Mayor Eric Adams on Friday avoided commenting on Donald Trump’s controversial announcement that he intends to appoint Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as US Health Secretary, continuing his recent trend of refraining from criticizing the Republican President-elect.
During a Nov. 15 interview on ABC’s The View, Hizzoner declined to offer an opinion on Trump’s intention to tap Kennedy, who has come under heavy fire for embracing controversial medical theories, including vaccine skepticism, to lead the Health and Human Services Department. Trump has said he would let Kennedy “go wild on health” — suggesting Kennedy would have free rein to steer the department with his unorthodox views on health and medicine.
“Executives will nominate and bring in those who they believe will move their vision forward,” Adams said, sidestepping a question on what he thinks about Kennedy’s appointment.
Kennedy, who joined Trump’s campaign after ending his own independent run for president, does not have a degree in medicine or any health-related field.
However, the mayor did note that he does believe in the longstanding practice of water fluoridation, which helps prevent tooth decay, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
“I believe we should have fluoride in the water based on what my experts are telling me,” Adams said of the practice that the city has used since the 1960s.
Kennedy claims that water fluoridation is linked to all kinds of medical issues including arthritis, bone fractures and IQ loss and will advise state and local governments against doing it.
Adams initially hesitated to endorse fluoridating the city’s drinking water when he was asked about it the day following Trump’s election win.
“I’m not too familiar with the whole conversation around fluoride, what makes it good or bad,” he said at the time.
The mayor did appear to align with Kennedy on his skepticism around America’s food systems. Adams embraced a plant-based diet after he says he nearly went blind from diabetes brought on from years of eating unhealthy processed food.
Kennedy has said he wants to remove ultra processed foods from schools and push for removing additives from foods. Adams similarly identified problems with processed foods on Friday.
“Let’s be clear, there are real problems with our food in our country, and we need to watch what we feed in our children,” Adams said. He identified the main problem as “too much hormones.”
“People know I almost lost my sight with diabetes,” he said. “I almost lost my sight with diabetes. The doctor said [I’d go] blind in a year. I was gonna lose my fingers and toes. And it was my food. It wasn’t my DNA, it was my dinner.”
The mayor’s answers on Kennedy followed a recent trend that started in the months leading up the election, and has continued since, of him shying away from criticizing Trump. Adams’ apparent reluctance to cross Trump has fueled speculation that he wants the president-elect’s help with freeing him from his legal troubles.
Adams was indicted in late September on federal corruption charges, to which he has pleaded not guilty. He has a trial date set for April 21 of next year.
Trump has publicly ridiculed the charges and suggested, without evidence, that Adams is being targeted by President Biden’s Justice Department for his outspokenness on the migrant crisis.
Trump announced Thursday that he intends to replace Damian Williams, the Manhattan US Attorney who brought the case against Adams, with Jay Clayton, a lawyer who served as Securities and Exchange Commission head in his first term.
