President Trump wants to vindicate late baseball great Pete Rose, who was banned by Major League Baseball from the game for life and from eligibility to be inducted into the Hall of Fame legacy over his gambling activities.

Late Friday, Trump’s thoughts turned toward seeking to exonerate Rose, with the president saying he plans to issue a “complete PARDON” of the controversial ballplayer. That came after Trump earlier in the day made global headlines for attacking Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky at a White House meeting for being “disrespectful” to the U.S. for not showing gratitude over the Trump administration’s efforts to broker a peace deal with Russia, which launched a war on Ukraine in 2022.

Trump, in a post Friday evening on his Truth Social social media platform, wrote that over the next few weeks “I will be signing a complete PARDON of Pete Rose, who shouldn’t have been gambling on baseball, but only bet on HIS TEAM WINNING.” Trump wrote that Rose “never betted against himself, or the other team. He had the most hits, by far, in baseball history, and won more games than anyone in sports history.”

It’s unclear what Trump’s pardon of Rose might entail or whether it would influence the MLB to reconsider Rose’s status.

In 1990, Rose pleaded guilty to two charges of filing false federal income tax returns related to his baseball memorabilia sales, autograph signings and personal appearances, and he served five months in prison.

In 1989, Major League Baseball banned Rose from the game for life over accusations that he bet on games while playing for and managing the Reds. Rose denied the accusations for years before admitting in his 2004 autobiography “My Prison Without Bars” that he had gambled on Reds games when he managed the team. In 1991, the Baseball Hall of Fame voted to ban those on the “permanently ineligible” list from induction, preventing Rose’s chances of being selected for the honor. Rose had applied for reinstatement multiple times over the years but was always denied. In 2016, Rose was inducted into the Cincinnati Reds Hall of Fame.

According to Trump, “Major League Baseball didn’t have the courage or decency to put the late, great, Pete Rose, also known as ‘Charlie Hustle,’ into the Baseball Hall of fame. Now he is dead, will never experience the thrill of being selected, even though he was a FAR BETTER PLAYER than most of those who made it, and can only be named posthumously. WHAT A SHAME!” The president wrote that “Baseball, which is dying all over the place, should get off its fat, lazy ass, and elect Pete Rose, even though far too late, into the Baseball Hall of Fame!”

Rose died Sept. 30, 2024, at the age of 83. The 17-time MLB All-Star currently holds the league record for most career hits (4,256) as well as games played, at-bats and outs made.

Rose played 24 seasons in Major League Baseball from 1963-1986, taking the field in multiple different positions. He was known for his professional playing time with the Reds’ “Big Red Machine,” which won back-to-back World Series titles in 1975 and 1976. He also had brief stints with the Philadelphia Phillies and Montreal Expos, winning another World Series title with the Phillies in 1980.

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A judge on Monday refused to grant the Associated Press immediate access to the White House press pool, amid an ongoing dispute over President Trump’s renaming of the Gulf of Mexico.

Judge Trevor McFadden, a Trump appointee, denied the AP’s motion for a temporary restraining order. But he will later consider a request for a preliminary injunction.

For the last two weeks, the White House has barred AP reporters from accessing events in the Oval Office and the East Room. The organization’s White House press credentials have not been revoked, but its reporters have been excluded from areas covered by the 13-member pool, which also includes Air Force One.

According to the AP, the judge found that the AP had not demonstrated it is suffering “irreparable harm” — a requirement to obtain a restraining order. But he also said that the White House move to target one organization is “problematic.” The judge also warned the government the case law on press access “is uniformly unhelpful to the White House,” and advised that it may want to reconsider is position.

The White House responded with a statement declaring “victory against the Associated Press.”

“As we have said from the beginning, asking the President of the United States questions in the Oval Office and aboard Air Force One is a privilege granted to journalists, not a legal right,” the White House said. “We stand by our decision to hold the Fake News accountable for their lies, and President Trump will continue to grant an unprecedented level of access to the press. This is the most transparent Administration in history.”

The AP said it will continue to fight the issue.

“We look forward to our next hearing on March 20 where we will continue to stand for the right of the press and the public to speak freely without government retaliation,” said AP spokesperson Lauren Easton. “This is a fundamental American freedom.”

The AP filed a lawsuit on Friday, arguing that the move is retaliation for the organization’s refusal to adopt Trump’s new name, the Gulf of America, in lieu of the traditional name. The organization argued that Trump is seeking to compel speech in violation of the First Amendment.

