Susan Monarez refused to resign from her post as director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), her attorneys said Wednesday night.
The statement from Monarez’s attorneys offered no details about the source of the disagreement but argued that her firing by Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. was invalid, The New York Times reported.
Soon after however, White House spokesman Kush Desai confirmed to several outlets that Monarez had been terminated.
“As her attorney’s statement makes abundantly clear, Susan Monarez is not aligned with the President’s agenda of Making America Healthy Again,” Desai said in a statement to the Daily Caller News Foundation. “Since Susan Monarez refused to resign despite forming HHS leadership of her intent to do so, the White House has terminated Monarez from her position.”
Monarez’s attorneys, Mark S. Zaid and Abbe David Lowell, who have frequently represented opponents of President Donald Trump, described the firing of Monarez as retaliation for her refusal to enact certain policies they described as “weaponizing public health for political gain and putting millions of American lives at risk.”
Zaid has previously represented the intelligence official whose whistleblower complaint was central to Trump’s 2019 impeachment inquiry. Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard revoked his security clearance in March. Lowell also represents New York Attorney General Letitia James and has previously represented Hunter Biden and former Trump administration staffer Miles Taylor.
The statement referenced the firings of “independent advisory committees and career experts,” but offered no further details about the source of the disagreement. Kennedy restaffed the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) in June, citing the panel’s history of hiring physicians with ties to the pharmaceutical industry, which was the subject of a 2000 congressional investigation.
Reports also emerged Wednesday night of the resignations of four other high-ranking CDC staffers: National Center for Emerging and Zoonotic Infectious Diseases Director Dan Jernigan; Chief Medical Officer Deb Houry; National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases Director Demetre Daskalakis; and Office of Public Health Data, Surveillance, and Technology Director Jennifer Layden.
HHS confirmed Monarez’s departure from the director’s chair in a post on X earlier in the evening.
“Susan Monarez is no longer director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. We thank her for her dedicated service to the American people,” the post reads.
The post does not describe the reason for her ouster, stating only that HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. “has full confidence in his team” at CDC “who will continue to be vigilant in protecting Americans against infectious diseases at home and abroad.”
Susan Monarez is no longer director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. We thank her for her dedicated service to the American people. @SecKennedy has full confidence in his team at @CDCgov who will continue to be vigilant in protecting Americans against infectious…
— HHS.gov (@HHSGov) August 27, 2025
Hints of a shakeup first emerged when CDC canceled an agency-wide call scheduled for Monday, according to the Washington Post.
The Senate confirmed Monarez on July 29.
Monarez’s nomination to the post in March drew criticism from some individuals associated with the Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) movement.
Some criticized her past positions at the Advanced Research Project Agency for Health (ARPA-H) and Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA), research and development arms of HHS. Others criticized social media posts written by Biden’s CDC Director Mandy Cohen that were misattributed to her.
Editor’s note: This article has been updated with comment from the White House as well as additional reporting on the matter.
All content created by the Daily Caller News Foundation, an independent and nonpartisan newswire service, is available without charge to any legitimate news publisher that can provide a large audience. All republished articles must include our logo, our reporter’s byline and their DCNF affiliation. For any questions about our guidelines or partnering with us, please contact [email protected].
