Trump says ‘there will be flexibility’ on reciprocal tariffs

President Donald Trump on Friday said there will be “flexibility” on his reciprocal tariff plan, even as he seemed to oppose the idea of making exceptions for the forthcoming duties.

“People are coming to me and talking about tariffs, and a lot of people are asking me if they could have exceptions,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office.

“And once you do that for one, you have to do that for all,” he said.

Trump, an avowed fan of tariffs, also insisted that he did not change his mind when he gave top automakers a one-month exemption on a prior round of import duties in early March.

“I don’t change. But the word flexibility is an important word,” he said. “Sometimes it’s flexibility. So there’ll be flexibility, but basically it’s reciprocal.”

Trump has hyped the April 2 start date for his reciprocal tariffs as America’s “liberation day.”

Trump and his officials say the plan will effectively assign tariff rates to all countries that have their own tariffs on U.S. goods. Countries with other non-tariff trade policies that the Trump administration opposes, such as value-added taxes, could also be subject to new duties.

Trump also said Friday that he plans to speak with Chinese President Xi Jinping. Beijing has already slapped retaliatory tariffs on U.S. agricultural products in response to Trump’s broad tariffs on Chinese imports.

Trump has issued a flurry of tariff announcements since retaking the White House, fanning investor uncertainty and fears of a major trade war.

Elon Musk obtained summons in SEC go well with over Twitter disclosure

Tesla CEO Elon Musk looks on as US President Donald Trump speaks to the press as they stand next to a Tesla vehicle on the South Portico of the White House on March 11, 2025 in Washington, DC. 

Mandel Ngan | AFP | Getty Images

Elon Musk received a court summons last week in connection with the SEC’s lawsuit over his alleged failure to properly disclose purchases of Twitter stock in 2022 before bidding to buy the company, according to a filing on Thursday.

A process server delivered the civil summons to Musk on March 14, at the headquarters of SpaceX in Brownsville, Texas, the filing said. The server noted that upon his arrival at the SpaceX facility, three different security guards refused to accept the documents, and one told him he was trespassing. He “placed the documents on the ground,” and left while the guards photographed him and his car.

The summons pertains to a case concerning Musk’s eventual purchase of Twitter, now known as X, for $44 billion in 2022. Prior to the acquisition, Musk built up a position in the company of greater than 5%, which would’ve required disclosing his holdings to the public within 10 calendar days of reaching that threshold.

According to the SEC’s civil complaint, filed in U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., in January, Musk was more than 10 days late in reporting that material information, “allowing him to underpay by at least $150 million for shares he purchased after his financial beneficial ownership report was due.”

Once he took over Twitter, Musk used the platform to promote then-candidate and now President Donald Trump, and other Republican candidates and causes. Musk, who’s also CEO of Tesla, spent some $290 million to help propel Trump back to the White House and now serves within the administration as a top advisor to the president.

An answer from Musk, or his attorneys, is due on April 4. Musk has the option to dismiss by that date.

The SEC, Elon Musk, and Quinn Emanuel Partner Alex Spiro, his lawyer, didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.

Trump’s White House has directed deep cuts in the budget and staff of independent federal regulatory agencies, including the SEC. The regulator offered $50,000 to many of its employees, encouraging them to resign or retire by March 21.

The Trump administration has also reversed a 15-year-old policy that allowed the SEC’s director of enforcement to issue formal orders of investigation. The agency will now require requests for formal orders of investigation to be pitched to and approved by a vote of SEC commissioners, a change likely to slow down probes like the one that led to the SEC’s suit against Musk.

Musk previously settled civil securities fraud charges brought by the SEC at Tesla, his autos business. In that matter, Musk and Tesla each had to pay $20 million in fines, and Musk had to temporarily relinquish his role as chairman of the Tesla board.

WATCH: Ron Baron on Elon Musk

Kendall Jenner Reacts to Khloe Kardashian’s “Chilly” Lamar Odom Reunion

But for Khloe, the reason why she had her guard up around Lamar was because she already “dealt with so much trauma in this relationship.”