The AP sought a temporary restraining order that would immediately restore access to pooled events while the case is pending. In response, the Justice Department argued that the AP has not been prevented from covering White House events because its reporters are able to rely on the reporting from other members of the pool.

Trump issued an executive order on Jan. 20 renaming the body of water the Gulf of America.

The AP refused to adopt that name in its influential Style Guide, noting that other countries that surround the gulf have not gone along with it, and that the body of water has been called the Gulf of Mexico for 400 years.

“The Associated Press will refer to it by its original name while acknowledging the new name Trump has chosen,” the outlet declared. “As a global news agency that disseminates news around the world, the AP must ensure that place names and geography are easily recognizable to all audiences.”

The decision rankled the White House. On Feb. 14, Taylor Budowich, the deputy chief of staff, wrote on X that the AP had chosen to ignore the gulf’s “lawful geographic name.”

“This decision is not just divisive, but it also exposes the Associated Press’ commitment to misinformation,” Budowich said.

The White House Correspondents Association has traditionally determined the pool assignment, which has included an AP reporter and photographer among the 13 members.

In opposing the restraining order, the DOJ lawyers argued that the president can choose whom to afford special access.

“Just as the President need not furnish a personal interview to all journalistic comers, the President has
discretion to decide who will have special media access to exclusive events within the Oval Office,” they wrote.

The DOJ also argued that the AP is being treated like the majority of outlets that cover the White House, which do not participate in the pool.

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President Trump took sharp aim at Comcast, claiming that the media giant — because of MSNBC‘s editorial content — should have to “pay vast sums of money for the damage they’ve done” to the U.S. Trump also railed against Comcast chief Brian Roberts, MSNBC’s Joy Reid and others in a post shared Sunday evening on social media.

In the post, Trump insulted Roberts as “Chairman of ‘Concast’” and a “lowlife.” The U.S. president also called Reid a “mentally obnoxious racist” who “should have been ‘canned’ long ago, along with everyone else who works” at MSNBC.

The trigger for Trump’s tirade was the news that Comcast-owned MSNBC is removing Reid and Alex Wagner from its primetime lineup.

“This whole corrupt operation is nothing more than an illegal arm of the Democrat Party,” Trump wrote, referring to MSNBC, in a post on Truth Social on Sunday night. “They should be forced to pay vast sums of money for the damage they’ve done to our Country. Fake News is an UNPARDONABLE SIN!”

It is unclear who Trump is suggesting Comcast be forced to pay or what authority exists for extracting such payment.

Comcast did not immediately provide comment on Trump’s rant.

Trump has long had a contentious relationship with the media — but he’s stepped up his attacks in recent months. Trump sued CBS News over a “60 Minutes” interview with former VP Kamala Harris that aired in Oct. 7, alleging the news program deceptively edited the video. Earlier this month amended his lawsuit against CBS to demand damages of $20 billion. Last year Trump sued ABC News and George Stephanopoulos after the anchor inaccurately stated on-air that Trump had been found liable for rape; in December, Disney and ABC News agreed to pay $15 million toward a Trump presidential foundation and museum.

Here is Trump’s unedited comment shared Sunday on Truth Social, the Twitter-style social network operated by his company Trump Media & Technology Group:

Lowlife Chairman of “Concast,” Brian Roberts, the owner of Ratings Challenged NBC and MSDNC, has finally gotten the nerve up to fire one of the least talented people in television, the mentally obnoxious racist, Joy Reid. Based on her ratings, which were virtually non-existent, she should have been “canned” long ago, along with everyone else who works there. Also thrown out was Alex Wagner, the sub on the seriously failing Rachel Maddow show. Rachel rarely shows up because she knows there’s nobody watching, and she also knows that she’s got less television persona than virtually anyone on television except, perhaps, Joy Reid. Then there’s, of course, the LOW IQ Con Man, Al Sharpton, who has, perhaps, the lowest TV ratings in the history of television. What is he doing to Brian Roberts to stay on the air? This whole corrupt operation is nothing more than an illegal arm of the Democrat Party. They should be forced to pay vast sums of money for the damage they’ve done to our Country. Fake News is an UNPARDONABLE SIN!

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The Associated Press sued three Trump administration officials Friday over the White House ban on the news organization’s access to presidential events. The White House has blocked AP reporters and photographers over its refusal to refer to the Gulf of Mexico as the “Gulf of America,” which is what President Trump last month ordered the body of water to be henceforth called.

