President Trump on Wednesday withdrew his embattled Surgeon General nominee, Dr. Casey Means, and tapped Dr. Nicole Saphier to fill the role as the nation’s top doctor.
In a social media post, Trump said he would nominate Saphier, a radiologist and director of breast imaging at Memorial Sloan Kettering Monmouth. Saphier, a former Fox News contributor, holds a Doctor of Medicine degree from Ross University School of Medicine, along with fellowships at the Mayo Clinic.
“Nicole is a STAR physician who has spent her career guiding women facing breast cancer through their diagnosis and treatment while tirelessly advocating to increase early cancer detection and prevention, while at the same time working with men and women on all other forms of cancer diagnoses and treatments,” Trump said. “She is also an INCREDIBLE COMMUNICATOR, who makes complicated health issues more easily understood by all Americans.”
Trump on his new Surgeon General pick Nicole Saphier:
She was with Fox. Isn’t with Fox anymore. She’ll be the surgeon general. pic.twitter.com/8OlxU8UJlN
— Acyn (@Acyn) April 30, 2026
Saphier’s nomination comes after Dr. Casey Means failed to secure enough support for Senate confirmation amid concerns about her experience and views on vaccines.
Means, a 38-year-old Stanford-educated physician, is a staunch ally of Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who promoted ideas popular with the MAHA movement, including that diet and lifestyle changes should lead the way to end widespread chronic disease.
She did not finish her surgical residency program and doesn’t currently have an active medical license, according to the Associated Press. Senators grilled her in February over her experience and Kennedy’s pullback of vaccine recommendations.
Senator Bill Cassidy (R-LA), a trained physician and chairman of the Senate health committee, stopped short of supporting Means. Senators Murkowski (R-AL) and Collins (R-ME), also members of the committee, held reservations.
On social media, Calley Means, the brother of Casey Means, accused Cassidy of working to “delay” and “smear” her nomination.
“Bill Cassidy is a mindless avatar for his donors and a blind defender of the status quo system that is profiting from American sickness,” he wrote.
I am so proud of Casey, and the way she conducted herself during this process.
I am also proud to work for the Trump admin, who has marshaled the disruptive MAHA message and driven victories against dark forces personified by Bill Cassidy.
At every step, Casey’s message of… pic.twitter.com/GcFOFLFmAN
— Calley Means (@calleymeans) April 30, 2026
Trump on Thursday attacked the Louisiana Republican, calling him a “very disloyal person” who “stood in the way” of RFK Jr.’s preferred pick.
“Hopefully all of the Great Republican People of Louisiana, which I won BIG, three times, will be voting Bill Cassidy OUT OF OFFICE in the upcoming Republican Primary!” Trump said in a Truth Social post.
Saphier is Trump’s third nominee for Surgeon General. His first pick, Dr. Janette Nesheiwat — another former Fox News contributor — had her nomination pulled in May 2025 after right-wing influencer Laura Loomer opposed her nomination, according to the New York Times.
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