RFK Jr. Ally Leaves After Frustrations Over Policy Delays

BY LIZ ESSLEY WHYTE

A top ally of Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is departing the Trump administration after frustrations with White House delays on Kennedy’s food agenda.

Calley Means, a senior adviser to Kennedy who also worked in the White House to further “Make America Healthy Again” policies, quit his role on Thursday, he told The Wall Street Journal.

“I leave with tremendous respect for President Trump and Robert F. Kennedy Jr.,” he said. “This movement is in the first inning and just getting started.” Means said he would continue working to further Kennedy’s MAHA agenda.

Means was greatly frustrated by White House delays of some of Kennedy’s most popular policy ideas and blamed others in the administration for allowing food companies and special interests to have too much sway, people familiar with the matter said. One of them described Means as “disillusioned.”

Means declined to comment on the reasons for his departure.

Means’ exit comes after administration officials deferred announcements of two of Kennedy’s food priorities: a definition of ultraprocessed foods aimed at eventually labeling them as such, as well as a regulation mandating less added sugar and more protein in school meals.

In recent months, Means clashed with other White House officials, sometimes raising his voice and growing visibly frustrated, the Journal previously reported. Some found him difficult to work with and unwilling to make practical concessions to ensure policies were feasible, the Journal previously reported.

“We are grateful for Calley Means’ time in the Trump administration,” said White House spokeswoman Allison Schuster. “He has done a fantastic job for the MAHA movement.”

His resignation comes at a critical time for Republicans, as some in the party seek to appeal to MAHA voters ahead of the midterm elections. Some Kennedy fans have in recent months publicly voiced their disapproval of Trump’s support for pesticides, slow progress on food policy and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s continued recommendation of Covid vaccines.

Means was a key player in driving a number of MAHA policies, including the revised dietary guidelines and inverted food pyramid, the Food and Drug Administration’s push for more transparency on food ingredients, the White House’s executive order boosting psychedelics and a voluntary phaseout of a number of petroleum- based food dyes. Though food policy was his focus, he defended Kennedy’s vaccine moves and accused the health secretary’s critics of being too focused on measles rather than widespread chronic disease.

A high-profile figure in the MAHA movement, Means cowrote a book, Good Energy, that was passed around in the 2024 Trump campaign as a guide to healthy eating and problems with America’s food system. Means later helped broker Kennedy’s initial call with Trump that led to the two men joining forces. He initially aided Kennedy’s efforts at the Department of Health and Human Services as a special government employee before leaving his role at the company he cofounded, TrueMed, a payment platform that enables customers to use Health Savings Accounts and other pretax dollars to purchase wellness products.

His sister and co-author, Dr. Casey Means, was tapped by Trump to be surgeon general in May of last year, but concerns from senators over her vaccine positions helped sink her nomination to the job.

Calley Means

KENT NISHIMURA/ BLOOMBERG NEWS