The White House was pushing to reaffirm its support for troubled surgeon general nominee Casey Means on Tuesday after President Donald Trump suggested he could withdraw her nomination.
Trump said this weekend that he would be open to pulling his support for Means, who is the sister of Calley Means, a White House senior adviser, The Hill reported.
“Well, we’re looking at a lot of different things. I don’t know how she’s doing in the nomination process. I’m more focused on Iran,” Trump demurred. “But, you know, something like that would be possible. We certainly have a lot of, we have a lot of great candidates.”
The White House cleared up its stance on supporting Means by Monday with a statement from White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt, which was obtained by The Washington Post."Dr. Casey Means has spent her entire career as an entrepreneur, bestselling author, and researcher bringing attention to America’s chronic disease epidemic and how our healthcare system is failing the American people," Leavitt said.
Means has struggled to maintain support from Republicans, including allies of Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who have shared doubts about her taking the top health role. Democrats have signaled they would not vote to approve her as surgeon general and Republicans have privately said they were not convinced that they would approve her.


