Trump says it's 'possible' Means will be withdrawn as surgeon general nominee

President Trump on Sunday indicated he was open to withdrawing his nomination of Casey Means, sister of White House senior adviser Calley Means, to be U.S. surgeon general, as reports indicate she does not have the necessary Republican support.

While speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One, Trump was asked if he was considering withdrawing his nomination of Casey Means.

“Well, we’re looking at a lot of different things. I don’t know how she’s doing in the nomination process. I’m more focused on Iran,” Trump said. “But, you know, something like that would be possible. We certainly have a lot of, we have a lot of great candidates.”

Trump picked Means to be his nominee after his first choice, former Fox News contributor Janette Nesheiwat, fell through when her credentials came into question.

Means’s nomination has been a drawn-out process, with her initial confirmation hearing canceled at the last minute in 2025 when she went into labor.

She appeared before the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions in February where she faced a small but ardent degree of skepticism from lawmakers on the Republican side.

GOP Sens. Lisa Murkowski (Alaska) and Susan Collins (Maine) have yet to say whether they’ll support her nomination and Democrats on the committee appear united in their opposition to her. Collins was perplexed by Means’s self-professed use of psilocybin mushrooms.

Despite telling senators that she believed vaccines save lives during her hearing, when pressed to support specific immunization practices, Means was reticent to put her support behind vaccine guidance for diseases like measles.

Means also has faced some opposition from the “Make America Healthy Again” crowd. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s former presidential running mate, Nicole Shanahan, has been very vocal on social media about her opposition to both of the Means siblings.