“For years, this was such the love of my life that to learn how to unlove someone, to have to go through all that, it’s almost like a death,” the 40-year-old explained during The Kardashians’ season six premiere. “Him calling me his wife, words are empty.”

Besides, Khloe noted, “I don’t know this person anymore.”

“This is so familiar and so unchartered all at the same time,” she continued. “It’s just a mindf–k.”

New episodes of The Kardashians air every Thursday.

For a complete guide on the love lives of The Kardashians stars, keep reading…

Wegovy is linked to an elevated danger of hair loss, research suggests

The “Wegovy” brand slimming syringe is sold in the Achat pharmacy in Mitte. The “Wegovy” slimming syringe has been available in Germany for a year.

Jens Kalaene | Picture Alliance | Getty Images

A version of this article first appeared in CNBC’s Healthy Returns newsletter, which brings the latest health-care news straight to your inbox. Subscribe here to receive future editions.

Yet another study is zeroing in on the unintended side effects of Novo Nordisk‘s semaglutide – the active ingredient in the company’s blockbuster weight loss drug Wegovy and diabetes treatment Ozempic. 

But this time, the study highlights the risk of hair loss. 

To be clear, semaglutide’s link to hair loss isn’t new. Clinical trials conducted by Novo Nordisk have shown a higher risk of hair loss in patients who took semaglutide compared to those who took a placebo. 

Wegovy and Ozempic are part of a class of popular medications called GLP-1s, which mimic a hormone in the gut to suppress appetite and regulate blood sugar. Those drugs are known for their gastrointestinal side effects such as nausea and vomiting, and have also faced increased scrutiny after some patients reported experiencing stomach paralysis and suicidal ideation while taking them. 

In a statement, Novo Nordisk said it “remains confident in the benefit-risk profile of our GLP-1 medicines, when used consistent with their indications and product labeling.”

The new study, conducted by researchers at the University of British Columbia and not yet submitted for peer review, shows that semaglutide is associated with hair loss compared to users of an older weight loss pill called Contrave, or bupropion-naltrexone. 

The researchers examined data from 16 million patients from 2006 to 2020 and identified 1,926 semaglutide users and 1,348 Contrave users. People with a diagnosis of diabetes or who used antihyperglycemics – medications that lower blood sugar levels – were excluded. 

The incidence rates of hair loss were higher among semaglutide users than Contrave users. Overall, patients who took semaglutide had a 52% higher risk of hair loss compared to those who took Contrave. 

The researchers also found that women who took semaglutide had more than two times the risk of hair loss compared to women in the Contrave group. But Dr. Mohit Sodhi, one of the authors and emergency resident physician, told CNBC that “most of our data was driven by women” so they cannot compare men versus women in the study. 

Among those who took semaglutide, there were 22 cases of hair loss in women and just one case in men. Future studies with larger sample sizes of patients are needed to determine if there is a difference between men and women, Sodhi noted. 

The researchers also did not follow patients if they stopped semaglutide or Contrave, so it is unclear whether the risk of hair loss decreases once they are off Novo Nordisk’s drug, according to Sodhi. More research is required in that area, he said. 

So, why might semaglutide cause a higher risk of hair loss? 

One factor could be the physiological stress that rapid weight loss can induce, which can lead to the “disruption of the natural hair cycle,” according to Sodhi. He said that may be a more prominent effect of semaglutide because it is known to decrease weight more rapidly than Contrave. 

Semaglutide’s ability to suppress appetite also leads to patients consuming less food, which can potentially cause nutrient deficiencies, including protein in particular, Sodhi added. Protein deficiencies have been shown to be linked to hair loss, he noted. 

Sodhi said patients may also lose nutrients through vomiting when on semaglutide. Some health experts also hypothesize that semaglutide can lead to hormonal shifts that increase the risk of a common form of hair loss called androgenic alopecia, he added. 

People, and women in particular, considering using semaglutide strictly for weight loss may want to “factor in hair loss as a possible limitation” of the drug, the researchers said in the study. But people with diabetes or morbid obesity may weigh their risks and benefits differently, and may be more willing to accept hair loss as a potential risk, the researchers added. 

