WASHINGTON (AP) — Calley Means, a top adviser to Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and a chief advocate for the Make America Healthy Again movement, resigned from his Trump administration role Thursday just days ahead of the midterm elections.
In a statement, Means said he “leaves with tremendous respect” for President Donald Trump and Kennedy. He did not say why he was leaving.
Means was hired as a White House adviser early in the second Trump
administration. He used his perch at the Department of Health and Human Services to attack the nation’s leading physician groups, federal agencies and government scientists, claiming they only protect their own interests.
His departure comes as leading voices in the MAHA movement have expressed discontent with what they say is the Trump administration’s lack of movement on a variety of issues, including food security and regulating the weed killer glyphosate.
“The past two years have seen historic policy and cultural change to confront the chronic disease crisis and healthcare incentives that profit from us being sick,” Means said. “This movement is in the first inning and just getting started.”
Health activist Kelly Ryerson, a leader of American Regeneration, said she is “impressed that he completed over two years at HHS fighting the food battle, despite all of the obstacles presented by corporate interests.”
“At the heart of MAHA is a shared belief that the nation’s health must not be sacrificed to corporate profit, and that a preventable slide into chronic disease is a threat to America itself,” she said.
Means is the brother of wellness influencer, author and entrepreneur Dr. Casey Means, who failed to be confirmed as surgeon general earlier this year after doubts were raise over her vaccine stance.