The AP, citing the First Amendment, asked a federal judge to stop the White House from blocking its journalists. The AP’s lawsuit names White House chief of staff Susan Wiles, deputy chief of staff Taylor Budowich and press secretary Karoline Leavitt as defendants.

“The White House has ordered the Associated Press to use certain words in its coverage or else face an indefinite denial of access,” the news org says in the complaint. “The press and all people in the United States have the right to choose their own words and not be retaliated against by the government. The Constitution does not allow the government to control speech. Allowing such government control and retaliation to stand is a threat to every American’s freedom.”

Steven Cheung, the White House communications director, blasted the wire service in a written response.

“The AP’s frivolous and demented lawsuit is nothing more than a blatant PR stunt masquerading as a first amendment case,” Cheung said. “They are clearly suffering from a severe, debilitating case of Trump Derangement Syndrome that has rotted their peanut-sized brains. We will defeat them in court just like we crushed their leftist reporters at the ballot box.”

The AP seeks a court ruling ordering the Trump officials to “immediately rescind” their denial of the AP’s access to the Oval Office, Air Force One and other limited spaces “when such spaces are made open to other White House press pool members.” It also seeks an order declaring that White House’s ban violates the First and Fifth Amendments, as well as a monetary award covering AP’s legal costs incurred in the lawsuit.

A copy of the lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, is available at this link.

On Feb. 14, White House said it would indefinitely bar the news organization from access to the Oval Office and Air Force One over the issue. “The Associated Press continues to ignore the lawful geographic name change of the Gulf of America,” Budowich said in a post on X. “This decision is not just divisive, but it also exposes the Associated Press’ commitment to misinformation. While their right to irresponsible and dishonest reporting is protected by the First Amendment, it does not ensure their privilege of unfettered access to limited spaces, like the Oval Office and Air Force One.”

According to the AP’s lawsuit, Wiles sent a Feb. 18 email to the new org to explain “why we arrived in this point.” In the email, Wiles wrote that the White House was targeting the AP because its stylebook “is used by many as a standard for writing and editing” and that it “advises journalists, scholars and classrooms around our country,” per the complaint. Wiles also wrote that “we remain hopeful that the name of the [Gulf] will be appropriately reflected in the [AP] Stylebook where American audiences are concerned.” The AP’s lawsuit said the implication was that the news organization “could change its guidance as to American audiences to resolve the issue and restore its access.”

The AP, in a style guide decision announced last month, said it would continue to call it the Gulf of Mexico “while acknowledging the new name Trump has chosen. As a global news agency that disseminates news around the world, the AP must ensure that place names and geography are easily recognizable to all audiences.”

In addition to the AP, other news outlets that are adhering to calling it the Gulf of Mexico include the New York Times, Bloomberg News, Reuters, the New Yorker and the Los Angeles Times. Both Apple and Google have updated their map apps to reflect Trump’s name change to the Gulf of America.

The AP, formed in 1846, claims its journalism reaches 4 billion people per day via major news outlets around the world. In the lawsuit, it noted that the AP has participated in the White House press pool since its creation more than a century ago, “which has made it possible for the AP to deliver to the public timely and thorough reporting on the President almost everywhere he goes, which is information critical to the public.”

Trump, on his first day in office for a second term as U.S. president, signed an executive order that among other things directed the Secretary of the Interior to adopt the name “Gulf of America” to replace the long-held name of the body of water “extending to the seaward boundary with Mexico and Cuba.”

At a Feb. 18 event at his Mar-a-Lago estate, Trump told reporters, “We’re going to keep [the AP] out until such time as they agree that it’s the Gulf of America.” He added, “We’re very proud of this country, and we want it to be the Gulf of America.” Trump claimed that the AP “has been very, very wrong on the election on Trump and the treatment of Trump and other things having to do with Trump and Republicans and conservatives. And they’re doing us no favors. And I guess I’m doing them no favors. That’s the way life works.”

Trump’s Jan. 20 executive order also said Alaska’s Denali mountain would be revert to its previous name, Mount McKinley; the AP said it would recognize that change, because the “area lies solely in the United States and as president, Trump has the authority to change federal geographical names within the country.”

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George Clooney had some pointed remarks about the Donald Trump administration, describing the current political climate as one where people “don’t worry about facts.”