One of the study authors, Dr. Mahyar Etminan, has previously consulted on litigation related to Ozempic. 

Feel free to send any tips, suggestions, story ideas and data to Annika at annikakim.constantino@nbcuni.com.

Latest in health-care tech: Dexcom receives warning letter from FDA, appoints new board member

The Dexcom logo is seen on a smartphone screen and in the background.

Pavlo Gonchar | SOPA Images | Lightrocket | Getty Images

Dexcom received a warning letter from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration last week after the agency inspected the company’s manufacturing facilities in San Diego, California, and Mesa, Arizona.

The FDA “observed non-conformities” with Dexcom’s quality management system and manufacturing processes, according to a Friday company filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. The agency also noted that the company’s response to its list of observations, formally known as Form 483, was insufficient. 

“The Company takes the matters identified in the warning letter seriously, has already submitted several responses to the Form 483 and is in the process of preparing a written response to the warning letter,” Dexcom said in the filing. 

It was unclear what specific problems the FDA identified at the facilities. 

Dexcom produces devices called continuous glucose monitors that can help users track their blood sugar and manage diabetes. The FDA’s warning letter does not limit Dexcom’s ability to manufacture or distribute its products.

The company told CNBC it has been “regularly updating” the FDA about improvements since the agency carried out the inspections last year. Some of its observations have already been sufficiently addressed, and the warning letter detailed “specific areas for continued focus,” Dexcom said.

“Dexcom stands behind the quality of our products and are committed to resolving any outstanding questions from the FDA as soon as possible,” the company said in a statement.

Dexcom also appointed Renée Galá, chief operating officer of Jazz Pharmaceuticals, to its board of directors last week. Galá has worked in her current role since 2023, and she previously served as the chief financial officer at Jazz.

She has also held leadership roles at Grail and Theravance Biopharma, and she spent several years at the pharmaceutical giant Eli Lilly. 

“Renée’s extensive experience guiding global finance and global operations including commercial and R&D to drive growth and create shareholder value provides an excellent fit at this key point in Dexcom’s journey,” Dexcom CEO Kevin Sayer said in a release. 

As of intraday trading on Tuesday morning, shares of Dexcom are down about 9% year to date. 

Read the full release here.

Feel free to send any tips, suggestions, story ideas and data to Ashley at ashley.capoot@nbcuni.com.

Prime Democrats Demand Investigation Into DeJoy’s Secret Deal With Musk To Intestine USPS

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House Democrats who oversee the USPS are concerned that the Trump administration is maneuvering to get around the law and gut the United Postal Service.

In a letter to House Oversight Committee chair James Comer (R-KY), twenty House Democrats led by Oversight Committee ranking member Gerry Connolly (D-VA) wrote:

We write to request that you convene an immediate hearing on the Trump Administration’s plans for the United States Postal Service (USPS). Since the Committee’s most recent hearing on the USPS, the Trump Administration has reportedly explored privatizing the USPS, firing the bipartisan Postal Board of Governors, merging the USPS into the Department of Commerce, and is now subjecting the USPS, America’s most trusted federal institution, to the chainsaw approach of Elon Musk and the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). This broad assault on the independence of the USPS demands Congressional oversight, especially from the Committee with jurisdiction over the USPS.

On December 14, 2024, the Washington Post reported that President Trump was considering actions to privatize the USPS and push thousands of federal service employees out of their jobs in favor of a broad privatization of the agency’s essential services. Two months later, further reporting noted that President Trump was preparing plans to fire the bipartisan Postal Board of Governors and “merge” the Postal Service into the Commerce Department, “potentially throwing the 250-year-old mail provider and trillions of dollars of e-commerce transactions into turmoil.”

On March 13, 2025, you received a letter from Postmaster General Louis DeJoy acknowledging an agreement he signed with “DOGE representatives” and the General Services Administration to assist the USPS in “identifying and achieving further efficiencies.” This agreement apparently includes plans for a “further reduction of another 10,000 people in the next 30 days” and a “reduction in air transportation, ground transportation, terminal handling. facilities” through “operating contract terminations, and lease cancellations.” These are, of course, the principal means through which critical mail services such as medication, bills, ballots, parcels, and letters are delivered across the nation to serve the public.

