❓WHAT HAPPENED: Susan Monarez was fired as Director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) after she admitted she was untrustworthy, according to Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
👤WHO WAS INVOLVED: HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., former CDC Director Susan Monarez, and Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA).
📍WHEN & WHERE: Thursday, September 4, 2025.
💬KEY QUOTE: “I told her she had to resign because I asked her, ‘Are you a trustworthy person?’ and she said, ‘No.'”— Sec. Kennedy on the reason for Monarez’s firing from the CDC.
🎯IMPACT: Monarez has publicly claimed her removal was because of her opposition to new COVID-19 vaccine recommendations; however, Sec. Kennedy has now publicly countered, stating Monarez had lied to him and is lying about the circumstances of her firing.
Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. revealed former U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Director Susan Monarez was fired after he confronted her about whether she was trustworthy, and Monarez replied, “No.” The circumstances of Monarez’s removal came to light during a heated exchange between Sec. Kennedy and Senators Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) and Bernie Sanders (I-VT), in which Warren accused the HHS Secretary of having fired the former CDC Director over her refusal to approve new COVID-19 vaccine recommendations.
“Did you tell the head of the CDC that if she refused to sign off on your changes to the childhood vaccine schedule, that she had to resign?” Sen. Warren indignantly demanded during a Senate Finance Committee hearing on Thursday. Without missing a beat, Sec. Kennedy responded, “No. I told her she had to resign because I asked her, ‘Are you a trustworthy person?’ and she said, ‘No.'”
The response stunned Sen. Warren, leading her to exclaim, “What?!” However, Kennedy continued, asking, “If you had an employee who told you they weren’t trustworthy, would you ask them to resign, Senator?”
A flustered Warren pointed to public statements from Monarez contrary to Sec. Kennedy’s recollection of events, to which the HHS Secretary, nonplused, rebutted: “Well, I’m not surprised about that.” Kennedy went on to tell Sen. Warren that Monarez was lying about the circumstances of her removal, adding, “Every conversation I had with her, there were witnesses.”
Warren: “Did you tell the head of the CDC…that she had to resign?”
RFK: “No. She had to resign because I asked her ‘Are you a trustworthy person?’ and she said ‘No.'”
Warren: “What?” pic.twitter.com/FlPrUKvjyG
— The Bulwark (@BulwarkOnline) September 4, 2025
When Sen. Sanders retraced the exchange, Kennedy again explained that Monarez had given an emphatic “No” when asked if she was trustworthy.
The National Pulse previously reported that Monarez attempted to fight her removal from the CDC, claiming that only President Donald J. Trump could remove her. Subsequently, President Trump tapped Jim O’Neill, the Deputy Secretary of HHS, to serve as the acting CDC director, effectively removing Monarez and her technical objection.
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