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The former running mate of HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Nicole Shanahan, has suggested he is being controlled by an unidentified influence.
Some shit you should know before you read: If you’re unaware, Nicole Shanahan is a Silicon Valley attorney and entrepreneur best known for her past marriage to Google co-founder Sergey Brin, from which she received a substantial divorce settlement that significantly increased her wealth. In 2024, she spent millions supporting Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s presidential campaign—funding that included key advertising efforts such as a Super Bowl ad featuring Kennedy. Since parting ways with the RFK campaign, Shanahan has not taken on a formal role in the Trump administration.
What’s going on now: In a notable development, Nicole Shanahan accused Secretary Kennedy of being under external control. “It has been clear in recent conversations that he is reporting to someone regularly who is controlling his decisions (and it isn’t President Trump),” she wrote in a post on X. Her claim has fueled growing speculation about who may be influencing Kennedy’s decisions behind the scenes and whether he’s acting independently in his role at HHS.
Shanahan also claimed Kennedy broke a private agreement, stating, “I was promised that if I supported RFK Jr. in his Senate confirmation that neither of these siblings would be working under HHS or in an appointment (and that people much more qualified would be).” The siblings she referenced—Dr. Casey Means and her brother Calley Means—have taken roles tied to Kennedy’s “Make America Healthy Again” initiative. Shanahan publicly objected to their involvement, calling the situation “very strange” and saying it “doesn’t make any sense.”
Critics online have raised concerns about the Means siblings’ lack of qualifications. Casey, though a Stanford-trained physician, left clinical work early, never completed board certification, and pivoted to become a wellness influencer and co-founder of a health tech startup. Calley, who has no medical background, previously worked in political strategy and entrepreneurship and now serves as a special government employee at HHS. Both have promoted controversial health views, and Shanahan described them as “very artificial and aggressive,“ even likening them to “Manchurian assets.”
In response, Kennedy did not directly address Shanahan’s accusations during a Fox News interview with Bret Baier, but he broadly defended his team, saying, “The entire leadership of this agency are renegades who are, you know, juggernauts against convention and who are trying to look for truth, no matter what the cost. Casey is among those.”
