Latest Breaking News

BumRushDaShow

(160,125 posts) Thu Aug 28, 2025, 05:16 AM Aug 28

CDC erupts in chaos after ousted chief Susan Monarez refuses to resign

Source: The Guardian

Wed 27 Aug 2025 22.21 EDT
First published on Wed 27 Aug 2025 18.12 EDT

The US’s top public health agency was plunged into chaos on Wednesday after the Trump administration moved to oust its leader Susan Monarez, sworn in less than a month ago, as her lawyers said she would not resign and that she was being “targeted” for her pro-science stance. Monarez, the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), was ousted on Wednesday evening, according to a statement from Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) that offered no explanation its decision.

“Susan Monarez is no longer director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. We thank her for her dedicated service to the American people,” HHS said in an unsigned statement posted to social media. Her lawyers pushed back in a statement, saying she had “neither resigned nor received notification” from the White House of her termination.

Monarez, who was confirmed by the Senate just last month, appeared to have run afoul of Robert F Kennedy Jr, the US health secretary, after she declined to support sweeping changes to US vaccine policies, according to reporting from the Washington Post and the New York Times.

“First it was independent advisory committees and career experts. Then it was the dismissal of seasoned scientists. Now, Secretary Kennedy and HHS have set their sights on weaponizing public health for political gain and putting millions of American lives at risk,” her lawyers, Mark Zaid and Abbe David Lowell, said in a statement. “When CDC Director Susan Monarez refused to rubber-stamp unscientific, reckless directives and fire dedicated health experts, she chose protecting the public over serving a political agenda. For that, she has been targeted.” The ousting has set off a wave of departures within the agency, with at least three other CDC leaders publicly resigning after the HHS announcement.

Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/aug/27/cdc-director-susan-monarez-ousted

REFERENCE - https://www.democraticunderground.com/10143519701

18 replies

= new reply since forum marked as read

Highlight:

CDC erupts in chaos after ousted chief Susan Monarez refuses to resign (Original Post) BumRushDaShow Aug 28 OP

Read on the Beast that scientists with CDC orangecrush Aug 28 #1

"Thus country is well and truly fucked." OldBaldy1701E Aug 28 #2

Newsom and Pritzker are on the right track orangecrush Aug 28 #3

Well, it is going to take 'the people' to unfuck this country. OldBaldy1701E Aug 28 #5

Hope so orangecrush Aug 28 #9

They can't do it alone....and posting nonstop video drivel isn't helping. we can do it Aug 28 #11

I have to clear Daily Beast cookies after each view of an actual article BumRushDaShow Aug 28 #7

Thank you for thus orangecrush Aug 28 #8

full article no paywall BWdem4life Aug 28 #12

Thanks! orangecrush Aug 28 #16

Sad when staff at a scientific agency have to justify being pro-science. tanyev Aug 28 #4

CDC left leaderless after new director is ousted--by #Trump and key officials follow riversedge Aug 28 #6

Heroin Head strikes again. travelingthrulife Aug 28 #10

MaddowBlog-As chaos grips the CDC and its leadership, senator calls for RFK Jr.'s resignation LetMyPeopleVote Aug 28 #13

The professional leadership is self-deporting. hay rick Aug 28 #14

There's nothing more dangerous than a brain worm on heroin The Blue Flower Aug 28 #15

RFK can't fire her...only Trump can Prairie Gates Aug 28 #17

That's how mob bosses operate BumRushDaShow Aug 28 #18

orangecrush

(26,700 posts)

1. Read on the Beast that scientists with CDC

Reply to BumRushDaShow (Original post)

Thu Aug 28, 2025, 07:56 AM

Aug 28

Had issued a "doomsday warning" about RFK Jr., but couldn't get past the paywall.

Thus country is well and truly fucked.

OldBaldy1701E

(9,043 posts)

2. "Thus country is well and truly fucked."

Reply to orangecrush (Reply #1)

Thu Aug 28, 2025, 08:05 AM

Aug 28

It is as long as we keep sitting on our asses and saying how fucked it is.

The programming worked.

orangecrush

(26,700 posts)

3. Newsom and Pritzker are on the right track

Reply to OldBaldy1701E (Reply #2)

Thu Aug 28, 2025, 08:10 AM

Aug 28

It's going to take all the other blue states to follow their lead to unfuck this country.

And the suffering before that happens is going to be catastrophic.

