We begin with news that the White House has chosen a deputy of Robert F Kennedy Jr<\/a> to serve as the acting head of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)<\/strong>, a decision that comes as the standoff over the firing of director Susan Monarez<\/a> has deepened, with Monarez\u2019s lawyers claiming she will not depart unless Donald Trump<\/a> himself removes her.<\/p>\n A White House official confirmed to the Guardian that Jim O\u2019Neill, currently the deputy secretary of the Department of Health<\/a> and Human Services (HHS), had been selected to temporarily lead the public health agency<\/a>, giving Kennedy an ally in his efforts to overhaul US vaccine policy.<\/p>\n Unlike Monarez, O\u2019Neill, a former investment executive, does not have a medical or scientific background. He served as a former speechwriter for the health department during the George W Bush administration, and went on to work for the tech investor and conservative megadonor Peter Thiel.<\/p>\n Senator Bill Cassidy<\/strong>, chair of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, called on the department\u2019s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) to indefinitely postpone its upcoming 18 September meeting.<\/p>\n He said:<\/p>\n Serious allegations have been made about the meeting agenda, membership and lack of scientific process being followed for the now announced September ACIP meeting.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n Meanwhile, senator Susan Collins<\/strong> said she was \u201calarmed\u201d by Monarez\u2019s firing, adding:<\/p>\n Susan Monarez is a highly capable scientist who brought a wealth of experience to the agency. While I recognize that the CDC director serves at the pleasure of the president, I am alarmed that she has been fired after only three weeks on the job.<\/p>\n Last night I talked with former director Monarez about her removal. I agree with chairman Bill Cassidy, who heads the Senate committee with jurisdiction over the CDC, that this matter warrants congressional oversight.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n It came as senior CDC vaccine research and public health leaders who resigned in protest told hundreds of supporters across the street from the campus<\/a> on Thursday that the Trump administration needs to \u201cget politics out of public health\u201d.<\/p>\n In other developments:<\/p>\n The president is gravely serious about running for a third term in violation of the US constitution, California governor Gavin Newsom said on Wednesday, warning Americans to \u201cwake up\u201d to what he described as Trump\u2019s flagrant disregard for democratic norms.<\/strong> \u201cI don\u2019t think Donald Trump wants another election,\u201d Newsom, a Democrat, said during a live interview<\/a> at a summit hosted by Politico in Sacramento. \u201cThis guy doesn\u2019t believe in free, fair elections.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/li>\n The White House has requested that a US military<\/a> base on the outskirts of Chicago assist with immigration operations as the Trump administration<\/a> plans a broader takeover of Democratic<\/a>-run \u201csanctuary cities\u201d.<\/strong> On Thursday, the Naval Station Great Lakes confirmed that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) had reached out for assistance, telling<\/a> the Associated Press that the DHS had requested \u201climited support in the form of facilities, infrastructure and other logistical needs to support DHS operations\u201d.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n The air force will provide military funeral honors to Ashli Babbitt, the rioter fatally shot during the January 6 Capitol attack<\/strong>, marking another step in Donald Trump\u2019s aggressive rehabilitation of the attack.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n A Washington senator has called for the Trump administration to provide \u201cimmediate answers\u201d about reports that two firefighters were detained<\/strong> by border agents as they were responding to a wildfire in the state.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n Seven people have arrived in Rwanda as part of a deal to accept deportees from the US, the Rwandan government has said. <\/strong>The Trump administration has been negotiating arrangements to send people to third countries including South Sudan and Eswatini, formerly Swaziland, as part of its wider deportation drive.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n The family of 18-year-old Benjamin Guerrero-Cruz was shocked when they found out that US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) had discreetly moved him out of California,<\/strong> according to California congresswoman Luz Rivas, who spoke with his relatives and reviewed federal detention records.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Key events<\/p>\n Show key events only<\/p>\n Please turn on JavaScript to use this feature<\/p>\n Who is Jim O\u2019Neill? CDC chief set to bolster RFK Jr plan to remake vaccine policy<\/p>\n Maanvi Singh<\/p>\n The White House has chosen a top aide to health secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr<\/a> to temporarily lead the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention \u2013 an appointment that is expected to bolster Kennedy\u2019s goals of remaking federal vaccine policy.