Ahead of his trek to Capitol Hill next week, Health and Human Services Secretary designee Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is reportedly lobbying for his daughter-in-law and former campaign manager Amaryllis Fox Kennedy to land the No. 2 role at the CIA.
RFK Jr., 70, is working the phones hoping to get her in as the deputy director at the CIA, which would not require a Senate confirmation, Axios reported.
President-elect Donald Trump has already named former Director of National Intelligence (DNI) John Ratcliffe as his pick for CIA director. But he hasn’t announced his selection for the No. 2 perch.
Fox Kennedy, 40, has experience at the spy agency, claiming to have worked there between 2002 and 2010 as an officer under “nonofficial cover” with no diplomatic protections. She’s publicly recounted how she was inspired to join in the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
She later opened up about her experiences in a 2019 memoir, “Life Undercover: Coming of Age in the CIA,” and has emerged as a fierce skeptic of the spy agency.
That book was the subject of controversy because she lacked the blessing of the CIA’s Publication Review Board, NBC News reported. That approval process was aimed at ensuring the agency’s secrets stay under wraps.
Fox Kennedy is married to RFK Jr.’s son, Robert F. Kennedy III, and managed his unsuccessful 2024 campaign. Ultimately, RFK Jr. dropped out of the race in August and partnered with Trump.
While the deputy director of the CIA perch is still open, there had been rumors that former Trump administration officials Cliff Sims and Kash Patel had been pursuing that role, Politico reported.
Patel has since notched Trump’s forthcoming nomination to serve as FBI director.
Should Fox Kennedy land the role, she would be far from the only skeptic of the intelligence community and war hawks in Trump’s next administration.
The 45th and soon-to-be 47th president has also tapped former Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (D-Hawaii), now a Republican, as his DNI pick, who is tasked with overseeing collaboration between the 17 intelligence agencies.
During his process for staffing the next administration, Trump, 78, hasn’t shied away from unorthodox picks and has demonstrated an eagerness to tap loyalists and change agents.
RFK Jr., himself, has become a controversial pick due to his skepticism of vaccine safety measures and sexual assault accusations.
Among Republicans, there is particular unease over his support for abortion, given the fact that he would be overseeing the government’s health policies.
One of the Kennedy scion’s main focuses has been his mission to “Make America Healthy Again” (MAHA). In particular, tackling food policy and the chronic disease crisis has garnered some praise from Democratic-aligned lawmakers like Sens. Cory Booker (D-NJ) and Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.)
Trump has teased plans to let RFK Jr. “go wild” with health care policy but underscored that he wants to keep him away from oil, given the Kennedy scion’s past crusades against fossil fuels.
RFK Jr. will make the rounds with senators for at least four days next week on Capitol Hill as he works to lock down the forthcoming HHS secretary nomination, his spox confirmed to The Post.
The Post attempted to contact Fox Kennedy and reached out to RFK Jr.’s spokesperson for comment.
