Calley Means Resigns as RFK Jr. Adviser Less Than Two Weeks Before Midterms

Calley Means resigned today, Oct. 22, from his post as a senior adviser to Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. He announced it in a post on X, saying he was leaving "with tremendous respect for President Trump and Bobby Kennedy."

He did not say why. He said the movement is "in the first inning and just getting started."

What Means says he got done

Means listed his own record in the post: Dietary Guidelines reform, psychedelic reform, removing soda from SNAP, removing food dyes, GRAS reform and overhauling government food procurement. "More policy and cultural change has happened around these goals in the past 2 years than any time in history," he wrote.

Some of that is real and measurable. The administration has pushed manufacturers to drop artificial dyes and has moved to restrict soda purchases with SNAP benefits in some states.

Means was also a central figure in the 2024 alliance between Kennedy and Trump. He helped set up a call between the two shortly after the Butler, Pennsylvania, assassination attempt on Trump, a call that preceded Kennedy's endorsement.

He joined the White House early last year as a special government employee. He later became a full-time senior HHS adviser after divesting from Truemed, the health-savings-account company he founded.

The ultraprocessed food definition

People familiar with his thinking told CNN that Means quit mainly over delays in finalizing policies at the center of the MAHA agenda. Three people said so. Chief among them is a federal definition of ultraprocessed food.

A person familiar with the decision told NBC News the same thing. That person called the missing definition "the final straw." The administration teased one in August and has not released it.

That source also pointed to Trump's executive order to boost the U.S. supply of glyphosate, the key ingredient in Roundup. The source added EPA moves that clash with Kennedy's agenda, including weakened mercury emissions standards and rolled-back drinking water limits for certain PFAS chemicals.

CNN's sources said health officials had hoped to finalize the food policies well before the midterms. Instead they hit delays in the White House and sharp pushback from major agriculture industry groups.

At an August HHS event, Means stood beside Kennedy as the secretary promised a crackdown on artificial dyes, sweeteners and other additives. The announcement stopped short of requiring food makers to prove their ingredients are safe, a long-standing MAHA demand.

The Wall Street Journal reported less than a month ago that Means got into a yelling match with top White House officials over the definition of processed food. Insiders told the Journal that White House officials often saw him as "overly aggressive." Neither Means nor the White House has publicly confirmed that account.

The White House response

White House spokesperson Allison Schuster did not dispute the departure. "We are grateful for Calley Means' time in the Trump Administration. He has done a fantastic job for the MAHA movement," she said.

Means himself offered no complaint about the administration. He framed the exit as a transition. He told the Journal he intends to keep pushing the MAHA agenda from outside government.

At a MAHA summit last month he had been blunter about Washington. "D.C. is a tough place," he said. "It's a toxic place."

A movement already restless

The resignation follows a stretch of departures at HHS. Dr. Marty Makary left the FDA in May under pressure from inside and outside the administration. The White House fired CDC director Susan Monarez last year. Trump withdrew the nomination of Means' sister, Dr. Casey Means, for surgeon general in April after it failed to gather enough Senate support over concerns about her views on vaccines, abortion pills and alternative medicine.

Earlier this month, a coalition of MAHA activists, including former Kennedy campaign members, released a "scorecard" claiming the administration had failed most of its promises on pesticides, healthier food and breaking up Washington special interests. Some of those supporters have threatened to abstain from voting. NBC News reports some Democrats are trying to court the movement in the campaign's final days.

Kelly Ryerson, a leader of American Regeneration, took a more charitable view of Means. She said she was "impressed that he completed over two years at HHS fighting the food battle, despite all of the obstacles presented by corporate interests."

Means has drawn criticism of his own. Medical professionals have objected to his advocacy for raw milk, his opposition to fluoride in drinking water, and his description of COVID vaccine mandates for children as a "war crime." He has no health care background.

What comes next

HHS has not said who replaces Means. The administration has not said when, or whether, it will release the ultraprocessed food definition that Means pushed for. The midterms are less than two weeks away, and the activists who helped power Trump's 2024 win are the ones now threatening to sit this one out.