Agency: Department of Health and Human Services (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) Role: Director, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; confirmed July 29, 2025; sworn in July 31, 2025; removed August 27, 2025 Severity: No priority assigned to Monarez as an actor — she is profiled as the official removed at the center of a documented dispute over the CDC’s scientific independence Party/Affiliation: Trump administration appointee; career federal scientist; the first CDC director confirmed by the Senate under a 2023 law that made the post Senate-confirmed

Basis for Inclusion

Subject classification: Public Official — Senate-confirmed appointee removed from office

Anchor: Monarez’s removal less than a month after confirmation, and her sworn Senate testimony of September 17, 2025 that she was fired for refusing to pre-approve the recommendations of a vaccine advisory committee Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. had replaced, and for refusing to fire career scientists without cause. HHS and Kennedy dispute her account. The removal is a primary event in the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention — Agency Damage Assessment Agency Damage Assessment (Personnel Ledger entry 001).

Democratic Malice Assessment

Designation: No DMA designation for Monarez. The conduct this profile documents — the demands she describes and her removal — was directed at her, not taken by her. Any malice finding on it belongs to the officials who acted, principally in Robert F. Kennedy Jr. — Political Accountability Profile.

Ideology vs. Malice determination: Ideology, as to Monarez’s own conduct. An administration may appoint health officials who share its views and reshape advisory bodies by lawful means; that is inside the Ideology Safe Harbor. What makes this case more than a policy disagreement is Monarez’s sworn account: that she was told to approve, in advance and without scientific review, whatever a reconstituted Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) voted, and to fire senior career officials without cause, and that she was removed when she refused both. If accurate, that is direction of a scientific regulator toward a predetermined outcome — the institutional-independence harm the DMA framework exists to flag — and it is assessed against the people who gave the direction.

Framework disclosure: This assessment rests on Monarez’s own written and oral Senate testimony, which Kennedy disputes, and on contemporaneous reporting from CBS News, CNN, STAT, NPR and COSSA. The separate dispute over whether HHS, rather than the President, could remove her is noted below. This assessment is subject to update as new evidence emerges.

Legal Disclaimer

The Democratic Malice Assessment is an analytical framework applying defined criteria to documented public conduct. Designations are evaluative conclusions, not statements of criminal guilt. No DMS score constitutes a finding of criminal liability. The factual predicates are cited to primary sources; the evaluative conclusions are protected expression. New York Times Co. v. Sullivan and its progeny apply to this assessment of a public figure’s public conduct.

Bio and Background

Dr. Susan Monarez is a career federal health scientist. She served as acting CDC director from January to March 2025, stepping down from the acting role when President Trump nominated her for the permanent post after withdrawing the nomination of Dave Weldon (see Dave Weldon — Withdrawn CDC Director Nominee).[1] At her confirmation hearing she told senators she had “not seen a causal link between vaccines and autism” and that vaccines “absolutely save lives.”[2] The Senate confirmed her on July 29, 2025, 51 to 47 on party lines (Senate roll call vote 445).[3][4] NPR reported she was the first CDC director confirmed under the 2023 law and the first to lead the agency without a medical degree in more than 70 years.[5] Secretary Kennedy swore her in on July 31, 2025.[6]

Documented Actions

Removal

Action: The White House announced Monarez’s removal on August 27, 2025, less than a month after confirmation. A White House spokesperson said she was “not aligned with the President’s agenda of Making America Healthy Again.”[7][8] STAT reconstructed the preceding meeting: Kennedy and his deputy Stefanie Spear asked her to resign over alleged insubordination; when she refused, Kennedy told her to accept all recommendations of the reconstituted ACIP and to fire several senior CDC officials. She refused again.[9] Her lawyers said she had neither resigned nor been fired by the President and that HHS lacked the authority to remove her.[7]

Date: August 27, 2025

Evidence: CBS News, CNN, STAT and COSSA reporting.[7][8][9][10] Tier: Documented as to the removal; Credibly reported as to the meeting.

Senate Testimony

Action: On September 17, 2025 Monarez testified before the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee at a hearing titled “Restoring Trust Through Radical Transparency: Reviewing Recent Events at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and Implications for Children’s Health.” She testified that she was asked to commit in advance to approving ACIP’s recommendations and to dismiss career officials, and said: “I would not commit to that, and I believe it is the true reason I was fired.”[11][17] Several Republican senators challenged her account; Sen. Markwayne Mullin told her, “All we’re looking for is you to be honest, and you haven’t been.”[12]

Date: September 17, 2025

Evidence: Monarez’s written testimony on the HELP Committee website, and NPR and CBS News coverage of the hearing.[11][12][13] Tier: Documented (sworn testimony); the account itself is disputed.

Resignations That Followed

Action: Within days of the removal, four senior CDC officials resigned: Dr. Debra Houry (deputy director and chief medical officer), Dr. Demetre Daskalakis (director, National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases), Dr. Daniel Jernigan (director, National Center for Emerging and Zoonotic Infectious Diseases) and Dr. Jennifer Layden (director, Office of Public Health Data, Surveillance and Technology). Several cited the department’s vaccine policy. HELP Chair Bill Cassidy (R-La.) said the departures would “require oversight by the HELP Committee.”[7][10]

Date: August 27–28, 2025

Evidence: CBS News and COSSA reporting.[7][10] Tier: Credibly reported.

