Bill Maher, the host of HBO's Real Time, said Thursday that Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. should leave his post, calling the Cabinet member "nutty" after a fiery Senate hearing and a wave of firings at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Maher said he had been sympathetic to some of Kennedy's stated goals when the Trump administration appointed him to lead HHS, but that recent actions — including the termination of the CDC director and the removal of dozens of senior agency officials — had crossed a line. "I personally find this very disappointing, because I am the person who was sympathetic to what [Kennedy] was trying to do," Maher told panelists. "He’s just too nutty. He just does not listen."
Maher's remarks came as more than 1,000 current and former HHS employees signed a letter this week calling on Kennedy to resign and accusing him of staffing the department with "political ideologues." The letter followed the dismissal last week of CDC Director Susan Monarez and the ouster of 17 senior CDC officials, steps Kennedy has defended as necessary to reform a bureaucracy he and allies have criticized.
During Thursday's Senate hearing, described by participants as heated, senators questioned Kennedy about his personnel moves and the department's direction. Kennedy, who leads HHS as part of President Trump's Cabinet, defended his decisions as part of a broader effort to reshape public health agencies but faced pushback from lawmakers concerned about the department's stability and the loss of institutional expertise.
Maher, a long-running commentator on politics and culture, said he was troubled less by the idea of agency reform and more by what he portrayed as extreme swings in approach. "Okay, this needed a housecleaning, the CDC. But to fire all 17 of the top people? Now you don't have that voice in there at all. You just have your voice," Maher said, adding that Kennedy's style amounted to what he called "pendulumism."
The letter from HHS staffers detailed concerns about political appointees supplanting career public health officials and warned that the departures could hamper public health preparedness and response. Sources familiar with internal deliberations said the mass resignations and dismissals have raised alarms among public health experts inside and outside government, who emphasize the importance of continuity and institutional memory.
Kennedy's defenders argue that the CDC and other health agencies require significant changes to restore public trust and respond more effectively to emerging threats. Supporters have framed the staffing changes as a necessary reset after what they characterize as bureaucratic inertia.
The dispute underscores a broader debate in Washington over how to balance reform with stability in federal agencies that handle public health. Congressional oversight is likely to continue as lawmakers from both parties press Kennedy and HHS officials on the impact of the personnel changes and on plans to ensure the CDC can carry out its mission.
Maher's comments add a high-profile cultural critique to the political pressure facing Kennedy, whose tenure has become a focal point for conversations about governance, expertise and the role of political appointees in technical agencies. Lawmakers and career officials will be watching for how HHS proceeds with leadership selections and whether the department can restore the personnel and institutional capacity critics say it has lost.