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Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. described himself as a “renegade” but did not directly answer a question in a Thursday interview about his former running mate accusing him of being “controlled.”

The battle concerns President Trump’s new nominee to serve as surgeon general, Casey Means, an ally of Kennedy and the “Make America Healthy Again” community.

“Listen, you’ve got sitting here four people who were all canceled during Covid,” Kennedy said in response to a question on Fox News’s “Special Report” with Bret Baier about remarks made on social media by Nicole Shanahan, his former presidential running mate.

Kennedy was referencing Mehmet Oz, Marty Makary and Jay Bhattacharya, three other Trump administration officials with health care posts who joined him for the interview panel.

“The entire leadership of this agency are renegades who are, you know, who are juggernauts against convention and who are trying to look for truth, no matter what the cost. Casey is among those,” he added, referencing Means.

Shanahan in a post on the social platform X called the announcement of the Means nomination “strange,” adding she was “promised” neither Casey Means nor Calley Means, the brother of Casey Means who has a separate post in the administration, would serve at Health and Human Services or be appointed to any administration post if Shanahan supported Kennedy’s confirmation for the Cabinet post.

“I was promised that if I supported RFK Jr. in his Senate confirmation that neither of these siblings would be working under HHS or in an appointment (and that people much more qualified would be),” Shanahan said. “I don’t know if RFK very clearly lied to me, or what is going on.”

“It has been clear in recent conversations that he is reporting to someone regularly who is controlling his decisions (and it isn’t President Trump),” she added.

Baier concluded the segment by summarizing what he characterized as Kennedy’s answer to his question.

Updated: 3:49 p.m. ET