On March 29, a journalist on board Air Force One asked President Donald Trump if he'd consider withdrawing his nomination of Dr. Casey Means for the position of Surgeon General and nominating someone else.
Trump replied:
Well, we're looking at a lot of different things. I don't know how she's doing in the nomination process, I'm more focused on Iran. But, you know, something like that would be possible. We have a lot of great candidates for that.
WATCH:
Is President Trump considering withdrawing Casey Mean's nomination for surgeon general?
— Elizabeth Troutman Mitchell (@TheElizMitchell) March 30, 2026
"Something like that would be possible," he told @DailySignal.
"We certainly have a lot of great candidates for the job." pic.twitter.com/dg47SewSMf
On Thursday, exactly one month after that interaction, Trump announced on Truth Social that Dr. Nicole Saphier would be his next Surgeon General nominee.
I am pleased to announce that I am nominating Dr. Nicole B. Saphier to be the next SURGEON GENERAL OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. Nicole is a STAR physician who has spent her career guiding women facing breast cancer through their diagnosis and treatment while tirelessly advocating to increase early cancer detection and prevention, while at the same time working with men and women on all other forms of cancer diagnoses and treatments. She is also an INCREDIBLE COMMUNICATOR, who makes complicated health issues more easily understood by all Americans. Dr. Nicole Saphier will do great things for our Country, and help, “MAKE AMERICA HEALTHY AGAIN.” Congratulations Nicole, our Country has long been waiting for you! President DONALD J. TRUMP
The revolving door spins, and Dr. Casey Means makes her exit.
President Donald Trump on Thursday pulled his embattled surgeon general nominee Dr. Casey Means amid questions over her vaccine views and announced his third pick for the role in Dr. Nicole Saphier.
“Nicole is a STAR physician who has spent her career guiding women facing breast cancer through their diagnosis and treatment while tirelessly advocating to increase early cancer detection and prevention, while at the same time working with men and women on all other forms of cancer diagnoses and treatments,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.
“She is also an INCREDIBLE COMMUNICATOR, who makes complicated health issues more easily understood by all Americans,” he added.
Saphier is a practicing physician, who works in radiology at New York's Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. Saphier has also been a regular Fox News contributor.
🚨 NOW: President Trump nominates Dr. Nicole Saphier as the next US Surgeon General and DROPS this line
— Eric Daugherty (@EricLDaugh) April 30, 2026
"Nicole Saphier, she's with Fox, was with Fox. Isn't with Fox anymore, Peter! But she's great. She'll be the Surgeon General!" 😂 https://t.co/fuyp4R5Tjk pic.twitter.com/WEWFYIOJDj
It is almost a year-and-a-half year into the Trump presidency, and the cabinet position of Surgeon General remains unfilled. Trump's first nominee was Dr. Janette Nesheiwat, who was announced soon after Trump's November 2024 historic election win. After Trump's inauguration, Nesheiwat's nomination was quickly withdrawn due to an uprising by the MAHA coalition over Nesheiwat's COVID propaganda of masking two-year-olds, pushing the COVID vaccines, and attacking any response which did not align with Dr. Anthony Fauci and his cohorts. As my colleague streiff detailed, Nesheiwat was also an abortion activist.
In May 2025, Trump nominated Dr. Casey Means, whose confirmation hearing was delayed due to the fact that she went into labor! Means safely gave birth to her child, and finally sat before the Senate Health, Employment, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee in February. Means had both Democrat and Republican detractors in the Senate committee, including the HELP Chairman Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-LA). Some of the senators were greatly disturbed by Means' position on patient informed consent before rendering vaccines, and Means' admitted use of psychedelics for healing trauma which she detailed in her book, "Good Energy." Reportedly, Sens. Susan Collins (R-ME) and Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) were the reasons Means' nomination was stalled in committee and failed to advance to the full Senate for a confirmation vote.
Read More: Dr. Casey Means' Surgeon General Nomination Is Stuck in the HELP Committee; Guess Who Is Stalling?
Dr. Casey Means Under the Microscope As Trump's Surgeon General Nominee Is Weighed in the Balance
However, on the same day as Saphier's nomination announcement, Trump also posted this to Truth Social, laying the blame for Means' stalled nomination in one person's lap: HELP Committee Chairman Cassidy. In his Trumpesque fashion, he did not hold back.
