement to Politico following the complaint's filing, Means clarified that he berated Gillooly and the Wellness Company on the call because he received information the company 'was actively spreading provably false information about TrueMed.' 'I called the CEO of the Wellness Company and threatened legal action if he continued to spread this provably false information. I noted I would prefer they stop spreading provably untrue information before I was forced to take legal action,' he said. Means' hostile response to Gillooly threatens to cause a major rift in the MAHA movement, with the RFK Jr insider now squaring off with The Wellness Company - whose leading figures are often praised in conservative media spaces. On Monday, TrueMed reportedly sent a cease and desist letter to Gillooly and The Wellness Company accusing them of leaking false information to Loomer with the intention of embarrassing their rival. The Wellness Company's founder Foster Coulson also denied the claims, saying he has 'never spoken to Laura Loomer in my life.' He doubled down on Gillooly's claims in his response, saying: 'Using the government to essentially weaponize them against a private company is extremely concerning and is a tremendous threat.' Gillooly said in his lawsuit that Means 'clearly states that if I do not accept his accusation and comply — which I am not guilty of in the first place — he will sue myself and my business.' 'Additionally, Means threatens to blackmail my private corporation with HHS executive leadership if we do not comply with his demands, and extort my business into transacting with Truemed.' 'I think there needs to be a thorough investigation because this sort of behavior has no place in the federal government,' Gillooly concluded to Politico.
Washington Post
13-05-2025
- Health
- Washington Post
The MAHA movement's fatal flaw
At the core of the 'Make America Healthy Again' movement is a fatal contradiction. On the surface, it purports to favor the prevention of diseases over the treatment of them. Some of its approaches seem to be common sense: Who could argue against cutting ultra-processed food and removing harmful pesticides?
Wall Street Journal
07-05-2025
- Health
- Wall Street Journal
Trump Taps a ‘MAHA' Movement Leader for Surgeon General
Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. in the Oval Office with President Trump earlier this week. Photo: Jim Lo Scalzo/Bloomberg News WASHINGTON—President Trump said he would nominate Dr. Casey Means , a California doctor and wellness influencer, to be the next surgeon general. Means has become more prominent with the rise of Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s 'Make America Healthy Again' movement. She and her brother, Kennedy adviser Calley Means, wrote a book, 'Good Energy,' that became popular with Trump campaign staffers and later with Kennedy.
