Ex-Trump HHS official tapped as RFK Jr’s chief of staff: report

President-elect Donald Trump transition team has chosen a former senior health official from Trump’s first administration and an ally of top Trump loyalist Harmeet Dhillon as chief of staff to Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a new report showed Monday.

Heather Flick, an attorney who previously held multiple leading roles in the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). during the first Trump administration, he worked closely with Kennedy during the last few weeks as an informal chief of staff, according to Politico. The outlet added Monday that she had been selected by Trump’s transition team to fill the role permanently, according to four familiar sources. The announcement has yet to be made public.

Meanwhile, the law firm that currently employs Flick, as well as its founder, congratulated her on her new position this week on their social media accounts. Fox News Digital reached out The Trump-Vance Transition Team for confirmation, but we did not receive a response in time for publication.

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Flick’s selection to serve in Trump’s second administration is just the latest in a list of Trump loyalists who have landed administration jobs during his second term. When Flick first joined the Trump administration, she served as acting general counsel at HHS before becoming acting secretary of administration and eventually becoming a senior adviser to then-HHS Secretary Alex Azar.

Prior to first joining HHS, Flick was an attorney at Dhillon Law Group, a firm founded by Dhillon, whom Trump has chosen as his assistant attorney general this time.

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Dhillon has represented clients in major conservative civil rights cases and defended Trump supporters in court. During the pandemic, she challenged Democratic governor of California Gavin Newsom stay-at-home orders, and in 2020 she served as co-chair of Lawyers For Trump, a conservative group of lawyers supporting Trump in the 2020 election. Most recently, Dhillon helped lead Trump’s Arizona election integrity team during the 2024 election.

“Heather Flick is outstanding and will most certainly help Robert F. Kennedy Jr. be Health and Human Services Secretary soon,” former Trump national security adviser Michael Flynn said in a post on X following news of Flick’s new role.

Flick’s appointment comes amid grumblings from some Kennedy allies that he might advance an agenda that is not entirely in line with Trump’s world but is more focused on Kennedy’s priorities, Politico reported.

Prospective HHS secretary holds meetings with lawmakers Capitol Hill recently in an attempt to gather support. Both Democrats and Republicans have been highly critical of the HHS secretary nominee’s views on vaccines, while Republicans have also questioned Kennedy during the meetings about his past pro-choice views on abortion.

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Kennedy’s critics questioned his ability to handle major crises like the COVID-19 pandemic and claimed Kennedy was pushing conspiracy theories about things like vaccines and antidepressants. Meanwhile, business leaders also suggest there is cause for concern, given Kennedy’s past claims about the dangers of food additives, pesticides and vaccines.

Flick will be tasked with helping Kennedy clear up some of those criticisms. One former Food and Drug Administration official, who was granted anonymity to speak openly, told Politico that depending on how involved HHS secretaries are in the agency’s work, their chief of staff may end up being “very, very involved.”

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“On high-profile things, if she’s an effective chief of staff, she could be super involved,” the former official added. “I’ve certainly seen that happen in multiple administrations.”