Trump drops Casey Means, picks Nicole Saphier as surgeon general

Lia DeGroot, CQ-Roll Call on Apr 30, 2026

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WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump dropped Casey Means’ nomination for surgeon general and named radiologist and Fox News contributor Nicole Saphier for the role after Means struggled to clinch the support to advance her nomination.

Saphier is an associate professor at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York City. She is the host of the iHeart Radio podcast, “Wellness Unmasked with Dr. Nicole Saphier” and has served as a Fox News medical contributor since 2018, according to her LinkedIn profile.

She has advocated in the past against administering COVID-19 vaccines to children, citing possible heart complications, and during the pandemic she spoke out against masking of children and school closings. She has authored several books, including “Make America Healthy Again” and “Panic Attack: Playing Politics with Science in the Fight Against COVID-19.”

“Nicole is a STAR physician who has spent her career guiding women facing breast cancer through their diagnosis and treatment while tirelessly advocating to increase early cancer detection and prevention, while at the same time working with men and women on all other forms of cancer diagnoses and treatments,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.

Several senators, including Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Chairman Bill Cassidy, R-La., had questioned Means on her stance on the measles vaccine during her confirmation hearing Feb. 25. Means said that she was supportive of the measles vaccine, but when pressed by Cassidy, she didn’t outright say that vaccines don’t cause autism.

The announcement came minutes after Trump railed against Cassidy on Truth Social for delaying Means’ nomination.

“Nevertheless, despite Senator Cassidy’s intransigence and political games, Casey will continue to fight for MAHA on the many important Health issues facing our Country, such as the rising childhood disease epidemic, increased autism rates, poor nutrition, over-medicalization, and researching the root causes of infertility, and many other difficult medical problems,” Trump said.

Cassidy is facing a precarious primary on May 16. Trump has endorsed Rep. Julia Letlow, R-La., for the nomination, instead of Cassidy, who voted to convict Trump in his impeachment in 2021 following the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol.

Speaking to reporters Thursday afternoon, Cassidy said Means didn’t have the votes to advance, adding that the White House has known that for “a while.” He said multiple people on the committee didn’t back her nomination.

“I’m loyal to the United States of America,” he said in response to Trump questioning his loyalty. In response to whether the president’s endorsement of Letlow would knock him out of his seat, Cassidy said, “I don’t think so.”

Letlow took to X, formerly Twitter, on Thursday afternoon to bash Cassidy for not supporting Means. “President Trump called on me to run against Cassidy because he knows he can count on me to fight for our state and the America First agenda every single time,” she wrote.

Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. criticized Cassidy for “sabotaging” Means’ nomination. In a post on X, he said that the Louisiana senator “did the dirty work for entrenched interests seeking to stall the MAHA movement.”

Saphier is Trump’s third pick for the post. Trump previously withdrew from consideration family physician Janette Nesheiwat after questions arose about her credentials.

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