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BumRushDaShow

(148,653 posts) Thu Mar 13, 2025, 09:05 AM 8 hrs ago

Scoop: White House to pull CDC director nomination

Source: Axios

21 mins ago

The White House is withdrawing the nomination of Dave Weldon to be the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), per a source close to Senate health committee and another source familiar.

Why it matters: The former Florida congressman was scheduled to appear before the committee this morning for his confirmation hearing. But his anti-vaccine views have garnered attention since he was nominated months ago and were sure to play a prominent role in questioning.

HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy himself said Weldon wasn't ready, per one of the sources.

Background: Weldon is an internal medicine doctor who served in the House of Representatives from 1995 through 2009. While in Congress, he was one of the sponsors of a bill that would have banned mercury from vaccines.

In a 2007 statement on a different bill he sponsored, Weldon wrote that "legitimate questions persist regarding the possible association between the mercury-based preservative, thimerosal, and the childhood epidemic of neurodevelopmental disorders (NDDs), including autism."

16 replies

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Highlight:

Scoop: White House to pull CDC director nomination (Original Post) BumRushDaShow 8 hrs ago OP

He seems perfectly qualified for a Trump administration. tanyev 8 hrs ago #1

He sure does Especially with his anti-vax conspiracy garbage that he pushed in the past. JohnSJ 8 hrs ago #2

When RFK Jr. rejects him BumRushDaShow 8 hrs ago #3

He probably wasn't willing to do the required whale-head-oil colon cleanse. Scrivener7 7 hrs ago #4

or BumRushDaShow 7 hrs ago #6

. Scrivener7 3 hrs ago #12

Maybe if they shared an ear worm together mdbl 7 hrs ago #5

Make leaches BumRushDaShow 7 hrs ago #7

LOL mdbl 7 hrs ago #8

. Scrivener7 3 hrs ago #13

He must not be repenting his sins on the Fox News squawk box enough. Initech 2 hrs ago #16

Big Pharma and the Medical Insurance Industry said NO! As we well know Krasnov and his minions do whatever Ford_Prefect 6 hrs ago #9

"Robert F. Kennedy himself said Weldon wasn't ready, per one of the sources."--Must take DECADES to get ready, Weldon is riversedge 6 hrs ago #10

While in Congress, Weldon was a founder of the Congressional Autism caucus. He has long promoted the debunked claim that riversedge 6 hrs ago #11

Facing bipartisan opposition, White House abandons outlandish CDC nominee LetMyPeopleVote 3 hrs ago #14

And both rejects from FL BumRushDaShow 2 hrs ago #15

tanyev

(45,655 posts)

1. He seems perfectly qualified for a Trump administration.

Reply to BumRushDaShow (Original post)

Thu Mar 13, 2025, 09:14 AM

8 hrs ago

I guess they want to find someone even worse?

JohnSJ

(97,986 posts)

2. He sure does Especially with his anti-vax conspiracy garbage that he pushed in the past.

Reply to tanyev (Reply #1)

Thu Mar 13, 2025, 09:17 AM

8 hrs ago

BumRushDaShow

(148,653 posts)

3. When RFK Jr. rejects him

Reply to tanyev (Reply #1)

Thu Mar 13, 2025, 09:20 AM

8 hrs ago

there must be some bizarre synergy not happening there!

Scrivener7

(54,515 posts)

4. He probably wasn't willing to do the required whale-head-oil colon cleanse.

Reply to BumRushDaShow (Reply #3)

Thu Mar 13, 2025, 09:29 AM

7 hrs ago

BumRushDaShow

(148,653 posts)

6. or

Reply to Scrivener7 (Reply #4)

Thu Mar 13, 2025, 09:44 AM

7 hrs ago

the dead bear stationary bike workout.

Scrivener7

(54,515 posts)

12. .

Reply to BumRushDaShow (Reply #6)

Thu Mar 13, 2025, 01:37 PM

3 hrs ago

mdbl

(5,906 posts)

5. Maybe if they shared an ear worm together

Reply to BumRushDaShow (Reply #3)

Thu Mar 13, 2025, 09:35 AM

7 hrs ago

What a bunch of morons.

BumRushDaShow

(148,653 posts)

7. Make leaches

Reply to mdbl (Reply #5)

Thu Mar 13, 2025, 09:45 AM

7 hrs ago

great again!!11!11!!!!!

mdbl

(5,906 posts)

8. LOL

Reply to BumRushDaShow (Reply #7)

Thu Mar 13, 2025, 09:46 AM

7 hrs ago

Scrivener7

(54,515 posts)

13. .

