CDC Director Susan Monarez won’t leave the post until Trump fires her directly, lawyers say

Lawyers for Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Susan Monarez say a termination notice from the administration was insufficient and she will remain at her post until they hear directly from President Trump.

The Department of Health and Human Services said late Wednesday that Ms. Monarez, who took over the CDC on July 31 after Senate confirmation, was “no longer director.” The White House said she was not following Mr. Trump’s agenda.

One of Ms. Monarez’s lawyers Mark Zaid said that won’t cut it.

“As a presidential appointee, Senate-confirmed officer, only the president himself can fire her,” he wrote on X. “For this reason, we reject notification Dr. Monarez has received as legally deficient and she remains as CDC Director. We have notified the White House Counsel of our position.”

Besides Ms. Monarez, four top health officials announced on Tuesday that they were stepping down.

They are CDC Chief Medical Officer Debra Houry; National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases Director Demetre Daskalakis; National Center for Emerging and Zoonotic Infectious Diseases Director Daniel Jernigan; and Jen Layden, director of the CDC Office of Public Health Data, Surveillance and Technology.

The shake-up at the CDC is the latest sign of upheaval at health institutions under Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

Mr. Kennedy attracted a massive following with his Make America Healthy Again agenda, particularly his focus on diet and eradicating food additives. He also tapped into skepticism around health experts who led the polarizing federal response to COVID-19.

But his history of vaccine skepticism and decision to shake up advisory boards, which offer vaccine guidance, made experts and doctors nervous.

“First, it was independent advisory committees and career experts. Then it was the dismissal of seasoned scientists. Now, Secretary Kennedy and HHS have set their sights on weaponizing public health for political gain and putting millions of American lives at risk,” Mr. Zaid and lawyer Abbe Lowell said in a statement. “When CDC Director Susan Monarez refused to rubber-stamp unscientific, reckless directives and fire dedicated health experts, she chose protecting the public over serving a political agenda.”

Sen. Bill Cassidy, Louisiana Republican and chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, said he planned to look into the departures.

“These high-profile departures will require oversight by the HELP Committee,” Mr. Cassidy said on X.

Earlier this year, the senator cast a critical vote for Mr. Kennedy as health secretary after struggling with his nomination.

But Mr. Cassidy on Thursday signaled his patience is wearing thin with HHS leadership. 

He called for the postponement of a Sept. 18 meeting of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, a board whose membership was rearranged by Mr. Kennedy, fearing it would lean into vaccine skepticism.

The meeting is slated to look at recommendations around the COVID-19 vaccines, hepatitis B vaccines, the measles, mumps, rubella, varicella (MMRV) vaccine and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV).

Dr. Richard Besser, a former CDC director who leads the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, said Thursday at a press conference that he spoke to Ms. Monarez on Wednesday. She was worried that Mr. Kennedy would force her to cross two red lines.

“One was anything that was deemed illegal, and the second was anything that she felt flew in the face of science,” Dr. Besser said. “And she said she was asked to do both of those, one in terms of firing her leadership, who are talented civil servants like herself, and the other was to rubber-stamp ACIP recommendations that flew in the face of science. And she was not going to do either of those things.”

Mr. Cassidy said he was concerned about the ACIP allegations and the “lack of scientific process” around the panel’s upcoming meeting.

“These decisions directly impact children’s health and the meeting should not occur until significant oversight has been conducted. If the meeting proceeds, any recommendations made should be rejected as lacking legitimacy given the seriousness of the allegations and the current turmoil in CDC leadership.

Democrats, meanwhile, said Mr. Kennedy had unleashed chaos at HHS. 

Earlier this year, a gunman opened fire on CDC offices in Atlanta, killing a police officer. The shooter reportedly was upset about the COVID-19 vaccines.

“All of RFK’s actions have been building to systematically dismantle the CDC and ultimately destroy our public health institutions: firing hundreds of dedicated CDC staffers, slashing the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices and the public trust in their recommendations, and his violent rhetoric and vaccine misinformation that then spurred an attack on the public health officials who keep us safe,” said Sen. Angela Alsobrooks, Maryland Democrat. “It is not Dr. Monarez or other CDC leaders who should have lost their jobs — it should be RFK.”

While Mr. Trump offered no public statements about the matter, the White House on Thursday stood by its move to terminate Ms. Monarez.

“As her attorney’s statement makes abundantly clear, Susan Monarez is not aligned with the President’s agenda of Making America Healthy Again,” said White House spokesman Kush Desai. “Since Susan Monarez refused to resign despite informing HHS leadership of her intent to do so, the White House has terminated Monarez from her position with the CDC.”

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Mr. Trump or Mr. Kennedy would announce a replacement soon.

She also took aim at Dr. Daskalakis for the wording he used in his resignation letter.

“One of those individuals wrote in his departure statement that he identifies pregnant women as ’pregnant people,’ so that is not someone who we want in this administration anyway,” she said.

The clash is the second instance this week in which the White House moved to get rid of an employee, only to face resistance from an official.

Earlier, Mr. Trump fired Lisa Cook as a Federal Reserve Board governor over allegations of mortgage fraud. Yet Ms. Cook, who plans to sue, said Mr. Trump lacked the authority to oust her and hasn’t taken leave.