Rumors swirl that top Trump aide is next on chopping block: analysis

President Donald Trump could be considering a replacement for Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., an analyst said Friday.

Salon's White House columnist Brian Karem reported that while White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt has been on leave, the Trump administration has been auditioning different "guest host" Cabinet members in the press room, including Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Dr. Mehmet Oz, the administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.

Oz is now being rumored to be a potential replacement for Kennedy.

"It’s unheard of for Cabinet members or the vice president to take such a lowly job," Karem wrote. "Maybe Dr. Mehmet Oz getting tasked with it is somewhat more appropriate. Of course, rumor has it that Oz became a substitute host because he’s auditioning for the Health and Human Services job currently held by Robert F. Kennedy Jr."

Oz took the podium on June 2 and, as Karem pointed out, walked in like "studio head Jack Woltz in 'The Godfather'" and was "obviously enamored with himself."

"He said he was stunned at how healthy Trump is. 'That amount of energy and that amount of mental acuity does not exist in a vacuum,'" Karem wrote.

Karem described an "inadvertently humorous moment" from that day.

"When asked why the president keeps going back for more medical checkups, Oz said: 'I think he likes the results. He does really well. He aces the test every single day,'" Karem wrote.