Details of Fauci Aide’s Arrest; MAHA PAC Low on Cash; Makary on Shaky Ground

When David Morens, MD, a top aide to Anthony Fauci, MD, was arrested by federal agents in late April, they removed his shirt and pants before handcuffing him and driving him to a courthouse in Maryland to be fingerprinted. A former colleague of Morens called the arrest a “shameful, politically motivated attack on science.” (Science)

The Make America Healthy Again Political Action Committee (MAHA PAC) pledged to help Republicans keep their seats in the midterm elections, but a Politico investigation revealed the group’s coffers are dwindling. The group has only raised $1.5 million since January 2025 — a figure roughly equal to 1% of the funding spent by a more established Republican PAC in a single month.

President Donald Trump dismissed board members of the National Science Foundation on May 1. (Washington Post)

Trump appointed FDA deputy commissioner Sara Brenner, MD, MPH, to be HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s senior counselor for public health. Brenner appears aligned with Kennedy on some of his key issues, including vaccine skepticism and a belief in the importance of fitness — suggesting the potential for continued tension at the agency. (New York Times)

FDA Commissioner Marty Makary, MD, MPH, may have been one of Trump’s least controversial choices to lead a key health agency, but after a year of internal turmoil and industry pushback, sources say he’s one false move away from losing the post. (Bloomberg)

Trump’s new pick for surgeon general, Nicole Saphier, MD, suggested in a post on X the administration was hiding that measles was spreading widely enough in the U.S. to jeopardize the country’s elimination status. The post has since been deleted. (CNN)

And former surgeon general nominee Casey Means, MD, blamed Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) for crushing her hopes of securing the approval of the Senate Health Committee, a first step in the confirmation process. (Politico)

NIH program director Jenna Norton, PhD, MPH, who was placed on leave last year after helping to organize the Bethesda Declaration, has been reinstated. (New York Times)

A New York Times investigation highlights multiple examples of physicians who used the “No Surprises Act” to secure extremely high reimbursements for common medical procedures. That includes a $440,000 award to a surgeon for a breast reduction.

It’s not even approved yet, but conspiracy theorists and social media influencers are already stirring up false rumors to sow distrust around a vaccine candidate for Lyme disease. One post on X claimed “the government is going to release plague like levels of ticks upon us in order to incentivize the masses into getting another vaccine.” (Mother Jones)

The Guardian profiled Colette Delawalla, an early-career clinical psychologist and founder of Stand Up for Science. Her commitment to defending science and research forced her to put her own career on hold — “a decision that came with a lot of grief,” she said.