White House Interview Special Part 1: Robert F Kennedy Jr Talks Health Agenda; Trump Senior Strategist May Mailman Talks DOGE, Immigration and Campus Crackdown

Mo News visited the White House this week to get perspective on the Trump agenda 60 days into the administration from DOGE to immigration to tariffs to their “Make America Healthy Again” initiative. We interviewed several top officials during our trip. This episode will include two conversations. 

First, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. joined us just hours after announcing sweeping cuts to his department—slashing the workforce by thousands. Kennedy argues the agency (which includes the CDC, FDA, NIH, and others) has grown bloated under Biden and says fewer administrators will actually make it more effective. 

Kennedy also opened up about his crackdown on soda in food stamps, his baby formula initiative, and where the president has drawn a line when it comes to MAHA. In a wide-ranging conversation, Kennedy laid out his plan to reshape HHS—and why he believes doing “more with less” will improve care.

Second, we present our conversation with May Mailman, a senior policy strategist and Deputy Assistant to the President. She discussed what makes the second Trump term different, from the whirlwind pace, to the pre-planned executive orders and how aggressive implementation have reshaped the administration's early impact. We get into the administration’s controversial border deportation strategy, including the legal battle over deporting alleged gang members to El Salvador using a law from 1798. 

Beyond that, Mailman also opens up about working with Elon Musk on the administration’s Doge initiative to cut government waste, explaining why his “outsider” mindset—paired with insider legal expertise—is making changes she once thought were impossible. We also explore how those aggressive early cuts are being refined to avoid what some call indiscriminate slashing.

Mosheh Oinounou (@mosheh) is an Emmy and Murrow award-winning journalist. He has 20 years of experience at networks including Fox News, Bloomberg Television and CBS News, where he was the executive producer of the CBS Evening News and launched the network's 24 hour news channel. He founded the @mosheh Instagram news account in 2020 and the Mo News podcast and newsletter in 2022.

Jill Wagner (@jillrwagner) is an Emmy and Murrow award-winning journalist. She's currently the Managing Editor of the Mo News newsletter and previously worked as a reporter for CBS News, Cheddar News, and News 12. She also co-founded the Need2Know newsletter, and has made it a goal to drop a Seinfeld reference into every Mo News podcast.

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