‘ALMOST DISQUALIFYING’: A key senator is already casting doubt on President Trump’s nominee to lead the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.) said in a post on social platform X that he has “strong concerns” about the nomination of Dr. Heidi Overton, a top White House domestic policy adviser on health issues, which was announced on Wednesday. The senator said he respects Overton’s experience as a physician, but her lack of management experience doesn’t prepare her to lead a large agency “already dealing with staffing and morale issues.”
“Additionally, Dr. Overton’s active role in last week’s nonsensical vaccine executive order calls into question her commitment to standing up for sound science and protecting children’s health,” Cassidy said, referencing Trump’s executive order to push to reduce the childhood vaccine schedule and split up the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine into three separate shots.
Overton stood beside the president as he announced the order.
“That alone is almost disqualifying,” Cassidy, who is also a physician, said.
Trump chose Overton to lead the FDA as it’s dealt with an exodus of staff and a credibility crisis in the eyes of many in the healthcare industry. If confirmed, she would succeed Martin Makary, who resigned in May.
Cassidy’s opposition alone could be enough to sink the nomination, as he chairs the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee.
▪ Reuters: Appeals court rejects FDA rule on cigarette graphic warnings.
▪ CNN: Patients, researchers challenge FDA-approved cancer drug dosages.
THIS IS FINE: Trump downplayed concerns about the U.S. bond market on Wednesday, even as the Treasury Department took extraordinary measures to reverse rising long-term bond yields.
The 30-year Treasury bond yield surpassed 5.3 percent on Tuesday, the highest mark recorded since 2007. That’s continued a trend of increases that’s taken place since the start of the Iran war.
Increasing bond yields push up mortgage rates and lead to higher borrowing costs for other products.
The spike prompted the Treasury to announce Wednesday that it will increase the maximum amount of U.S. debt that it can buy back. Starting next month, the maximum value of longer-dated securities that the Treasury can repurchase will double from $2 billion to $4 billion per operation.
Trump said he doesn’t believe Americans should be concerned about the volatility of the bond market. He reiterated his call for the Federal Reserve to reduce interest rates, calling them “artificially high.”
“They raise them for no reason, and you can’t go out to the market when you have a Fed that’s raising interest rates,” he said.
But the agency has continued to show hesitancy to lower rates, with many Fed officials indicating at a meeting late last month that interest rate hikes may be necessary.
▪ ABC News: Will the Fed raise rates this year?
▪ The Hill: United Arab Emirates cuts off trade with Iran.
CUT IN HALF: The Pentagon and South Korean military confirmed Wednesday that joint exercises between them will end almost a week early following Trump’s order reducing them.
Ulchi Freedom Shield began Monday and was scheduled to continue through Aug. 27 but will now end Aug. 21, a Defense Department official told The Hill. They said the U.S. military is continuing training that “enhances tactical capability,” but live-training events have been reduced, and some events have been canceled or converted to simulations.
Trump directed Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to scale down the exercise, which takes place annually, just before they started, arguing they were hostile to North Korea. He also said he made the decision over his frustration with South Korea for not assisting in the U.S. war against Iran.
Trump has also said he’s in talks with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un to resume their diplomacy from his first term. However, Kim Yo Jong, a top adviser and Kim’s sister, denied knowledge of any such discussions in a message shared by state media.
South Korean officials have expressed concern about what this could mean for the future of the U.S.-South Korean alliance, which has been in place for decades and is meant to fend off North Korean aggression.
▪ The Hill: Trump warns North Korea has ‘57 very powerful nuclear weapons.’
ETHICS PROBE: A woman accusing Rep. Jimmy Gomez (D-Calif.) of misconduct told the House Ethics Committee on Wednesday that he sexually harassed and assaulted her.
Two attorneys for the woman said she was interviewed and told committee members that Gomez’s actions were not “consensual in nature,” contrary to a statement from the lawmaker that they were. Gomez told The Hill in a statement that he hasn’t violated any law or House Ethics rule.
“This is just the latest example of brazen sexual misconduct by a member of Congress,” the attorneys said. “Congress must act to rein in its members who seem to believe that preying on young women working on Capitol Hill is one of the perks of their job.”
The committee was first reported by CNN to be investigating Gomez in June following a New York Post story that he was allegedly seen kissing a younger staffer who worked for a different House Democrat in 2023. The panel confirmed on Monday that it is investigating the California Democrat.
Gomez has said he would cooperate with the investigation.
▪ The Hill: Trump says he told Rep. Cory Mills (R-Fla.) to exit race before loss.
