Trump's former surgeon general blasts Kennedy for 'tepid' response to CDC shootings

Source: Politico

08/10/2025 03:27 PM EDT


A former U.S. surgeon general on Sunday said Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. “failed” in his response to the shootings that took place on Friday at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention headquarters in Atlanta.

“How you respond to a crisis defines a leader, and quite frankly Secretary Kennedy has failed in his first major test in this regard,” Dr. Jerome Adams told CBS’ Margaret Brennan on “Face the Nation.”

Adams said Kennedy’s response to the deadly shooting was “tepid,” and criticized the secretary for the length of time it took the him to address the deadly act of violence.

“It took him over 18 hours to issue a tepid response to these horrific shootings, and that’s not even considering how his inflammatory rhetoric in the past have actually contributed to a lot of what’s been going on,” said Adams, who served during President Donald Trump’s first term. A spokesperson for HHS did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Read more: https://www.politico.com/news/2025/08/10/surgeon-general-blasts-kennedy-response-cdc-shootings-00502310