By Stephanie Kelly

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Robert F. Kennedy Jr, the former independent presidential candidate, is reviewing resumes from candidates for top jobs at U.S. government health agencies in Donald Trump’s new administration, a former aide said Kennedy and a source familiar with the matter. Reuters on Friday.

Kennedy, from the famous political family, was asked to recommend nominees for all health regulatory agencies, including the Department of Health and Human Services and the Food and Drug Administration, said Del Bigtree, who served as communications director for the campaign Kennedy and remains close. the former candidate.

A source familiar with the matter, who declined to be identified, said Kennedy had assumed the role.

“The American people re-elected President Trump by resounding margins because they trust his judgment and support his policies, including his promise to make America healthy again with respected leaders like RFK Jr,” the Trump transition spokesman said – Vance, Caroline Leavitt. statement sent by email.

In August, Kennedy, an environmental advocate who has spread misinformation about vaccines, ended his presidential campaign and endorsed Trump in exchange for a role in the Trump administration focused on public health. Kennedy says he’s not anti-vaccine, but for more rigorous vaccine testing.

While he is looking for people to fill administration posts, Kennedy could take an official position in the Trump administration himself or serve as an adviser, according to Bigtree.

However, Howard Lutnick, the co-chairman of Trump’s transition team, told CNN ahead of Tuesday’s presidential election that Kennedy “isn’t getting the HHS job.”

Bigtree said Trump wants to see Kennedy’s ideas for reducing chronic disease produce results within two years, especially for US children.

Kennedy said last week that he would recommend removing fluoride from public water supplies, falsely claiming on X that the chemical is linked to numerous health problems, including bone fractures and cancer. The American Dental Association says the decades-old intervention reduces tooth decay by more than 25 percent in adults and children.

“President Trump is giving him two years to be successful,” Bigtree said. “President Trump is very interested in the picks that Bobby Kennedy thinks would get the job done.”

Kennedy will recommend scientists and doctors who “have no conflict of interest with the pharmaceutical industry when it comes to the departments that will handle drugs and vaccines,” Bigtree said.

Bigtree, an anti-vaccine activist, is the executive director of MAHA Action, a new organization named after Kennedy’s Make America Healthy Again pledge, which Bigtree said will also nominate Kennedy appointees.

Kennedy is assisted by daughter-in-law Amaryllis Fox Kennedy, his former campaign manager, and investor Omeed Malik, the source familiar with the matter said.

(Reporting by Stephanie Kelly; Editing by Heather Timmons, Cynthia Osterman and William Mallard)