Reply to BumRushDaShow (Reply #7)

Thu Mar 13, 2025, 01:38 PM

3 hrs ago

Initech

(104,073 posts)

16. He must not be repenting his sins on the Fox News squawk box enough.

Reply to tanyev (Reply #1)

Thu Mar 13, 2025, 02:53 PM

2 hrs ago

Ford_Prefect

(8,284 posts)

9. Big Pharma and the Medical Insurance Industry said NO! As we well know Krasnov and his minions do whatever

Reply to BumRushDaShow (Original post)

Thu Mar 13, 2025, 10:22 AM

6 hrs ago

the BIG Money says.

riversedge

(74,463 posts)

10. "Robert F. Kennedy himself said Weldon wasn't ready, per one of the sources."--Must take DECADES to get ready, Weldon is

Reply to BumRushDaShow (Original post)

Thu Mar 13, 2025, 10:44 AM

6 hrs ago

71 years old!!

I would love to see a younger, science believer in this CDC role!!

riversedge

(74,463 posts)

11. While in Congress, Weldon was a founder of the Congressional Autism caucus. He has long promoted the debunked claim that

Reply to BumRushDaShow (Original post)

Thu Mar 13, 2025, 11:09 AM

6 hrs ago

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/mar/13/dave-weldon-cdc-nomination-withdrawn

...............Earlier this week, Patty Murray, a Democratic senator from Washington state, told Bloomberg that at a meeting to discuss the nomination last month, she was “deeply disturbed to hear Dr Weldon repeat debunked claims about vaccines – it’s dangerous to put someone in charge at CDC who believes the lie that our rigorously tested childhood vaccine schedule is somehow exposing kids to toxic levels of mercury or causing autism”.

While in Congress, Weldon was a founder of the Congressional Autism caucus. He has long promoted the debunked claim that vaccines can cause autism, including in Vaxxed, a controversial but influential documentary from 2016.

Weldon introduced two bills related to vaccines: one seeking to limit use in vaccines of the preservative thimerosal, widely deemed to be safe, the other seeking to transfer work on vaccine safety away from the CDC.

Murray added: “At the same time this administration is elevating prominent vaccine skeptics like [Kennedy] and Dr Weldon to key positions, it is also mass-firing thousands of qualified public health experts and freezing communications across health agencies – and make no mistake, there will be serious consequences to decimating our public health infrastructure.”

When Weldon was nominated, Dorit Reiss, a professor of law at UC Law San Francisco, told the Guardian Weldon was “definitely someone who’s very sympathetic to the anti-vaccine cause”, and said nominations of anti-vaccine campaigners “increase their legitimacy. It gives them a microphone … to express their views and promote this information.

“It sends a message that the Trump administration is willing to work with the anti-vaccine movement. And I think it also sends a message that science-based decisions are not the priority.”
..............................................

LetMyPeopleVote

(159,684 posts)

14. Facing bipartisan opposition, White House abandons outlandish CDC nominee

Reply to BumRushDaShow (Original post)

Thu Mar 13, 2025, 02:00 PM

3 hrs ago

If Matt Gaetz was Donald Trump’s first personnel fiasco, Dave Weldon is definitely his second.
https://bsky.app/profile/stevebenen.com/post/3lkbhabdnks2u

Asked about the demise of his misguided CDC nomination, Dave Weldon said, "It is a shock, but, you know, in some ways, it's relief."

Oddly enough, I had roughly the same reaction.

Link to tweet

https://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/maddowblog/facing-bipartisan-opposition-white-house-abandons-outlandish-cdc-nomin-rcna196236

The list has now grown from one to two, as a different controversial former Republican congressman from Florida exits the stage. NBC News reported:

The White House has withdrawn the nomination of former Rep. Dave Weldon, R-Fla., whom President Donald Trump had chosen to serve as director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, a senior administration official said. The development came just before Weldon was set to testify at his Senate confirmation hearing at 10 a.m. ET before the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee.

.....As we discussed late last year, Trump chose a variety of controversial figures for key public health positions, but Weldon was one of the toughest to defend. As far as the president was concerned, the CDC should be led by a longtime opponent of vaccines, who refused to abandon false theories, even in the face of overwhelming evidence.....

Why some Senate Republicans were comfortable with Robert F. Kennedy Jr. — an anti-vaccine conspiracy theorist with his own ridiculous beliefs about science, medicine, and public health, who is now health and human services secretary — but not Weldon is unclear.

Asked for his reaction to the developments, Weldon told The New York Times, “It is a shock, but, you know, in some ways, it’s relief.”

Oddly enough, I had roughly the same reaction to the demise of his nomination.

BumRushDaShow

(148,653 posts)

15. And both rejects from FL

Reply to LetMyPeopleVote (Reply #14)

Thu Mar 13, 2025, 02:29 PM

2 hrs ago

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