The agreement also signals the Postmaster General’s interest in gutting the Congressionally-authorized Postal Regulatory Commission, potentially allowing rates, rulemaking, and other actions to favor certain industries, individuals, and regions at the expense of the network’s operational needs and universal service obligation. This back-room agreement between the billionaire-led DOGE and Postmaster DeJoy sets off alarm bells about this Administration’s plans for the Postal Service’s role as a cornerstone public institution.

The Postal Service facilitates the delivery of more than 115 billion pieces of mail each year, a significant portion of which is delivered to rural, low-income, and hard-to reach areas that would not otherwise receive service if not for the universal service obligation, which has received bipartisan support in Congress and is integral to the mission of Postal Service.

The Democrats are seeking an immediate hearing and copies of all agreements that DeJoy signed with DOGE and Musk.

It doesn’t take a rocket scientist or a rich guy who funds rockets that tend to explode to understand what is happening. Trump and Musk are trying to gut the Postal Service with a backroom deal that gets around the law and oversight.

Changes to USPS can only be made by Congress, not the president or his billionaire backer who bought his way into the White House.

Since Trump and his billionaire oligarchs prefer to operate in secret, it is up to members of Congress to alert the public to what is going on because public pressure has been effective in getting Trump to back off.

What do you think about Musk and DeJoy’s backroom deal? Share your opinion in the comments below.

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Trump’s Canadian tariffs are having a chilling impact on Vermont’s small enterprise homeowners

Ryan Christiansen, president and head distiller at Caledonia Spirits, giving a tour in Montpelier, VT.

Courtesy: Ryan Christianse | Caledonia Spirits

President Donald Trump’s tariff rhetoric against Canada has only started to heat up, but Vermont’s small businesses are already feeling some pain.

A shipment of spirits, ordered by the Société des alcools du Québec – an entity that’s responsible for the trade of alcoholic beverages in the province – has been sitting on a shipping dock at Montpelier-based Barr Hill by Caledonia Spirits for about a month.

The SAQ called off the order shortly after Trump announced the tariffs against Canada in February, according to Ryan Christiansen, president and head distiller at Caledonia Spirits.

“Customers are ready to buy, and we are in the peak of slow season – it’s an annual cycle for us, and we were looking forward to shipping the order. Now, it’s sitting on the dock,” he said. “To have this hit our business in the slow month of February? We missed our financial plan in February because of this.”

Exports at Caledonia Spirits in Montpelier, VT.

Courtesy: Ryan Christiansen | Caledonia Spirits

Vermont has a special relationship with Canada, as the Green Mountain State exports $680 million in goods to the U.S.’s northern neighbor annually, according to data compiled by Connect2Canada. Vermont imports more than $2.6 billion in goods from Canada each year, with electricity and fuel oil among the top imported goods.

Because of the state’s close business ties to Canada and their shared borders, small businesses in Vermont began seeing some fallout as early as February – when Trump first announced a round of 25% tariffs on goods from Mexico and Canada, triggering 25% retaliatory levies from then-Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. At the time, Ontario also said it would pull American alcohol products from its shelves.

Ultimately, Trump granted a reprieve on Canadian and Mexican goods covered by the North American trade agreement USMCA until April 2. However, many products are still subject to the duties.

“We worked really hard to maintain this relationship with the Canadian government,” Christiansen said. “How do I get them to buy as much as the Canadian customer wanted to buy? Even if the tariffs go away, I think it’s overly optimistic that this order gets resubmitted.”

Tourism worries

It didn’t take long for Steve Wright, president and general manager of Jay Peak Resort, which is about 10 miles from the Canadian border, to begin seeing the impact of the rhetoric around tariffs.

He noted that spending from Canadian tourists showed signs of softening particularly in two key weeks: Quebec break week, which ran from March 3 to March 8, and Ontario break week, which kicked off on March 10.

Though Canadian visitors generally account for about half of the resort’s market, they make up virtually all of it during that two-week stretch, Wright said.

