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  • STAT+: Praise for FDA’s acting commissioner John Wilkerson
    RFK Jr. adviser Calley Means and Kennedy’s son Finn attended the Enhanced Games, the pro-doping athletic competition and biohacking extravaganza that took place over the weekend in Las Vegas, according to The Washington Post. Send news tips and personal bests to John.Wilkerson@statnews.com or John_Wilkerson.07 on Signal. Ripple effects For weeks, Republicans have been preoccupied with an immigration funding bill that they’re pushing through Congress, without support from Democrats. I’ve no
     

STAT+: Praise for FDA’s acting commissioner

27 May 2026 at 00:21

RFK Jr. adviser Calley Means and Kennedy’s son Finn attended the Enhanced Games, the pro-doping athletic competition and biohacking extravaganza that took place over the weekend in Las Vegas, according to The Washington Post. Send news tips and personal bests to John.Wilkerson@statnews.com or John_Wilkerson.07 on Signal.

Ripple effects

For weeks, Republicans have been preoccupied with an immigration funding bill that they’re pushing through Congress, without support from Democrats. I’ve not been writing about that bill because it doesn’t include health care policies. But it’s now becoming relevant to health care, albeit indirectly.

Early last week, Republicans were expected to pass that budget reconciliation bill without much friction. By the end of the week, Senate Republicans adjourned for a week-long recess without voting on it due to an impasse over a new $1.8 billion settlement fund for Trump’s allies. They’d also butted heads with the president over his demands for $1 billion for a White House complex and ballroom.

Continue to STAT+ to read the full story…

Β© Sarah Silbiger/Getty Images

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  • STAT+: How Kyle Diamantas defied expectations as he rose to lead the FDA Lizzy Lawrence
    WASHINGTON β€” People in the food world didn’t know what to expect when the Trump administration appointed a little-known Florida attorney as the FDA’s top food official in 2025.Β  They knew Kyle Diamantas worked at Jones Day representing food, beverage, and tobacco-industry clients. They saw the picture of him and Donald Trump Jr. holding giant, dead wild turkeys after a hunt. He had no experience in public health, in medicine or science, or in government. The credentials didn’t scream quali
     

STAT+: How Kyle Diamantas defied expectations as he rose to lead the FDA

26 May 2026 at 16:30

WASHINGTON β€” People in the food world didn’t know what to expect when the Trump administration appointed a little-known Florida attorney as the FDA’s top food official in 2025.Β 

They knew Kyle Diamantas worked at Jones Day representing food, beverage, and tobacco-industry clients. They saw the picture of him and Donald Trump Jr. holding giant, dead wild turkeys after a hunt. He had no experience in public health, in medicine or science, or in government.

The credentials didn’t scream qualified. And Diamantas was stepping into a center rocked by DOGE layoffs and a defiant resignation by former leader Jim Jones.Β 

Continue to STAT+ to read the full story…

Β© Camille MacMillin/STAT

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