“You take a narrative, you make it up, don’t worry about facts, don’t worry about repercussions,” Clooney told the New York Times’ Maureen Dowd.

Clooney spoke to the Times about preparing for his Broadway debut in “Good Night, and Good Luck,” the stage version of the film he co-wrote and directed. The story revolves around journalist Edward R. Murrow as he goes up against Joseph R. McCarthy, the U.S. senator known for the turbulent period of McCarthyism. Clooney will play Murrow in the Broadway play instead of Fred Friendly, his character in the original film.

During this current Trump presidency, “No rules count anymore,” Clooney said. “It’s like letting an infant walk across the 405 freeway in the middle of the afternoon.”

“I believe that whole idea of the arc of history bending toward justice, and I know it doesn’t feel that way right now,” Clooney continued. “I think there are always these pendulum swings. The first Trump election was, I believe, a result of eight years of a Black president.”

He also commented on the election. “The Biden administration was terrible at explaining that we’re a world economy, where we were actually doing better than all the other G7 countries. They were bad at telling the story because their messenger was not working at his best, to say the least,” Clooney said.

Clooney also addressed the possible CBS News settlement over a “60 Minutes” interview of Kamala Harris that Trump took issue with. The news organization’s parent company Paramount Global and its controlling owner Shari Redstone are reportedly considering a settlement because of the deal with Skydance Media that’s in the works.

In the Times piece, Clooney agreed with Jake Tapper’s comment that the settlement “would be the network of Edward R. Murrow at the behest of its owners saying ‘We will not speak truth to power. We will acquiesce to power at the expense of truth.’”

“It has a chilling effect on the press,” Clooney said to the Times.

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The Associated Press is still referring to the Gulf of Mexico by that name — despite President Trump’s decree that it now be called the Gulf of America — and now the White House said it will indefinitely bar the news organization from access to the Oval Office and Air Force One.

In a post on X Friday, White House deputy chief of staff Taylor Budowich wrote, “The Associated Press continues to ignore the lawful geographic name change of the Gulf of America. This decision is not just divisive, but it also exposes the Associated Press’ commitment to misinformation. While their right to irresponsible and dishonest reporting is protected by the First Amendment, it does not ensure their privilege of unfettered access to limited spaces, like the Oval Office and Air Force One. Going forward, that space will now be opened up to the many thousands of reporters who have been barred from covering these intimate areas of the administration.”

Budowich added that AP journalists and photographers will retain their credentials to the White House complex.

The AP did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the latest development. It has formally objected to the White House’s move to limit its access based on the Gulf of Mexico/Gulf of America issue, and other media organizations also have slammed the Trump administration’s decision. The not-for-profit news org has noted that it serves a global audience — and that the body of water has been called the Gulf of Mexico for more than 400 years.

“It is alarming that the Trump administration would punish AP for its independent journalism,” AP executive editor Julie Pace said in a statement Tuesday, after the White House blocked one of its reporters from an event in the Oval Office because of the nomenclature dispute. “Limiting our access to the Oval Office based on the content of AP’s speech not only severely impedes the public’s access to independent news, it plainly violates the First Amendment.”

Pace, in a letter sent Wednesday to White House chief of staff Susie Wiles, wrote that “the AP is prepared to vigorously defend its constitutional rights and protest the infringement on the public’s right to independent news coverage of their government and elected officials.”

Like the AP, other news outlets are adhering to calling it the Gulf of Mexico, including the New York Times, Bloomberg News, Reuters, the New Yorker and the Los Angeles Times. A spokesperson for the New York Times told Niemen Lab that “it is an international body of water that has been known as the Gulf of Mexico for several hundred years. We will continue to follow common usage in updating our style guidance, like we have done in the past with other areas of the world. We’ll continue to cover the news of the President’s executive order fairly and in service of our audiences, and will refer to ‘Gulf of America’ when needed for reader context.”

Meanwhile, both Apple and Google have updated their map apps to reflect Trump’s name change to the Gulf of America. Users of Google Maps in the U.S. now see the new name, while those in Mexico will see it called the Gulf of Mexico (and both names will appear for users in other countries). Apple Maps refers to the body of water as the Gulf of America worldwide.

Trump, on his first day in office for a second term as U.S. president, signed an executive order that among other things directed the Secretary of the Interior to adopt the name “Gulf of America” to replace the long-held name of the body of water “extending to the seaward boundary with Mexico and Cuba.”