OldBaldy1701E

(9,043 posts)

5. Well, it is going to take 'the people' to unfuck this country.

Reply to orangecrush (Reply #3)

Thu Aug 28, 2025, 08:48 AM

Aug 28

There doesn't have to be the level of suffering that you mention. We can stop this.

Will we?

orangecrush

(26,700 posts)

9. Hope so

Reply to OldBaldy1701E (Reply #5)

Thu Aug 28, 2025, 10:21 AM

Aug 28

Right there with you.

we can do it

(12,941 posts)

11. They can't do it alone....and posting nonstop video drivel isn't helping.

Reply to orangecrush (Reply #3)

Thu Aug 28, 2025, 10:42 AM

Aug 28

BumRushDaShow

(160,125 posts)

7. I have to clear Daily Beast cookies after each view of an actual article

Reply to orangecrush (Reply #1)

Thu Aug 28, 2025, 09:15 AM

Aug 28

I think they give you one "freebie" and then throw up the paywall. Some browsers offer what they dub a "Reader view" (Firefox does this) that seems to strip the CSS stuff off the text of the article and will let you view the content.

The article that you were talking about has this -

CDC Bosses Quit With Doomsday Warning About ‘Deadly’ RFK Jr.

Cameron Adams
Reporter

Updated Aug. 28 2025 8:23AM EDT
Published Aug. 28 2025 12:40AM EDT

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention saw a spree of surprise resignations on Wednesday night after a battle between Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and the agency’s new director. The outgoing senior health officials issued a stark warning that Kennedy’s politicization of public health policy “will result in death and disability of vulnerable children and adults.” The dramatic day of resignations followed a bombshell report by the Daily Beast, in which a close adviser to Kennedy claimed that the administration plans to pull the COVID vaccine from shelves in a matter of months.

(snip)

Earlier, her lawyers said Monarez “has neither resigned nor received notification from the White House that she has been fired, and as a person of integrity and devoted to science, she will not resign.” The White House later confirmed that she had been removed from her role. “Since Susan Monarez refused to resign despite informing HHS leadership of her intent to do so, the White House has terminated Monarez from her position with the C.D.C.,” Kush Desai, a spokesman for Trump, told The New York Times.

In another twist, Monarez’s legal team, Mark S. Zaid and Abbe Lowell, told the Daily Beast on Wednesday night that only the president can fire Monarez, and she believes she remains in the role, despite the White House’s insistence. “Our client was notified tonight by a White House staffer in the personnel office that she was fired,” the statement read. “As a presidential appointee, senate confirmed officer, only the president himself can fire her. For this reason, we reject the notification Dr. Monarez has received as legally deficient and she remains as CDC Director. We have notified the White House Counsel of our position.”

(snip)

The inner turmoil has rocked the agency, with at least four top CDC leaders announcing their resignation shortly after Monarez’s apparent ouster. They include D.C.’s chief medical officer, Dr. Debra Houry; the director of the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, Dr. Demetre Daskalakis; the director of the National Center for Emerging and Zoonotic Infectious Diseases, Dr. Daniel Jernigan; and the director of the Office of Public Health Data, Surveillance and Technology, Dr. Jen Layden, according to The New York Times. They joined Monarez in criticizing their former boss.

(snip)

It's a long article but it really shows that discord and chaos going on within CDC, and the highlighted section above illustrates the technicalities of the illegal "firings" that 45 has "ordered" (or allowed), via using anyone else BUT... *drumroll* 45 himself to do them!

orangecrush

(26,700 posts)

8. Thank you for thus

Reply to BumRushDaShow (Reply #7)

Thu Aug 28, 2025, 10:20 AM

Aug 28

BWdem4life

(2,731 posts)

12. full article no paywall

Reply to orangecrush (Reply #1)

Thu Aug 28, 2025, 11:30 AM

Aug 28

https://archive.ph/6eNlP

orangecrush

(26,700 posts)

16. Thanks!

Reply to BWdem4life (Reply #12)

Thu Aug 28, 2025, 03:43 PM

Aug 28

tanyev

(47,771 posts)

4. Sad when staff at a scientific agency have to justify being pro-science.

Reply to BumRushDaShow (Original post)

Thu Aug 28, 2025, 08:21 AM

Aug 28

😒

riversedge

(77,764 posts)

6. CDC left leaderless after new director is ousted--by #Trump and key officials follow

Reply to BumRushDaShow (Original post)

Thu Aug 28, 2025, 09:04 AM

Aug 28

Link to tweet

travelingthrulife

(3,243 posts)

10. Heroin Head strikes again.

Reply to BumRushDaShow (Original post)

Thu Aug 28, 2025, 10:35 AM

Aug 28

LetMyPeopleVote

(169,760 posts)

13. MaddowBlog-As chaos grips the CDC and its leadership, senator calls for RFK Jr.'s resignation

Reply to BumRushDaShow (Original post)

Thu Aug 28, 2025, 11:47 AM

Aug 28

As one former public health official summarized, “The weakening of the CDC leaves us less safe and more vulnerable as a country.”

