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Brief May 8, 2026 · 7:11 pm ET Source: Washington Post Politics

White House Moves to Oust FDA Chief It Installed Six Months Ago

The White House is preparing to replace FDA Commissioner Marty Makary, according to the Washington Post, as the agency faces mounting internal turmoil under the broader restructuring driven by Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s Health and Human Services portfolio.

The play here is transparent: Makary was a Kennedy-adjacent pick meant to legitimize RFK Jr.'s vaccine skepticism inside a credentialed institution. If he's being pushed out now, it means he either wasn't compliant enough or became a liability when the political cost of FDA dysfunction started showing up somewhere that mattered — drug approvals, Wall Street, Republican senators with pharma money.

Watch who replaces him. A more ideologically committed successor signals the administration is doubling down on dismantling FDA's independent scientific posture. A technocrat signals retreat. The nominee is the tell.

Source: Washington Post Politics · link FDAExecutiveRFKJr