Former CDC nominee Dave Weldon goes scorched earth, blaming two Republicans and 'big Pharma' for failed bid
Source: Former CDC nominee goes scorched earth, blaming two Republicans and ‘big Pharma’ for failed bid
Weldon’s nomination to head the CDC was withdrawn just 12 hours before he was supposed to testify to the Senate health committee
Ariana Baio
in New York
Friday 14 March 2025 14:33 GMT
Dave Weldon, the former congressman who had his nomination to head the Centers for Disease Control yanked away by the White House Wednesday, blamed “Big Pharma” for influencing two Republican senators to vote “no” on his nomination.
Weldon, 71, was slated to appear before the Senate health committee for his confirmation hearing, but 12 hours earlier, was informed he did not have enough votes to make it out of committee. The Trump team told him they were withdrawing his nomination.
Weldon, a physician who has espoused skepticism about the safety of widely used vaccines, blamed Republican Senators Susan Collins of Maine and Bill Cassidy of Louisiana for his failed bid – theorizing both were voting against him to appease “Big Pharma.”
“Many people feel big Pharma actually feared me more than they feared [Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.] because of my credibility and my knowledge of science and medicine,” Weldon said in a four-page letter provided to The Independent.
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Read more: https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/dave-weldon-cdc-failed-bid-big-pharma-b2714768.html
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Alternate link: https://www.yahoo.com/news/former-cdc-nominee-goes-scorched-194337476.html
As another DUer pointed out, if the nominee is too far out there for even RFK Jr, he's likely to face a very tough time before the Senate.