Zoom In IconArrows pointing outwards

People ski at Jay Peak in Jay, VT.

Courtesy: Patrick Coyle, Darla Mercado | CNBC

“The Quebec break week sold really well, and we had great conditions, but what was missing was the day market,” he said. “We did not get the day traffic we usually see from Montreal, that part of the market softened up.”

Tariff rhetoric has only been the latest pressure point for Jay Peak. The resort’s manager also pointed to the reduction in hours of operation for the nearby North Troy, VT border crossing. It went from 24 hours a day to 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. in January.

To accommodate its Canadian clientele over the past two decades, Jay Peak has been offering at-par options for these tourists on non-margin products. “Say a lift ticket is $100, you can give us C$100,” Wright said. “That has insulated the business a little bit.”

“They have an affinity for Jay Peak; they have been coming here for a generation, but there is a point where they will decide to stay home despite their love of the place,” he added.

In Montpelier, which is a roughly two-to-three-hour drive from Montreal, worries about tourist traffic are already bubbling among small businesses. This corner of the state tends to see weekend visitors from up north, particularly in the temperate summer and fall seasons.

Bill Butler, a co-owner of Artisans Hand Craft Gallery, has been in talks with fellow entrepreneurs in downtown Montpelier to propose promotional deals for Canadian visitors to keep the foot traffic coming.

“My idea is to have something like ‘Canada Days,'” he said. “We’d have a deal for Canadians who want to come down, have a little tour of the city and go from place to place, and get a free beer or coffee.”

“I would rather take the position of being proactive and not just thinking about absorbing the problem,” Butler said. “We have a great relationship with Canada, and we see a lot of Canadians in the gallery.”

The price of imported goods

For Sam Guy, owner of Guy’s Farm & Yard in Morrisville, tariffs are raising concerns over higher prices for certain products.

Wood shavings, wood pellets and peat moss sold at the local chain store all come from Canada, while animal feed – though made by an American company – includes ingredients that come from Canada, he said.

A 25% tariff tacked onto imported products would inevitably have to be passed on to shoppers.

“We can’t eat this,” Guy said. “We’re going to pass on the tariff. We’re not going to add a margin or anything like that, but a lot of these are low margin products.”

Elon Musk’s SpaceX, Tesla foyer on Trump tariffs

Tesla CEO Elon Musk watches as President Donald Trump talks to the media, outside the White House in Washington, D.C., March 11, 2025.

Kevin Lamarque | Reuters

Two companies led by billionaire DOGE chief Elon Musk — SpaceX and Tesla — have submitted letters lobbying the U.S. trade representative on Trump administration tariff policies.

But the two companies had different messages for U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer.

The electric vehicle maker Tesla warned of the negative effect on its bottom line from tariffs and from duties imposed by other countries on U.S.-made products in retaliation for those tariffs.

SpaceX complained that operating costs for its Starlink internet satellite service are increased by trade barriers abroad, while foreign competitors face no such costs in the United States.

The letters come as Musk oversees the so-called Department of Government Efficiency, an effort to slash federal government spending and employee head count at the behest of President Donald Trump.

At the same time, Trump is imposing stiff tariffs on China, Mexico and Canada, with China and Canada firing back with retaliatory tariffs.

The letters are two of more than 700 received so far by the trade representative’s office in response to an invitation for public comment on “unfair trade practices by other countries.” The responses are posted on a public docket.

Jamieson Greer, President Donald Trump’s nominee to be U.S. trade representative, testifies during his Senate Finance Committee confirmation hearing, in the Dirksen Senate Office Building, Feb. 6, 2025.

Tom Williams | CQ-Roll Call, Inc. | Getty Images

Tesla, in its unsigned letter to Greer, encouraged him “to consider the downstream impacts of certain proposed actions taken to address unfair trade practices.”

“While Tesla recognizes and supports the importance of fair trade, the assessment undertaken by USTR of potential actions to rectify unfair trade should also take into account exports from the United States,” said the letter, which was submitted by Tesla’s associate general counsel Miriam Eqab.

“U.S. exporters are inherently exposed to disproportionate impacts when other countries respond to U.S. trade actions.”

