Top HHS spokesperson quits after clashing with RFK Jr.
The top spokesperson at the Health and Human Services Department has abruptly quit after clashing with Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and his close aides over their management of the agency amid a growing measles outbreak, two people familiar with the matter told POLITICO.
Thomas Corry announced on Monday that he had resigned “effective immediately,” just two weeks after joining the department as its assistant secretary for public affairs.
“I want to announce to my friends and colleagues that last Friday I announced my resignation effective immediately,” he wrote in a post to his LinkedIn page. “To my colleagues at HHS, I wish you the best and great success.”
The sudden departure was prompted by growing disagreement with Kennedy and his principal deputy chief of staff, Stefanie Spear, over their management of the health department, said the two people, who were granted anonymity to speak candidly.
Corry had also grown uneasy with Kennedy’s muted response to the intensifying outbreak of measles in Texas, the people said. The outbreak has infected at least 146 people and resulted in the nation’s first death from the disease in a decade.
A longtime vaccine skeptic, Kennedy, during a Cabinet meeting last week, said measles outbreaks are “not unusual.” However, measles was declared eliminated in the U.S. in 2000, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Kennedy has since emphasized that HHS is aiding Texas health officials with their measles response, but declined so far to explicitly call for people to get vaccinated.
In a Fox News op-ed published Sunday, Kennedy wrote that the measles vaccine is protective to children and the broader community, yet only recommended that parents consult with health providers about the shot.
“Parents play a pivotal role in safeguarding their children’s health,” he wrote. “All parents should consult with their healthcare providers to understand their options to get the [measles, mumps, rubella] vaccine. The decision to vaccinate is a personal one.”
An HHS spokesperson declined to comment. Corry did not respond to questions about his departure.
Corry’s resignation represents an early setback for Kennedy, who has been the nation’s top health official for less than a month and is still building out his senior team. In a sign of the abruptness of the departure, Corry was still listed as assistant secretary for public affairs on HHS’ website on Monday morning. That listing was erased following Corry’s LinkedIn post.
A Trump administration veteran, Corry had previously done a stint during President Donald Trump’s first term as senior adviser and communications director at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. After he was sworn in last month, Corry wrote on LinkedIn that he was “thankful that I’ll be part of the team that is going to work to make America healthy again, and on making healthcare more affordable and accessible.”
His departure only two weeks later is likely to feed concerns both inside and outside the administration about Kennedy’s ability to manage the sprawling health department — and his enthusiasm for leading the kinds of public health responses that he had denigrated during his past two decades as a prominent anti-vaccine activist.
Kennedy, a former presidential candidate who was nominated to run HHS after endorsing Trump’s candidacy last year, has no government experience and a minimal health policymaking track record.
Trump officials and even some Kennedy allies have also privately voiced concerns about the influence of Spear, who has long served as Kennedy’s most trusted confidant. They have worried that her close relationship with Kennedy would grant her extraordinary control over the secretary’s priorities and allow her to freeze out other senior aides.
The two people familiar with the matter pointed to that dynamic as a central factor in Corry’s departure.
Corry was “the one adult in the room that I saw unfortunately,” said a third person familiar with the matter, an HHS employee, who was granted anonymity to describe the internal dynamics.
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