RFK Jr. Fires Top Aides, Appoints New Acting Chief of Staff

The health secretary has already replaced one of the ousted advisers.

Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. in Washington in a file photograph. Madalina Vasiliu/The Epoch Times

Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has fired several top advisers, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) confirmed on July 16.

“Secretary Kennedy has made a leadership change within the Immediate Office of the Secretary,” a spokesperson told The Epoch Times in an email.

The fired aides are Heather Flick Melanson, who was the HHS chief of staff, and Hannah Anderson, who had been the department’s deputy chief of staff for policy, according to Dr. Robert Malone, a close ally of Kennedy whom the health secretary recently appointed to a federal advisory committee.

Melanson told The Epoch Times in an email that she was not fired, but resigned.

“I was MAGA’s only hope at HHS,” she wrote, referring to President Donald Trump’s Make America Great Again movement.

Anderson could not be reached for comment.

Melanson has worked in two different presidential administrations, according to her profile on the Republican National Lawyers Association website.

Anderson was, until January, a director at the America First Policy Institute, a nonprofit that has been supportive of many of President Donald Trump’s policies, according to her LinkedIn page. She had also been an adviser to the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions, which is chaired by Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.).

Melanson, who is still listed in the HHS employee directory, was removed on July 16 as being listed as the HHS chief of staff on the main HHS website. Matt Buckham is now listed as the acting chief of staff.

Buckham, who is also Kennedy’s White House liaison and oversees recruiting and onboarding of political appointees across HHS, “brings valuable experience in personnel strategy and organizational management to this new role,” according to the HHS spokesperson.

The spokesperson said, “Secretary Kennedy thanks the outgoing leadership for their service and looks forward to working closely with Mr. Buckham as the Department continues advancing its mission to Make America Healthy Again.”

Contact information for Buckham could not be found.

Departures from HHS have been rare in Trump’s second term, although Thomas Corry, Kennedy’s top spokesperson, resigned in March after a short stint with the department that started before Kennedy was confirmed.

“I want to announce to my friends and colleagues that last Friday I announced my resignation effective immediately,” Corry said in a brief LinkedIn post at the time. “To my colleagues at HHS, I wish you the best and great success.”

Corry did not outline why he left HHS but thanked a commenter who said he was proud of Corry “for standing up for your convictions.”

Kennedy has also brought on a number of personnel with whom he shares connections, including Lyn Redwood, a nurse who was previously president of Children’s Health Defense, a nonprofit that Kennedy once chaired and that speaks out regularly against current government vaccine recommendations, and Stefanie Spear, who was press secretary for Kennedy’s presidential campaign.