Robert F. Kennedy’s right-hand man was briefly Laura Loomer’s latest scalp, but had his job saved thanks to the intervention of White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles.
Vinay Prasad, a top regulator at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, was pushed to resign by the president on July 29 at the urging of Loomer, who has become a top MAGA vetting hawk, and ex-GOP Sen. Rick Santorum, who criticized his work.
Prasad has since been offered his position back by the administration and agreed to return. Politico reports that he has Wiles to thank.
Insiders told the site that Wiles pleaded with Trump to overlook Prasad’s old social media posts that harshly criticized him and MAGA voters. The hematologist was hand-picked by Kennedy and FDA Commissioner Marty Makary, and the duo reportedly considers him to be crucial to their Make America Healthy Again coalition.
“After Vinay left, Marty and Bobby worked very, very, very hard through Susie Wiles to tell the president that Vinay was not anti-Trump,” a source in the administration told Politico.
Prasad’s reinstatement is a big win for Kennedy, signaling he still has the support of Trump as he attempts to overhaul U.S. regulation of vaccines and drugs.
It was also a setback for Loomer, whose stringent vetting—in which she digs for any sliver of anti-MAGA sentiment among those in the administration or those hoping to join—has led to several firings by the president.
Loomer, 32, was not happy about Prasad’s reinstatement.
“Vinay Prasad is not only a Democrat donor,” she wrote on X, “but he’s also a Trump hater, and he is a Marxist who said Trump is ‘the worse person in the world.’ … Just more evidence of a broken vetting system with no standards.”
Loomer had previously unearthed posts by Prasad—then a professor of epidemiology and biostatistics at the University of California, San Francisco—that suggested he was voting for former President Joe Biden in 2020.
Less than a month before the 2020 presidential election, Prasad posted to X that he wanted “Biden to win more than anything.” A year later, he wrote that he viewed himself as a “Sanders/Warren liberal,” referring to the progressive senators from Massachusetts and Vermont.
Loomer was irate that Prasad had snuck through the cracks—at least, in her eyes—to be hired by the Trump administration.
“Prasad’s views are a slap in the face to the conservative values of limited government, deregulation, and economic freedom that YOU voted for!” she posted to X in July. “Vinay Prasad is a Trojan horse in Trump’s FDA. It’s my recommendation that he be FIRED from the Trump admin.”
The White House issued a statement to Politico praising the work Kennedy’s team has been doing.
“Secretary Kennedy and the entire HHS team are doing a terrific job as they deliver on President Trump’s mandate to Make America Healthy Again,” White House spokesperson Kush Desai said. “Scores of prominent restaurant chains and food brands dropping artificial ingredients from our food supply and historic reforms at the FDA to fast track lifesaving drugs and treatments prove that the entire HHS team is delivering for the American people.”
The reversal by the White House has fueled Loomer to go even harder against those in Kennedy’s camp.
Now, Loomer is calling for Trump to ax Stefanie Spear, who is Kennedy’s principal deputy chief of staff and senior counselor, as well as Casey Means, who Trump nominated to be surgeon general. Politico reports that Means is a close Kennedy ally and is the sister of Kennedy adviser Calley Means.
A source told Politico that it appears Loomer wants to split the MAGA and MAHA coalitions in two. On X, she posts that she has no intention of slowing down.
“In the coming weeks, I will be ramping up my exposés of officials within HHS and FDA so the American people can see more of the pay-for-play rot themselves and how rabid Trump haters continue to be hired in the Trump administration,” she posted Saturday. “There are several Senate Confirmation hearings coming up, and I have multiple oppo books ready for distribution! Should be a good time.”
The Daily Beast has reached out to the White House for comment.
