NBA star Rudy Gobert praises RFK Jr nomination for Trump health secretary

Minnesota Timberwolves center Rudy Gobert has endorsed President-elect Donald Trump’s decision to select Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to lead the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). 

In a brief message posted on X Thursday evening, the NBA player voiced his support for Trump’s selection. 

"Let’s go @RobertKennedyJr," the message read. 

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The president-elect, who won back the presidency just last week, announced his pick on Thursday. Kennedy, who initially entered the race for the presidency as a democrat before switching to an independent run and eventually dropping out to endorse Trump’s campaign, thanked the president-elect with a post on X. 

"We have a generational opportunity to bring together the greatest minds in science, medicine, industry, and government to put an end to the chronic disease epidemic," he wrote.  "I look forward to working with the more than 80,000 employees at HHS to free the agencies from the smothering cloud of corporate capture so they can pursue their mission to make Americans once again the healthiest people on Earth."

Kennedy pledged to "clean up corruption, stop the revolving door between industry and government, and return our health agencies to their rich tradition of gold-standard, evidence-based science." 

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Kennedy’s selection was met with both a wave of criticism and praise largely connected to stance on vaccines. 

U.S. Rep. Robert Garcia, D-Calif. Called Kennedy’s nomination "f---ing insane," slamming him as a "vaccine denier" and a "tin foil hat conspiracy theorist." Democratic Colorado Gov. Jared Polis, however, praised the selection, adding that Kennedy "helped us defeat vaccine mandates in Colorado." 

Many users on social media called Gobert out over the post. The four-time Defensive Player of the Year was famously one of the first players in the NBA known to have contracted COVID-19 in 2020. 

Gobert signed a contract with the T-Wolves for $205 million over five years, a deal he signed in December 2020 while still a member of the Utah Jazz. 

Fox News’ Louis Casiano and Sarah Rumpf-Whitten contributed to this report. 

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