Politico reports:

Just months after Donald Trump promised to let Robert F. Kennedy Jr. “go wild” on health care as a member of his Cabinet, some of the president-elect’s advisers are quietly trying to box him in.

Transition officials plan to install several longtime GOP allies in senior roles across the health department, filling out key parts of Kennedy’s leadership team well before he could be confirmed as Health and Human Services secretary.

The push aims to surround Kennedy with conservative policymakers who can compensate for his lack of government experience and MAGA credentials — while also ensuring the White House can keep close tabs on an HHS nominee who many Trump aides still don’t fully trust, said a half-dozen Republicans familiar with the transition’s activities, who were granted anonymity to discuss private deliberations.

“There’s a fear that they’ve put a Kennedy as health secretary — so not only a Democrat but a Democrat that happens to be a Kennedy,” said one former senior Trump health official involved in the transition discussions, granted anonymity to discuss internal matters. “The White House absolutely wants to make sure they have their people around him.”

The transition has tapped veteran GOP lawyer Heather Flick to be Kennedy’s chief of staff, a role from which she could broadly influence the department’s day-to-day priorities. Flick, who was a senior HHS official during the first Trump term, is regarded as a committed conservative who can keep the department focused on executing the White House’s agenda. [Continue reading…]