BREAKING: Trump Administration Pulls Nomination of David Weldon as CDC Director- wna24

Washington: The Trump administration has withdrawn the nomination of Dr David Weldon for the position of director in the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), White House said on Thursday.

The planned hearing on Weldon’s nomination was cancelled by the US Senate health committee on Thursday morning as his nomination was withdrawn.

A source, speaking to Associated Press, anonymously to discuss internal discussions, said that the White House withdrew the nomination after it became clear Weldon lacked enough votes for confirmation.

The 71-year-old retired Florida congressman, Weldon is considered to be closely aligned with his presumptive boss, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the US health secretary who for years has been one of the nation’s leading anti-vaccine activists.

David Weldon is an Army veteran and internal medicine doctor whose main claim to fame was representing a central Florida district in Congress from 1995 to 2009.

After leaving Congress, Weldon practiced medicine in Florida, taught at the Florida Institute of Technology, served as board chairman for the Israel Allies Foundation and made unsuccessful runs at federal and state elected office.

In a March 1 letter to HHS, Weldon said that if confirmed, he would resign from the foundation and two Florida health-care organizations. He also pledged to sell his holdings in energy, pharmaceutical, and health-care funds.

Weldon lacks experience in federal public health, though this is not uncommon. Recent presidential administrations, both Democratic and Republican, have appointed outsiders without CDC experience.