HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is planning to tap Rich Danker as the department’s new top spokesman, three people familiar with the decision told POLITICO.
The selection comes two months after Kennedy’s first assistant secretary for public affairs, Tom Corry, abruptly quit just days into his tenure over disagreements with Kennedy’s senior team and Kennedy’s handling of the measles outbreak.
Danker is a former first-term Trump official who served in senior adviser roles at the Treasury Department and Commodity Futures Trading Commission. He was most recently a senior vice president at Virginia-based Chain Bridge Bank.
The appointment is not final, said the people familiar with the matter, who were granted anonymity to discuss internal decision making. An HHS spokesperson declined to comment.
The addition comes at a crucial moment for Kennedy, who has faced criticism over his public messaging on the measles spread and the firings of thousands of employees across HHS and its subagencies. The disjointed communications operation has worried even some allies and prompted scrutiny on Capitol Hill.
Kennedy is set to testify in front of the Senate HELP Committee next week for the first time since his confirmation, where he’s expected to address a budget proposal that calls for deep funding cuts and the consolidation or elimination of several health offices.
Democrats and some Republican senators on the panel, including Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, have warned the cuts could hurt key services and questioned the strategy behind the reductions.