Tesla noted that, “Past U.S. special tariff actions have thus (1) increased costs to Tesla for vehicles manufactured in the United States, and (2) increased costs for those same vehicles when exported from the United States, resulting in less competitive international marketplace for U.S. manufacturers.”

“USTR should investigate ways to avoid these pitfalls in future action,” the letter said.

SpaceX, in its letter to Greer, said that it “faces a range of regulatory complexities and trade barriers in every country that the U.S. Government should seek to address in order to support continued U.S. leadership in the space domain.”

The letter noted that the company must pay foreign governments for access to spectrum and import duties for its Starlink satellite internet equipment, and other fees that “substantially increase the cost of operating in these countries — artificially.”

“The import duties paid in a handful of countries represent a significant cost increase for Starlink products in those countries, despite the United States having essentially no duties on similar foreign products that are imported into the United States to serve customers here,” wrote Mat Dunn, SpaceX’s senior director of global business and government affairs, in the letter.

“As President Trump has noted with other sectors, this is a significant disadvantage to U.S. companies,” Dunn wrote.

Tesla and SpaceX did not immediately respond to a request for comment from CNBC about their letters.

DK Metcalf Confirms Engagement To Normani After Soccer Commerce

Aww, Roommates! Congratulations are in order for Normani and DK Metcalf — they have officially announced their engagement.

RELATED: Congrats! Actress Paige Hurd & Phoenix Suns Basketball Player Royce O’Neale Are Engaged (PHOTOS)

Details On Normani & DK Metcalf’s Engagement

The Shade Room caught a video DK Metcalf, formerly knowns as DeKaylin Metcalf, dropped where he slid in the big announcement. DK’s got a lot to celebrate as he just got traded from the Seattle Seahawks to the Pittsburgh Steelers. While talking about the move, he surprised everyone by revealing he’s engaged to Normani.

“Shoutout to my beautiful fiancée man for being here with me. Can’t wait to step on the field with the rest of the black and gold nation,” DK said in the clip.

Along with DK’s video, pics of him and Normani popped up, showing him getting ready to officially sign his trade contract. Swipe below to the sweet photos.

DK Dishes On How He Popped The Big Question To Normani

DK didn’t hold back on sharing how he went about proposing to Normani. During a press conference about his trade to the Steelers, he shared that he popped the question in Houston, Texas during his sister’s spring break, with both their families there for the big moment. He also revealed he planned to propose last year, but Normani’s schedule got in the way.

When the chance finally came, he started sending her flowers with a story, and the last one said, “Will You Marry Me?” 

Here’s How Ciara & Russell Wilson Played Matchmaker For Normani & DK

DK gave a full background on his love story with Normani. He gave props to Russell Wilson and Ciara for connecting them back in 2020 and said the rest was history.

Social Media Reacts

The Roommates flooded The Shade Room’s comment section with reactions to Normani and DK Metcalf’s engagement. Several social media users congratulated them and were happy to see them together.

Instagram user @panasexiii wrote, “Black love ❤️” 

Instagram user @itsbritnihunny wrote, “Congratulations! They’re a lovely couple. 🫶🏾” 

While Instagram user @__terrick wrote, “The fact that ciara introduced them shows her prayer works.” 

Then Instagram user @abaforewa wrote, “Omgoshhh yay!! I love this for us! A normal dating and engagement without all the drama!” 

Another Instagram user @ohsomocha wrote, “Just to think Ciara introduced them… i love this.” 

Instagram user @thequeenchioma wrote, “HERE FOR IT 🖤 I love Black love!” 

While another Instagram user @nurseblue23 wrote, “The sisters becoming wives top tier 😍” 

Instagram user @d33skiiii wrote, “🥹🥹🥹 I love to see black athletes with black women.. YOU BETTA GO HEAD DEN DKKK!!” 

Finally, Instagram user @gettfasapafterthissht wrote, “That’s what’s up. She fine he fine them babies gone be adorable I love love 😍” 

RELATED: Congrats! DeVon Franklin & Maria Castillo Announce Their Engagement After Dreamy Hawaiian Vacation (PHOTOS)

What Do You Think Roomies?

