According to recently revealed accounts, Bill Gates played a decisive and influential role in ensuring that Robert F. Kennedy Jr. was ultimately excluded from President Donald Trump’s initial administration. The episode, described in detail in a newly released book, sheds light on the fascinating intersection of science, politics, and personal persuasion that unfolded during the early months of Trump’s rise to power.
In January 2017, not long before Trump officially assumed the presidency, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. met with the then president-elect at Trump Tower in New York City. Emerging from the meeting, Kennedy informed the gathered reporters that Trump had personally invited him to serve as chair of a forthcoming “commission on vaccine safety and scientific integrity.” At that moment, it appeared as though the incoming administration might be open to reexamining federal vaccine policies through a skeptical lens. However, in the hours that followed, Trump’s spokespeople attempted to temper public expectations by emphasizing that no official decision had been reached. Predictably, as events unfolded, Kennedy never became part of Trump’s first administration.
Journalist Jonathan Karl, in his new book titled *Retribution: Donald Trump and the Campaign That Changed America*, reports that Trump’s interest in this topic did not end with that initial encounter. Once he had taken office, the president reportedly met Kennedy again—this time within the walls of the White House. During that second conversation, Trump seemed, at least temporarily, inclined to authorize Kennedy to lead a new advisory task force focused on autism and vaccines. Such an appointment would have aligned with Trump’s earlier public comments suggesting concern about a possible connection between childhood vaccinations and autism. Indeed, during a 2015 Republican primary debate, Trump referred to his unease about vaccination schedules, advocating for smaller, more widely spaced doses.
Yet, according to Karl’s account, a critical influence soon entered the picture: Bill Gates, the billionaire philanthropist and co-founder of Microsoft, whose extensive global health initiatives have long supported expanding access to vaccines worldwide. Gates, drawing upon decades of experience promoting immunization as a life-saving public health measure, reportedly intervened to dissuade Trump from elevating Kennedy to such a visible position. In a subsequent meeting between the two men, Gates allegedly told Trump outright that appointing Kennedy to helm a vaccine-related commission would constitute, in his view, a “terrible mistake.” This assertion carried substantial weight coming from one of the most prominent figures in global health philanthropy.
Karl recounts that Trump, while receptive to Gates’s counsel, sought a middle ground. He assured Gates that he would postpone or even abandon the proposed commission, provided that Kennedy was at least permitted to share his concerns and perspectives with leading officials from the National Institutes of Health. Among those officials was Dr. Anthony Fauci, who at the time served as Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. Thus, a compromise emerged—Kennedy would be given the opportunity to make his case directly to scientific authorities, rather than being placed in a position of governmental authority.
This meeting took place in May 2017 and stretched to nearly two hours. During the session, Kennedy presented a series of claims asserting that numerous adverse health conditions were allegedly linked to vaccinations. The discussion that followed between Kennedy and Fauci was reportedly spirited and at times contentious, marked by Fauci’s insistence on evidence-based reasoning and Kennedy’s persistence in advancing his interpretations.
Despite the intensity of that exchange, Kennedy’s presentation did not alter the course of White House policy. In the end, no official appointment followed. Jonathan Karl notes succinctly that “Trump did keep his word to Gates.” Kennedy was not installed to lead, nor even to participate in, any new federal task force addressing vaccine safety.
Years later, however, the political narrative took another turn. After Kennedy’s unsuccessful attempt to run for the presidency, he chose to endorse Trump during the 2024 election cycle. That endorsement, which surprised many observers, culminated in his subsequent appointment as Secretary of Health and Human Services during Trump’s second administration. In this expanded role, Kennedy has become a central figure in shaping the health policy priorities of the renewed Trump government.
Most recently, Trump himself once again ventured into controversial territory by publicly suggesting a potential link between parental use of Tylenol and autism in children. This comment reignited longstanding disputes between political rhetoric and medical consensus, provoking immediate pushback from numerous physicians and scientific experts who emphasized the lack of credible evidence for such a claim.
When requested to elaborate, a spokesperson for the Department of Health and Human Services—now under Kennedy’s leadership—declined to offer any comment. Similarly, inquiries directed toward Dr. Fauci, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and the White House went unanswered, leaving the episode as yet another glimpse into the enduring tension between advocacy, science, and political decision-making within the landscape of American public health policy.
Sourse: https://www.businessinsider.com/bill-gates-trump-rfk-jr-vaccine-panel-book-2025-10