Real-World Impact

• A year without a confirmed director. Monarez’s removal left the CDC under acting leadership — HHS Deputy Secretary Jim O’Neill (see Jim O’Neill — Former HHS Deputy Secretary and Acting CDC Director), then NIH Director Jay Bhattacharya (see Jay Bhattacharya — NIH Director) — for 343 days, until the Senate confirmed Erica Schwartz on August 5, 2026 (see Erica Schwartz — Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention).[14]
• Three center and office directorships still acting. As of October 14, 2026, the three center and office posts vacated by the August 2025 resignations — immunization, emerging infectious diseases and public health data — were still held by acting directors, per CDC’s leadership page (see Centers for Disease Control and Prevention — Agency Damage Assessment, D2).[15]
• The schedule override she refused, carried out. In January 2026 acting director O’Neill signed a memo cutting the childhood immunization schedule without consulting ACIP; a federal court stayed it in March 2026 as contrary to law (see Centers for Disease Control and Prevention — Agency Damage Assessment, D4).[16]

Truth and Reconciliation Considerations

• HHS’s contrary account: HHS and Kennedy have not accepted Monarez’s version of events. This profile presents the insubordination framing reported by STAT beside her sworn account rather than adopting either as settled.
• Removal authority unresolved: No court has ruled on whether HHS, rather than only the President, could remove a Senate-confirmed CDC director. This profile treats that as an open legal question.

Key Connections

• Robert F. Kennedy Jr. — HHS Secretary whose demands Monarez testified she refused. See Robert F. Kennedy Jr. — Political Accountability Profile.
• Jim O’Neill — Acting CDC director after her removal. See Jim O’Neill — Former HHS Deputy Secretary and Acting CDC Director.
• Erica Schwartz — Confirmed CDC director in August 2026; her hearing was framed around Monarez’s removal. See Erica Schwartz — Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
• Dave Weldon — The withdrawn first nominee whose withdrawal led to Monarez’s nomination. See Dave Weldon — Withdrawn CDC Director Nominee.
• Christi Grimm — Fired HHS Inspector General, part of the January 2025 mass IG firing.

Factual correction requests: If you believe information in this profile is incorrect, please contact factcheck@citizenanalyst.ai with your name (optional), the specific claim, and any supporting documentation. We review all submissions and correct verified errors promptly.

Sources

1. American Hospital Association, “Senate confirms Susan Monarez as new CDC director,” July 30, 2025. https://www.aha.org/news/headline/2025-07-30-senate-confirms-susan-monarez-new-cdc-director
2. CBS News, “CDC Director Susan Monarez ousted weeks after she was confirmed by Senate,” August 27, 2025. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/cdc-director-susan-monarez-ousted/
3. U.S. Senate, Roll Call Vote 445, 119th Congress, 1st Session, July 29, 2025. https://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_votes/vote1191/vote_119_1_00445.htm
4. Congress.gov, PN60-14, “Susan Monarez, of Wisconsin, to be Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.” https://www.congress.gov/nomination/119th-congress/60/14
5. NPR, Shots health news, coverage of Monarez’s Senate confirmation, July 29, 2025. https://www.npr.org/sections/shots-health-news/2025/07/29/nx-s1-5484124/cdc-director-monarez-confirmed-senate
6. Academy of General Dentistry, “Susan Monarez Sworn In as CDC Director,” August 6, 2025. https://www.agd.org/constituent/news/2025/08/06/susan-monarez-sworn-in-as-cdc-director
7. CBS News (same article as 2), removal, lawyers’ statement and resignations.
8. CNN, “CDC left leaderless after new Director Dr. Susan Monarez is ousted and other key officials follow,” August 27, 2025. https://www.cnn.com/2025/08/27/health/cdc-director-monarez
9. STAT, “Analysis: What led to the firing of CDC Director Susan Monarez,” August 28, 2025. https://www.statnews.com/2025/08/28/cdc-director-fired-behind-the-scenes-look/
10. COSSA, “CDC Director Fired After Clash with HHS Secretary Kennedy Over Vaccines.” https://cossa.org/cdc-director-fired-after-clash-with-hhs-secretary-kennedy-over-vaccines/
11. Senate HELP Committee, “Testimony from Dr. Susan Coller Monarez,” September 17, 2025. https://www.help.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/e7a31f2a-d31c-42bb-1a95-38e6abef8195/Monarez%20Testimony.pdf
12. NPR, Shots health news, coverage of Monarez’s HELP Committee testimony, September 17, 2025. https://www.npr.org/sections/shots-health-news/2025/09/17/nx-s1-5544143/cdc-director-susan-monarez-testimony-rfk
13. CBS News, live coverage of the Monarez and Houry Senate testimony, September 17, 2025. https://www.cbsnews.com/live-updates/cdc-susan-monarez-debra-houry-senate-testimony-rfk-jr
14. NPR, “Dr. Erica Schwartz confirmed as CDC director, filling a leadership vacuum,” August 5, 2026. https://www.npr.org/2026/08/05/nx-s1-5920379/cdc-director-confirmed-erica-schwartz
15. CDC, Leadership page, captured October 14, 2026. https://www.cdc.gov/about/leadership/index.html
16. CDC, press release on the acting director’s childhood immunization schedule decision memorandum, January 5, 2026. https://www.cdc.gov/media/releases/2026/2026-cdc-acts-on-presidential-memorandum-to-update-childhood-immunization-schedule.html
17. WPVI-TV (6abc), coverage of Monarez’s Senate testimony on her removal, September 17, 2025. https://6abc.com/post/former-cdc-director-susan-monarez-testify-senate-ouster-rfk-jr/17833988

Cross-References

• Centers for Disease Control and Prevention — Agency Damage Assessment — CDC Agency Damage Assessment
• Robert F. Kennedy Jr. — Political Accountability Profile, Jim O’Neill — Former HHS Deputy Secretary and Acting CDC Director, Erica Schwartz — Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Jay Bhattacharya — NIH Director, Dave Weldon — Withdrawn CDC Director Nominee