White Home pulls Trump CDC Director nominee Dave Weldon

Former Congressman Dave Weldon addresses a small crowd in The Villages, Fla.

Brendan Farrington | AP

The White House has pulled President Donald Trump’s nominee to lead the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, former Rep. Dave Weldon, the Senate’s health committee confirmed Thursday.

The move came just hours before the former Florida lawmaker, a vaccine critic, was set to appear before the U.S. Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions for a confirmation hearing. The panel said the hearing, which had been scheduled for 10 a.m. ET, is canceled.

Axios first reported the decision on Thursday. Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who leads the Department of Health and Human Services, said Weldon wasn’t ready for the role, Axios reported. HHS oversees the CDC and all other federal health agencies.

But Weldon’s views align closely with Kennedy, a notorious vaccine skeptic. Weldon, 71, has long questioned the safety of certain vaccines, promoting the false claim linking vaccines to autism. In 2006, Weldon appeared with parents who claimed that the CDC had covered up evidence tying vaccines to children developing autism.

The CDC will reportedly re-examine that link under Kennedy despite decades of research debunking it.

While in Congress, Weldon sponsored a bill that would transfer responsibility for vaccine safety away from the CDC. He claimed the agency had a conflict of interest because it purchases and promotes vaccines. The bill never made it past committees. 

Weldon is an internal medicine doctor who served in Congress for 14 years, from 1995 to 2009. 

Sen. Patty Murray, a Democrat from Washington and HELP committee member, has said she was “deeply disturbed” by Weldon’s false claims about vaccines.

In a statement on Thursday, Murray said “while I have little to no confidence in the Trump administration to do so, they should immediately nominate someone for this position who at bare minimum believes in basic science and will help lead CDC’s important work to monitor and prevent deadly outbreaks.”

She added that Kennedy is already doing “incalculable damage by spreading lies and disinformation as the top health official in America.”

HHS did not immediately respond to a request to comment on why the administration pulled Weldon’s nomination and when Trump may choose another person for the post.

Trump pardons former Tennessee Sen. Brian Kelsey

Former Tennessee Sen. Brian Kelsey, left, arrives at federal court, Nov. 22, 2022, in Nashville, Tenn. On Monday, July 8, 2024, a federal appeals panel ruled to keep a 21-month prison sentence in place for the former Tennessee state senator who tried to withdraw his guilty plea on campaign finance law violations.

Mark Humphrey | AP

President Donald Trump issued a pardon to former Tennessee state Sen. Brian Kelsey, just 15 days after that Republican began serving a 21-month prison sentence for a campaign finance conspiracy criminal conviction.

“God used Donald Trump to save me,” Kelsey, 47, told CNBC in a phone interview Wednesday, a day after his release from a federal prison camp in Ashland, Kentucky.

“His election saved me from the Biden” Department of Justice, Kelsey said.

Kelsey, a lawyer who lives in Germantown, Tennessee, announced that Trump had given him “a full and unconditional pardon” in a tweet on the social media site X.

He told CNBC that three GOP congressmen from Tennessee, Mark Green, Andy Ogles and Chuck Fleischmann, were among the people working to obtain the pardon.

“I’m thrilled for Brian Kelsey, whose pardon is well-deserved!” Ogles said in a statement. “Biden’s DOJ weaponized justice to punish a principled conservative. Trump gets it; he’s been there. Time to end this abuse of power!”

Kelsey said, “There have been many friends and family who have provided prayers and outreach on my behalf.

The White House and the DOJ have not issued statements announcing Kelsey’s pardon or the reasons for it. CNBC has requested comment from the White House and DOJ.

The U.S. Bureau of Prisons confirmed to CNBC that he was released Tuesday from the Ashland camp due to a pardon.

Presidential pardons void a person’s criminal convictions and any related sentence.

Kelsey entered the Ashland prison camp on Feb. 24, a month after the U.S. Supreme Court rejected a petition to hear an appeal in his case, and about a month after he submitted a request for a pardon.