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) April 30, 2026
For months, Senator Bill Cassidy (of the GREAT State of Louisiana!), a very disloyal person whose “TRUMP” Endorsement got him elected, but later voted to impeach “President Trump” on what has now proven to be a total Hoax and Scam, has stood in the way of Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s Nominee, Casey Means, for the important position of U.S. Surgeon General. I nominated Casey, a strong MAHA Warrior, at the recommendation of Secretary Kennedy, who understands the MAHA Movement better than anyone, with perhaps the possible exception of ME! Nevertheless, despite Senator Cassidy’s intransigence and political games, Casey will continue to fight for MAHA on the many important Health issues facing our Country, such as the rising childhood disease epidemic, increased autism rates, poor nutrition, over-medicalization, and researching the root causes of infertility, and many other difficult medical problems. Casey, thank you for your service to our Nation! President DONALD J. TRUMP
Cassidy is being thrown under the bus in a most public and unprecedented fashion. Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. quoted Trump's Truth Social post on Thursday, and unloaded, also detailing Cassidy's obstruction tactics.
President Trump’s Surgeon General nominee, Casey Means, stands as one of the MAHA movement’s most powerful evangelists. Her book Good Energy, which exposed the nation’s catastrophic decline in metabolic health, has become a bible for the MAHA movement.
— Secretary Kennedy (@SecKennedy) April 30, 2026
After graduating first in… https://t.co/5drWu0DW8c
President Trump’s Surgeon General nominee, Casey Means, stands as one of the MAHA movement’s most powerful evangelists. Her book Good Energy, which exposed the nation’s catastrophic decline in metabolic health, has become a bible for the MAHA movement.
After graduating first in her class at Stanford Medical School, Casey walked away from her medical practice because she no longer wanted to be part of a sick-care system. She has committed her life to transforming American health care.
By sabotaging this appointment, Bill Cassidy once again did the dirty work for entrenched interests seeking to stall the MAHA movement and protect the very status quo that has made America the sickest nation on earth.
Casey Means will remain an important leader and a close partner as we uncover the root causes of the chronic disease epidemic and Make America Healthy Again.
Calley Means, the brother of Casey Means and a consultant to HHS Secretary Kennedy, expressed his pride in his sister as she walked through the confirmation process, and then he joined President Trump and Sec. Kennedy in their pile-on against Sen. Cassidy.
Means also did not hold back, even going so far as to accuse Cassidy of deliberately scheduling Dr. Means' confirmation hearings on her pregnancy due date.
I am so proud of Casey, and the way she conducted herself during this process.
— Calley Means (@calleymeans) April 30, 2026
I am also proud to work for the Trump admin, who has marshaled the disruptive MAHA message and driven victories against dark forces personified by Bill Cassidy.
At every step, Casey’s message of… pic.twitter.com/GcFOFLFmAN
I am so proud of Casey, and the way she conducted herself during this process.
I am also proud to work for the Trump admin, who has marshaled the disruptive MAHA message and driven victories against dark forces personified by Bill Cassidy.
At every step, Casey’s message of hope and empowerment was thwarted by Bill Cassidy.
Bill Cassidy is a mindless avatar for his donors and a blind defender of the status quo system that is profiting from American sickness.
At every turn during Casey’s confirmation, Bill Cassidy worked to delay her and smear her.
For several months last year, Bill Cassidy knew Casey’s due date. He demanded to schedule her hearing on her due date, and at the last minute scheduled it two days later. He could have scheduled it weeks before. Casey ended up having her baby the hour her first hearing was scheduled.
Bill Cassidy worked with Mike Pence’s pharma-funded group to smear Casey in the media as not sufficiently pro-life - when anyone who has a rudimentary understanding of Casey’s message knows it is grounded in a deep respect and awe for the miracle of life.
To Casey’s assertion that Americans should consult with their doctor before taking any medical product, he worked to smear her as “anti-vaccine” for not saying every American should submit their children to mandatory injections without parental or medical input (which is his view).
Bill Cassidy will lose his re-election and immediately work for the pharmaceutical industry who funded his political career. He will be remembered as an inconsequential figure who tried to stop the important and disruptive MAHA conversation President Trump and RFK unleashed.
Because of his constant delay tactics, Casey is being pulled from consideration.
I am so proud of her and the historic change the Trump admin is pushing for against broken and corrupt defenders of the status quo like Bill Cassidy.
Saphier appears to be a less controversial choice than Nesheiwat or Means, but the MAHA coalition and others have yet to weigh in. With all the drama thus far, it's best not to put away the popcorn just yet.
This is a developing story. RedState will update on events as warranted.
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