Breaking: RFK Jr. says Matthew Buzzelli, a lawyer with no public health experience, is the Acting CDC Director.
Citing Inside Medicine, Senator Lisa Blunt Rochester highlights harms around the agency's lack of leadership since March 24.
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While testifying before the Senate today, Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. was asked a simple question by Senator Lisa Blunt Rochester (D-Delaware): “Who is the CDC’s Acting Director?”
It wasn’t a rhetorical question. Nobody knew. (Senator Blunt Rochester held up a copy of the April 9th Inside Medicine article in which I first reported the scoop that, apparently, the CDC had no Acting Director.)
That’s because since March 24, the previous Acting Director, Dr. Susan Monarez, has been President Trump’s nominee for the permanent position. This means, by law, Dr. Monarez could no longer serve as Acting Director, as she did from January 23-March 24. Secretary Kennedy confirmed this exact rendering of events in the hearing (2:19:00).
Secretary Kennedy’s answer to the senator’s question was news: Matthew Buzzelli. This is, to my understanding, the first acknowledgment that the CDC has had an Acting Director of any kind since Monarez had to step aside on March 24.
Notably, Mr. Buzzelli is a lawyer with almost no public health or medical background or record to speak of. Until now, Mr. Buzzelli has had the title of Chief of Staff at the CDC. The CDC Leadership website maintains this status quo, as of now at least.
Senator Blunt Rochester asked Secretary Kennedy whether Buzzelli has any medical background or public health expertise. Secretary Kennedy described him as a “public health expert.” However, Mr. Buzzelli’s staff bio on the CDC’s website does not mention any relevant public health or medical experience. Nobody familiar with his work has cited any relevant experience or expertise. In my conversations with CDC employees, Buzzelli does not present himself as a public health expert to them. Rather, he is seen as a conduit from the agency to the White House. That is his role, I’ve been told. Buzzelli is, to my knowledge, the highest ranking Trump appointee currently at the CDC.
During the hearing, Senator Blunt Rochester pressed Secretary Kennedy further, pointing out that the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) recommendations from its April meeting are currently “stuck.” That’s because, as reported in Inside Medicine, the only person who can sign off on the committee’s votes is the Acting or Permanent CDC Director. To be clear, that activity, by law, cannot be delegated to anyone else at the CDC.
As recently as April, the CDC’s website continued to list Dr. Monarez as the Acting Director, despite her nomination to the permanent position on March 24. So, the question was whether Dr. Monarez actually still in charge (and therefore breaking the law)? No, we learned in April. In discussions with CDC officials familiar with internal operations at the CDC, Inside Medicine determined last month that Dr. Monarez had indeed stopped attending key leadership meetings at the CDC immediately after President Trump announced her nomination for the permanent position. (The previous nominee withdrew when it became clear that the votes to confirm him weren’t there.) This meant that, despite the CDC’s website stating otherwise at the time, Dr. Monarez had been adhering to the relevant laws and rules by not serving as Acting Director of the agency during her confirmation process for the permanent Director position.
Where we are now: As of May 14 at 5:36 p.m. E.T., the CDC Leadership website (last updated May 4) lists Mr. Buzzelli as the Chief of Staff, but not the Acting Director. Of note, as of that May 4 website update, Dr. Monarez is no longer listed as the agency’s Acting Director. Therefore, according to the CDC’s website, as of now, the CDC does not have an Acting Director.
Secretary Kennedy said otherwise today.
That said, if Mr. Buzzelli is serving as the Acting Director, he is certainly not taking on all duties. For example, as Senator Blunt Rochester pointed out, the ACIP votes have not been accepted by the CDC Director. Usually, the Director accepts or rejects these votes within hours or days of the roll call.
In summary, Secretary Kennedy told the nation that Matthew Buzzelli is now the Acting Director of the CDC. But the CDC’s own website does not reflect this, and, by public evidence and internal reports, Mr. Buzzelli is not performing key parts of the job.
Here is Senator Blunt Rochester entering the April 9 edition of Inside Medicine into the Senate record:
Thanks to Mallory Harris for alerting me to today’s events. Thank YOU for reading, sharing, speaking out, and supporting Inside Medicine.
Please ask your questions in the comments.
You just can't make this stuff up! Good grief!! Everyday just brings more horror. Thank you so much for your part in keeping us up to date.
Do you plan to do a write up of all his testimony today? I couldn’t bring myself to do it, at risk of stroking out from rage, but feel like I need to know what BS he’s spreading today.