Kelsey said he was surprised that he had to report to prison because “I always felt like God was going to provide a miracle, and he had provided so many before.”

He had pleaded guilty in November 2022 to crimes connected to his moving money from his state senatorial campaign account to his ultimately unsuccessful 2016 campaign for Congress.

Months later, he tried to withdraw his guilty plea, but failed in that effort. Yet he remained free for nearly two years while appealing the case.

Read more CNBC politics coverage

On Tuesday afternoon, Kelsey said, he was exercising in the camp’s yard with other inmates, “just doing burpees,” when “the assistant warden called out my name, called me forward and told me the president had pardoned me.”

Asked what he planned to do now, Kelsey said, “I’m just going to take the day to thank President Trump and others who supported me, and hug on my wife and kids.” Kelsey has twin two-year-old boys, and a five-year-old daughter.

Trump on his first day back in the White House on Jan. 20 pardoned about 1,500 people charged or convicted of crimes relating to the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol by a mob of his supporters.

Trump since then has issued pardons for Ross Ulbricht, who had been serving a life sentence from crimes related to his dark web marketplace Silk Road, and to former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich, who previously served eight years in prison on charges relating to his attempt to sell former President Barack Obama’s Senate seat after Obama was elected to the White House.

But it is highly unusual for someone to receive a pardon or sentence commutation so early in their prison term, as Kelsey did.

Elizabeth Oyer, who had been the top pardon attorney at the DOJ, this week said she was fired on Friday after she opposed restoring actor Mel Gibson’s rights to carry a gun. Gibson, who is a Trump supporter, lost those rights after he was convicted in 2011 for a domestic violence misdemeanor.

On Tuesday, NBC News reported that the Trump administration was gutting the DOJ’s Public Integrity Section, which oversees prosecutions of public officials accused of corruption.

The Public Integrity Section had overseen the prosecution of Kelsey.

Kelsey said that he was targeted for prosecution by the “weaponized Biden DOJ.”

“Their real target in my case was to take down Matt Schlapp and the American Conservative Union,” Kelsey said.

Schlapp, who is a Trump supporter, is the chairman of the ACU, which sponsors the annual Conservative Political Action Conference, known as CPAC.

“They offered to cut me a deal if I would testify against Matt Schlapp and others at the ACU, and threatened me with a frivolous prosecution if I did not,” Kelsey said.

“I told them I did nothing wrong, and neither did anyone else at the ACU, and that’s when they brought charges,” he said.

Schlapp has never been criminally charged by the DOJ.

After CNBC requested comment from Schlapp, a spokeswoman for CPAC issued a statement that said, CPAC fully supports President Trump using his clemency powers to address politicized prosecutions of the past.”

“We are particularly pleased that former Tennessee Senator Brian Kelsey was pardoned yesterday,” the spokeswoman said. “Neither CPAC nor Matt Schlapp were ever a target of this investigation. Two people employed at the time were thoroughly investigated over years and not charged or convicted.”

“We continue to believe that under President Joe Biden the DOJ was used to persecute political opponents, and prosecutions against Republicans far outweighed those against members of his own party,” the statement said.

Kelsey’s lawyer Joy Longnecker told CNBC that in his pardon petition to Trump, Kelsey said, “I am innocent, and I need your help.”

Longnecker said, “Every day, in courtrooms all across the country, innocent people like Brian plead guilty to crimes they did not commit. That is an unfortunate but undeniable fact.”

“In its 2023 report, the [American Bar Association’s] Criminal Justice Section’s Plea Bargain Task Force acknowledged there was ‘substantial evidence’ that ‘defendants – including innocent defendants – are sometimes impermissibly coerced into taking pleas and surrendering their right to trial.’ “

“That is exactly what happened to Brian,” Longnecker said. “And that is why Brian’s pardon was an appropriate exercise of President Trump’s executive power.”

Kent Wicker, another attorney for Kelsey, said DOJ prosecutors targeted him for political reasons, “withheld exculpatory evidence, and coerced him into pleading guilty to a crime he did not commit.”

“Its own star witness recanted his testimony,” said Wicker, who called Kelsey “the ideal pardon candidate.”