A top ally of Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. resigned from the Trump administration on Thursday, reportedly frustrated by White House delays on their food agenda.
Calley Means was a senior adviser to Kennedy and worked in the White House to advance the “Make America Healthy Again” agenda, and he confirmed his exit to the Wall Street Journal but declined to explain it.
“I leave with tremendous respect for President Trump and Robert F. Kennedy Jr.,” Means said. “This movement is in the first inning and just getting started.”
Sources familiar with the matter told the Journal that Means was deeply frustrated that the White House had delayed some of Kennedy’s most popular ideas. He blamed others in the administration for letting food companies and special interests have too much influence, and one source described him as “disillusioned.”
His departure follows the administration’s decision to hold off on two of Kennedy’s food priorities – an official definition of ultraprocessed foods, meant to eventually lead to labels, and a rule requiring less added sugar and more protein in school meals.
The Journal previously reported that Means had clashed with White House officials in recent months, sometimes raising his voice. Some colleagues found him difficult to work with and unwilling to make practical concessions.
The resignation is a blow to the MAHA movement.
Means helped broker Kennedy’s first call with Trump, which led to their 2024 alliance, and he co-wrote “Good Energy,” a book on diet and the food system that circulated in the Trump campaign, with his sister, Dr. Casey Means. Conservative podcaster Megyn Kelly once called him the “heart of MAHA.”
In the administration, Means helped drive the revised dietary guidelines and inverted food pyramid, the FDA’s push for ingredient transparency, a voluntary phaseout of petroleum-based food dyes and an executive order boosting psychedelics.
It also comes at a bad time for Republicans, who are trying to hold on to MAHA voters ahead of the midterms. Some Kennedy supporters have publicly criticized Trump’s support for pesticides, the slow progress on food policy and the CDC’s continued recommendation of COVID vaccines.
Trump had nominated Casey Means for surgeon general last year, but her nomination collapsed amid senators’ concerns about her vaccine positions.
The White House and HHS didn’t immediately respond to the Journal’s requests for comment.
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