<\/strong><\/p>\n Jim O\u2019Neill, a biotech investor and speechwriter for the health department during the George W Bush administration, was tapped as acting director of the agency that oversees vaccine recommendations, a White House official confirmed to the Guardian.<\/p>\n O\u2019Neill, unlike Monarez, has no training in medicine or infectious disease science. He is a former speechwriter for the health department, during the Bush years, who went on to work for the tech investor and conservative megadonor<\/a> Peter Thiel.<\/p>\n But who is O\u2019Neill and what does he want to do at the CDC? Read our full explainer here:<\/p>\n Share<\/a>CDC officials who quit in protest lead call to \u2018get politics out of public health\u2019 Senior CDC vaccine research and public health leaders who resigned in protest told hundreds of supporters across the street from the campus on Thursday that the Trump administration<\/a> needs to \u201cget politics out of public health\u201d.<\/strong><\/p>\n The agency is reeling from the firing of the CDC chief, Susan Monarez, but Monarez, who was confirmed as CDC chief just a month ago, has refused to be removed. Three senior leaders \u2013 Debra Houry, Demetre Daskalakis and Daniel Jernigan \u2013 resigned shortly after in protest, citing the alleged spread of misinformation under the Trump administration<\/a> and political interference in their work. The staffers cheered and applauded them at the event on Thursday.<\/p>\n \u201cYou are the people that protect America, and America needs to see that you are the people that protect America, and we are going to be your loudest advocates,\u201d said Daskalakis to the throng. Daskalakis, who was accompanied at the rally by Houry and Jernigan, is now the former director of the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases and is known for his leadership in HIV prevention and vaccination programs and the Biden administration\u2019s response to the mpox outbreak.<\/p>\n The three, plus Jennifer Leyden, who led the office of public health data, resigned together on Thursday to make a statement about the damage the administration had done to public vaccine research, and in protest of the administration\u2019s response to vaccine disinformation, they said.<\/p>\n \u201cWe agreed to do this together. We\u2019ve been talking about it for months, and the past few days, it was just escalating,\u201d said Houry, the CDC\u2019s former chief medical officer. \u201cIf one of us retired, it would have been a blip. When the three of us do it together, it\u2019s more powerful and just shows the state of our agency.\u201d She and the others are asking for Congress to intervene, to put a stop to political interference in the organization\u2019s work.<\/p>\n Share<\/a>Trump faces key legal test in effort to exert control over Federal Reserve The chaos at the CDC is far from the president\u2019s only battleground todat. Later on, Donald Trump<\/a>\u2019s battle to exert control over the Federal Reserve<\/a> faces a key legal test, with a governor of the central bank seeking a temporary block on his extraordinary attempt to fire her.<\/strong><\/p>\n Lisa Cook sued the US president on Thursday<\/a>, with her lawyers describing his attempt to dismiss her as \u201cunprecedented and illegal\u201d, and based on \u201cpretextual\u201d allegations.<\/p>\n The case is widely expected to be ultimately decided by the supreme court. <\/a>While it makes it way through the courts, Cook is seeking a temporary restraining order against Trump\u2019s attempt to \u201cimmediately<\/a>\u201d dismiss her from the Fed\u2019s board.<\/p>\n A hearing on the motion is set for 10am in Washington on Friday. The case has been assigned to US district judge Jia Cobb, an appointee of Joe Biden<\/a>.<\/p>\n Trump wrote to Cook on Monday, telling her that he was removing her from her position \u201ceffective immediately\u201d, based on the allegation from one of his allies that she had obtained a mortgage on a second home she incorrectly described as her primary residence.<\/p>\n The president has spent months attacking the Fed<\/a>, where most policymakers \u2013 including Cook \u2013 have so far defied his calls for interest rate cuts. He has spoken of rapidly building \u201ca majority\u201d on the central bank\u2019s board, calling into question the future of its longstanding independence from political oversight.<\/p>\n Read the full report here:<\/p>\n Share<\/a>White House picks Kennedy deputy Jim O\u2019Neill to run CDC amid senator backlash<\/p>\n Hello and welcome to the US politics<\/a> live blog. My name is Tom Ambrose and I will be bringing you the latest news lines over the next few hours.