Trump’s executive order also said Alaska’s Denali mountain would be revert to its previous name, Mount McKinley; the AP said it would recognize that change, because the “area lies solely in the United States and as president, Trump has the authority to change federal geographical names within the country.”

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With the Paramount+ prequel series “Dexter: Original Sin” going back in time to explore the formative experiences of 20-year-old avenging serial killer (Patrick Gibson), there’s a hope that it will help turn back the clock for the production community in Miami, which serves as the setting for both it and the original show, “Dexter” (2006-2013). Like its predecessor, “Dexter: Original Sin” does the bulk of its shooting in Los Angeles and Long Beach, but it’s still a good advertisement for what Miami has to offer producers.

“We wanted to get the full impact of the beauty and the texture and the architecture, the water and the atmosphere that is specific in Miami,” says Danielle Blumstein, co-head of production for Counterpart Studios, which produces the series with Showtime Studios. “We looked for locations that would help ground us and kind of celebrate that city.”

“Dexter” is one of several Miami-set projects that have materialized in recent months, including the Netflix medical show “Pulse,” which shoots in both Miami and Albuquerque, N.M., and Peacock’s upcoming crime thriller series “M.I.A.”

A big reason for the uptick in production is the High Impact Film Fund. Launched by Miami-Dade County in May 2024 in response to the state of Florida’s continued unwillingness to reestablish a film and TV incentive, it offers a cash rebate of up to 20%. Productions must have a minimum budget of $5 million, base 90% of the Florida shoot in the county and have 60% of the below-the-line crew be county residents and 70% of their vendors be locally registered businesses.

“The program has been a great success,” says Miami-Dade County film commissioner Marco Giron. “We’ve managed to attract large scale projects to Miami-Dade County that otherwise would not have been in our region.”

The city of Miami Beach also offers its own incentive, stackable with the county’s, that targets smaller productions, including commercials, which are not eligible for most programs. Projects shooting three days or more with a minimum spend of $25,000 can qualify for a $10,000 cash rebate.

“We call it the small-but-mighty film incentive,” says Lissette Garcia Arrogante, director of tourism and culture for the city of Miami Beach. Also, “our film permits are free, we don’t charge you for square footage fees, and we give you some free vehicle access passes for shooting on the beachfront.”

Miami-Dade is sweetening the pot further via a partnership with the Commonwealth of the Bahamas that calls for the latter to create a film and TV incentive that can be stacked with the High Impact Film Fund.

It might seem redundant, given that both locales are known for their beaches, but Miami’s are backed by an urban skyline, while the Bahamas’ have a more isolated feel and boast turquoise waters almost as clear as a swimming pool. The archipelago also offers a unique island culture

“In the Bahamas you get, music, you get festivals, you get interesting foods … the way people speak,” says Bahamas film commissioner Clarence Rolle. “And it’s just a tropical feast when it comes to the scenery, the look.”

Scheduled to launch in March, the Bahamas incentive will offer a 30% rebate for projects with a minimum local spend of $100,000. But the rebate only applies to the first $120,000 of expenditures.

Miami-Dade’s incentive also has some limitations, notably it’s $10 million annual cap, which effectively keeps big-budget tentpole features from basing the entirety of their shoot in the county. In contrast, its neighbor to the north, Georgia, has an uncapped film and TV tax credit program that pays out more than a billion dollars every year. This is why 2024’s Miami-set “Bad Boys: Ride or Die,” which had a reported budget of $100 million, did the bulk of its shooting in Atlanta, spending only a few weeks in Florida.

“If you want to shoot South Beach, it’s pretty hard to re-create it somewhere else, so that helps us,” says James (Jimmy) Roberts, business manager of IATSE Local 477 in Miami, the union that reps the majority of the crew members working on film, television and commercial projects in the state. But given what’s available in Georgia, “it’s kind of irresponsible to go somewhere else from a fiscal perspective.”

It was competition from Georgia and Louisiana (which boasts a tax credit of up to 40%) that led the Florida legislature to pass an incentive package in 2010 that offered a 20% base tax credit, with additional 5% bumps for shooting in the off-season (June 1-Nov. 30) and family-friendly productions, for a potential total of 30%.

