President Donald Trump’s nominee for surgeon general, Dr. Nicole Saphier, was caught deleting tweets criticizing the administration’s top public health officials.
Just two months before she was nominated by Trump, Saphier wrote a post suggesting the administration was downplaying how much measles had spread in order to save face ahead of the midterms, according to CNN.
“Seems like they may not want to admin the U.S. Measles elimination status is gone until after midterm elections,” Saphier said in a now-deleted tweet from March. (RELATED: Who Is Trump’s New Pick For Surgeon General?)
This is just one of several recent posts Saphier has since deleted from her account, including posts that raised questions about Trump’s health, breaking from the administration’s policies on vaccines and autism, and criticizing Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr, according to CNN.
(Photo by JIM WATSON/AFP via Getty Images)
“Lots of people questioning POTUS MRI — I have questions too,” Saphier said in a deleted post from October. “It’s hard to take some of these people seriously as they failed to have questions on Covid natural immunity, vaccines, masking, shutdowns and the fact Biden couldn’t string together a coherent sentence at times.”
Saphier also criticized policy changes and health findings touted by supporters of the administration and the Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) movement.
“As a mom of 3 kids, I don’t love a man telling me to ‘tough it out’ when it comes to pregnancy,” Saphier said in a now-deleted post, referring to Trump’s remarks made during a press conference about the links between Tylenol and autism. “Words matter. Facts matter too.” (RELATED: MAHA Notches Victory On Capitol Hill As GOP Agrees To Drop Special Pesticide Protections)
Another now-deleted post from Saphier’s account showed her frustration with aspects of the administration’s vaccine rescheduling, saying the “pendulum has swung too far.”
“The CDC vaccine schedule is in limbo, the status of ACIP up in the air and no clear path forward,” Saphier wrote in the post. “The system needed reform, but not chaos. The pendulum swung too far in the overhaul. Time for a measured reset, with transparency and data driven guidance.”
Trump previously nominated Dr. Casey Means in May 2025 after pulling his previous nomination for surgeon general Dr. Janette Nesheiwat. Despite initially facing opposition from multiple factions on the right and left, Means eventually became an ally of Kennedy and the MAHA movement.
Notably, Saphier publicly criticized the ex-nominee before being nominated for the role herself, saying Means was lacking the “leadership background” for the role.