You can’t win them all.
As President Donald Trump continues to cut government waste and put America first, he’s also still trying to finalize his administration.
And while Trump has gotten some heavy hitters onto his team, there have been some misses, as well.
His nominee to lead the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is one such miss.
According to multiple reports, the White House has officially withdrawn Dave Weldon from consideration to lead the CDC.
One reason for the withdrawal, per The Hill, was that Weldon’s internal polling wasn’t inspiring much confidence.
“A source familiar with the matter told The Hill it became clear to the White House that Weldon did not have the votes in the full Senate to be confirmed,” The Hill reported.
Fox News heard similar things from its own sources.
“It became clear that the votes weren’t there in the Senate for him to get confirmed,” a source told Fox. “This would have been a futile effort.”
Was withdrawing this nomination a wise move?
Yes: 100% (5 Votes)
No: 0% (0 Votes)
Curiously, there are conflicting reports on when Weldon was notified of his withdrawal.
Fox claimed that Weldon was notified Wednesday evening, while the Wall Street Journal reported that Weldon didn’t learn of this until Thursday.
Axios appeared to have first broken the story.
It’s also worth noting that Weldon — a former Republican representative from Florida — has become a lightning rod of criticism for reasons that go beyond his association with Trump.
As NBC News reported, Weldon has come under fire for holding controversial views on vaccines.
Not unlike Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Weldon could best be described as a vaccine skeptic. NBC noted that “[s]imilar to Kennedy, Weldon has made statements linking vaccines to autism.”
Speaking of Kennedy, he himself may have played a role in Weldon’s consideration being withdrawn.
Axios reported that Kennedy “said Weldon wasn’t ready” for the role.
Weldon has long spoken out about potential dangers with vaccines. One of his key missions during his time in the House was a bill that sought to remove mercury from vaccines.
In a 2007 statement, Weldon wrote: “Federal agencies charged with overseeing vaccine safety research have failed. They have failed to provide sufficient resources for vaccine safety research.
“They have failed to adequately fund extramural research.
“And, they have failed to free themselves from conflicts of interest that serve to undermine public confidence in the safety of vaccines.
“The American public deserves better and increasingly parents and the public at large are demanding better.”
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