The incentive helped keep USA Net work’s long-running “Burn Notice” (2007-2013) in the state and attracted series such as Netflix’s “Bloodline,” Starz’s “Magic City” and HBO’s “Ballers,” starring Dwayne Johnson, as well as features including “Step Up Revolution” and the Los Angeles-set “Rock of Ages,” starring Tom Cruise. But the Florida legislature let the incentive expire in 2016. Subsequently, “Bloodline” was cancelled and “Ballers” relocated to Los Angeles, after shooting two sea sons in Miami, to take advantage of California’s tax credit.

“When we did ‘Burn Notice,’ we had a community of vendors that really weren’t directly related to film,” says veteran production manager E.K. Keratsis. “Dry cleaners, bodegas, food delivery — little mom and little pop places that thrived on our backs. A lot of those small places closed up. They either went to Georgia or just shut down.”

Absent big Hollywood projects, the local Miami crew base has subsisted primarily on commercial shoots that come from around the world to take advantage of the beautiful beaches, year-round sunshine and a steady stream of reality shows such as “The Real Housewives of Miami” and “Love & Hip Hop: Miami.” It also greatly benefits from the presence of Spanish-language television giants Telemundo and Univision, which have large studio complexes in Miami and nearby Doral, respectively, and bring in major events like the Latin Grammys and the Billboard Awards that have a trickle-down effect on employment.

For example, “the Billboard Awards put on a small concert series. Their agency hired a production company out of Los Angeles, who then in turn hires us to produce and film the entire concert,” explains director of photography Adolfo Ferro of Miami-based Fifty Three Films. “And then through out that concert, you have other activations happening. You have Pizza Hut, doing interviews in one area; you’ve got Burger King doing interviews in another. Everyone just kind of takes advantage of the hub and the amount of talent that’s coming down here.”

Not all the project flow is incoming: In December, it was reported that the Apple+ series “Bad Monkey,” which shot its first season on Florida locations including Miami, would be shooting its second season in California, where it had qualified for $20.6 million in tax credits. But filmmakers like Harmony Korine, who’s shot a string of movies in Florida including “Spring Breakers” (2012) and “Baby Invasion” (2024), are determined to stay put, come what may.

“Harmony’s whole thing is, yes, he cares about the incentives, but for him, when he gets stuck on an area and he likes [it], he’s going to shoot here no matter what,” says “Baby Invasion” producer Judd Allison. “Instead of doing some of the huge budget stuff, we’ve done some independent films and we’re still able to work here.”

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Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the president’s controversial choice to lead the Department of Health and Human Services, was confirmed Thursday by a 52-48 vote in the Senate.

A longtime critic of vaccines, Kennedy will oversee the nation’s sprawling health care bureaucracy, which includes the Food and Drug Administration, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and Medicare and Medicaid.

Mitch McConnell, the former Republican leader, was the sole senator to cross party lines, voting no. Sens. Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski, both moderate Republicans, came out in favor of confirmation prior to the vote.

In a statement Wednesday, Murkowski said that while she had earlier “misgivings” about Kennedy, she was swayed by his commitment to addressing chronic illness as a driver of high health care costs.

“This is the appeal of RFK, and many Alaskans have shared that view with me,” she said.

Democrats uniformly opposed the confirmation. Sen. Charles Schumer, the Democratic leader, called Kennedy a “wildly unqualified conspiracy theorist.” Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Oregon, argued that “kids in America will die,” as parents will be discouraged from vaccinating their children due to Kennedy’s views. He said that Republicans will come to regret their vote.

“It seems they care more about staying in the good graces of Donald Trump than they do about protecting the lives of kids,” Wyden said.

The Senate Finance Committee voted on party lines to advance the nomination to the Senate floor last week. Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-Louisiana, had been publicly wavering but came out in support on shortly before the committee vote, saying he had received “serious commitments” from the administration.

At Kennedy’s confirmation hearing two weeks ago, Cassidy, a doctor, sought to get him to agree that vaccines do not cause autism. Kennedy said he would do so “if you show me data.” He also pledged that he would not hinder vaccine programs funded by Congress.

Cassidy said on the Senate floor last week that he had received hundreds of messages about his vote on the nomination, including from pediatricians who are alarmed at the decline in vaccination rates. He said he expected to work closely with Kennedy.

“His success will be tied to the health of our nation,” Cassidy said.

Kennedy began his career as an environmental attorney. He ran for president last year, initially as a Democrat, before switching to an independent and then dropping out. He endorsed President Trump, and vowed to work to “make America healthy again.”

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