Report: Trump’s HHS Riddled With Conflicts of Interest Beyond Known Ethical Problems for RFK Jr., Dr. Oz

Washington D.C. – New reporting from the Wall Street Journal reveals that the U.S. Health and Human Services Department, run by dangerously anti-vaccine, pseudoscience advocate Robert F. Kennedy Jr., harbors far more conflicts of interest that could undermine public health than originally known: “Kennedy has surrounded himself with [Make America Healthy Again] activists and entrepreneurs touting alternative health approaches that stand to benefit from his rhetoric, changes in policy, and being publicly linked with the top public-health official.” 

This includes HHS Chief of Staff Heather Flick Melanson. Government watchdog Accountable.US found that Melanson’s financial disclosure and ethics waiver indicate that Sec. Kennedy allowed her and her spouse to keep holdings in major HHS-involved companies valued at over $1 million while her ethics agreement appears to have omitted other significant interests that could pose additional conflicts with her role in HHS leadership. Melanson’s conflict of interest waiver includes stock in Alphabet, Amazon, and Microsoft held by her spouse – companies that have significant business interests in HHS. For instance, Amazon and Microsoft are the “two primary cloud service providers” for HHS’s Centers For Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS); AWS has hosted tens of millions of Medicaid records; and in 2023, Alphabet’s life sciences company Verily won a $38 million CDC contract to monitor wastewater for diseases.

Accountable.US has previously documented conflicts of interest involving Secretary Kennedy and his family’s potential continuation of lucrative legal fees from a major anti-HPV vaccine lawsuit; and Dr. Mehmet Oz’s record of advocating for “Medicare Advantage for All” while receiving revenue from a private health insurance agency that would profit from additional Medicare Advantage enrollees.

“The cases continue to rise of Trump administration officials – including the Sec. Kennedy, Dr. Oz, and the President himself – carving out exceptions for themselves so they have the option to make money off government policy,” said Accountable.US Executive Director Tony Carrk. “Donald Trump has effectively sanctioned potential self-dealing among his loyalists in the administration. The more they’re focused on taking care of their own interests and that of their wealthy business allies first, the less they’ll be focused on public health.” 

“In the case of HHS official Heather Flick, she will no doubt frequently be in the room when discussions involving HHS partners come up, like Amazon, Microsoft, and Alphabet, whom she’s invested in. Will she always leave the room in those situations? There’s a simpler solution to avoid any such ethical dilemmas: fully divesting from any interests impacted by HHS’s work,” added Carrk.

The Wall Street Journal previously spotlighted lobbying firm Checkmate Government Relations, which recently hired Jackson Hines, the nephew of Secretary Kennedy’s wife Cheryl Hines and RFK’s nephew – yet claims they have no intention of using Hines to lobby his uncle on administration policy.

“So much for ‘draining the swamp’. Would a powerful K St lobbying firm really hire RFK Jr’s nephew to simply take a guess where his uncle’s head is at on specific health policy? Much like we’re expected to believe billionaire Commerce Secretary Lutnick is fully removed from his highly-conflicted investment firm just because his 20-something sons currently sign the checks,” added Carrk. “This culture of laughing off conflicts of interests that could undermine public interest comes from the very top. The President, who refuses to divest from billions of dollars in Trump Media and holds other shady crypto interests that are a magnet for foreign and corrupting influence, has embraced the same old Washington he claimed he was going to fix.”

###