<\/p>\n We begin with news that the White House has chosen a deputy of Robert F Kennedy Jr<\/a> to serve as the acting head of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)<\/strong>, a decision that comes as the standoff over the firing of director Susan Monarez<\/a> has deepened, with Monarez\u2019s lawyers claiming she will not depart unless Donald Trump<\/a> himself removes her.<\/p>\n A White House official confirmed to the Guardian that Jim O\u2019Neill, currently the deputy secretary of the Department of Health<\/a> and Human Services (HHS), had been selected to temporarily lead the public health agency<\/a>, giving Kennedy an ally in his efforts to overhaul US vaccine policy.<\/p>\n Unlike Monarez, O\u2019Neill, a former investment executive, does not have a medical or scientific background. He served as a former speechwriter for the health department during the George W Bush administration, and went on to work for the tech investor and conservative megadonor Peter Thiel.<\/p>\n Senator Bill Cassidy<\/strong>, chair of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, called on the department\u2019s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) to indefinitely postpone its upcoming 18 September meeting.<\/p>\n He said:<\/p>\n Serious allegations have been made about the meeting agenda, membership and lack of scientific process being followed for the now announced September ACIP meeting.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n Meanwhile, senator Susan Collins<\/strong> said she was \u201calarmed\u201d by Monarez\u2019s firing, adding:<\/p>\n Susan Monarez is a highly capable scientist who brought a wealth of experience to the agency. While I recognize that the CDC director serves at the pleasure of the president, I am alarmed that she has been fired after only three weeks on the job.<\/p>\n Last night I talked with former director Monarez about her removal. I agree with chairman Bill Cassidy, who heads the Senate committee with jurisdiction over the CDC, that this matter warrants congressional oversight.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n It came as senior CDC vaccine research and public health leaders who resigned in protest told hundreds of supporters across the street from the campus<\/a> on Thursday that the Trump administration needs to \u201cget politics out of public health\u201d.<\/p>\n In other developments:<\/p>\n The president is gravely serious about running for a third term in violation of the US constitution, California governor Gavin Newsom said on Wednesday, warning Americans to \u201cwake up\u201d to what he described as Trump\u2019s flagrant disregard for democratic norms.<\/strong> \u201cI don\u2019t think Donald Trump wants another election,\u201d Newsom, a Democrat, said during a live interview<\/a> at a summit hosted by Politico in Sacramento. \u201cThis guy doesn\u2019t believe in free, fair elections.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/li>\n The White House has requested that a US military<\/a> base on the outskirts of Chicago assist with immigration operations as the Trump administration<\/a> plans a broader takeover of Democratic<\/a>-run \u201csanctuary cities\u201d.<\/strong> On Thursday, the Naval Station Great Lakes confirmed that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) had reached out for assistance, telling<\/a> the Associated Press that the DHS had requested \u201climited support in the form of facilities, infrastructure and other logistical needs to support DHS operations\u201d.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n The air force will provide military funeral honors to Ashli Babbitt, the rioter fatally shot during the January 6 Capitol attack<\/strong>, marking another step in Donald Trump\u2019s aggressive rehabilitation of the attack.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n A Washington senator has called for the Trump administration to provide \u201cimmediate answers\u201d about reports that two firefighters were detained<\/strong> by border agents as they were responding to a wildfire in the state.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n Seven people have arrived in Rwanda as part of a deal to accept deportees from the US, the Rwandan government has said. <\/strong>The Trump administration has been negotiating arrangements to send people to third countries including South Sudan and Eswatini, formerly Swaziland, as part of its wider deportation drive.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n The family of 18-year-old Benjamin Guerrero-Cruz was shocked when they found out that US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) had discreetly moved him out of California,<\/strong> according to California congresswoman Luz Rivas, who spoke with his relatives and reviewed federal detention records.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n
\n
\n
![\"George](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/1756463232_753_George-Chidi.jpg\")
George Chidi<\/p>\n![\"CDC](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/4870.jpg\")
CDC staff clap out senior officials who resigned after Monarez firing \u2013 video<\/p>\n![\"Callum](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Callum_Jones.png\")
Callum Jones<\/p>\n\n
\n
\n