Former RFK Jr. adviser accuses Trump officials of corruption
Summary
Calley Means, a former senior adviser to Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., accused White House officials of favoring industry interests in decisions about vaping and other health issues. Deputy chief of staff James Blair disputed Means’s account, while sources told CBS News that Blair was asked to speed up FDA decisions on nicotine products and that President Donald Trump wanted flavored vapes to become more available.Key Facts
- Means helped found the Make America Healthy Again movement and served as Kennedy’s top aide.
- Means said White House advisers put the interests of vaping, food, pharmaceutical, and pesticide industries ahead of voters’ health.
- Means alleged that Susie Wiles and James Blair pushed HHS to find a way to approve fruit-flavored vapes.
- The FDA approved some fruit-flavored e-cigarettes in early May.
- Blair said he was tasked with ensuring the FDA answered nicotine-product applications within six months and denied promoting flavored vaping.
- Two sources familiar with the process said Blair was asked to press then-FDA Commissioner Marty Makary to respond more quickly to nicotine-industry applications.
- Makary said tobacco lobbyists pressured him to approve fruit-flavored vapes, which he said he refused to do.
- Sources confirmed that tobacco lobbyists met Trump at his Florida golf course and pressed him about FDA rules for e-cigarettes.
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