As chaos grips the CDC, its director is fired after less than a month, and our public-health infrastructure unravels, @murray.senate.gov had a compelling pitch:

â€œWe cannot let RFK Jr. burn whatâ€™s left of the CDC and our other critical health agencies to the ground." www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddo...
— Steve Benen (@stevebenen.com) 2025-08-28T13:03:38.619Z

https://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/maddowblog/cdc-susan-monarez-rfk-jr-resignation-rcna227699

Then, later Wednesday evening, NBC News reported:

The White House fired back shortly afterward, formally terminating Monarez. ‘As her attorney’s statement makes abundantly clear, Susan Monarez is not aligned with the President’s agenda of Making America Healthy Again. Since Susan Monarez refused to resign despite informing HHS leadership of her intent to do so, the White House has terminated Monarez from her position with the CDC,’ White House spokesman Kush Desai said.

The statement in question from Monarez’s attorneys noted that she’d been “targeted” after she “refused to rubber-stamp unscientific, reckless directives and fire dedicated health experts ... protecting the public over serving a political agenda.”.....

The developments, however, were just the beginning, not the end, of a dramatic shake-up at an agency that used to be celebrated as the global leader in its field. In fact, as NBC News’ report added, Monarez’s ouster “sparked a near-immediate leadership exodus from the CDC.” The resignations that followed Monarez’s firing included:

Dr. Debra Houry, the CDC’s chief medical officer
Dr. Demetre Daskalakis, director of the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases
Dr. Daniel Jernigan, the director of the National Center for Emerging and Zoonotic Infectious Diseases
Dr. Jen Layden, director of the Office of Public Health Data, Surveillance and Technology

Daskalakis, in particular, released an unrestrained resignation letter, which read in part, “I have never experienced such radical non-transparency, nor have I seen such unskilled manipulation of data to achieve a political end rather than the good of the American people.”.....

Democratic Sen. Patty Murray of Washington, meanwhile, directed her attention toward the one official who appears to be chiefly responsible for the crisis in the public health community: HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

“Director Monarez is not the problem, RFK Jr. is,” Murray said. “If there are any adults left in the White House, it’s well past time they face reality and fire RFK Jr. He is a dangerous man who is determined to abuse his authority to act on truly terrifying conspiracy theories and disinformation — leaving us unprepared for the next deadly pandemic and snuffing out potential cures while he’s at it.”

The senator concluded, “We cannot let RFK Jr. burn what’s left of the CDC and our other critical health agencies to the ground — he must be fired. I hope my Republican colleagues who have come to regret their vote to confirm RFK Jr. will join me in calling for his immediate termination from office.”

hay rick

(9,043 posts)

14. The professional leadership is self-deporting.

Reply to LetMyPeopleVote (Reply #13)

Thu Aug 28, 2025, 12:34 PM

Aug 28

The chainsaw massacre continues.

The Blue Flower

(6,164 posts)

15. There's nothing more dangerous than a brain worm on heroin

Reply to BumRushDaShow (Original post)

Thu Aug 28, 2025, 02:35 PM

Aug 28

No surprise that the result is chaos and death.

Prairie Gates

(6,269 posts)

17. RFK can't fire her...only Trump can

Reply to BumRushDaShow (Original post)

Thu Aug 28, 2025, 03:56 PM

Aug 28

Why doesn't Trump want to fire her? Confirmed by the Senate and sworn in less than a month ago. A MONTH AGO! A month! There's never been a more incompetent administration in modern history. Off the charts bizarre and insane.

MAGAs: if she was so bad, why did Trump nominate her and why was she confirmed by the Senate less than 30 days ago? What are you fucking idiots doing?

BumRushDaShow

(160,125 posts)

18. That's how mob bosses operate

Reply to Prairie Gates (Reply #17)

Thu Aug 28, 2025, 04:12 PM

Aug 28

They have designated "hit men" and "bag men" to do the actual deeds so the boss can have "plausible deniability". You have heard 45 say stuff like "I don't know anything about that" and other nonsense that he "okayed".

Reply to this discussion