Whenย Donald Trumpย announced his pick to lead the Agriculture Department last month, Robert F. Kennedy Jr.โs team was blindsided, according to people familiar with the matter.
Kennedy,ย the president-electโs nomineeย to run the Health and Human Services Department, had been quietly compiling a shortlist of agriculture-secretary candidates in hopes of installing a like-minded disrupter in the post who would remake the food and farming sectors, the people said.
Brooke Rollins, a former White House aide with little prior relationship with Kennedy, wasnโt on the list.
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Now, Kennedy and Rollins have been thrust into an unexpectedโand potentially uneasyโpartnership. Rollins will be tasked with balancing the interests of the politically powerful farming industry with the priorities of Kennedy, who promised during his presidential campaign to โreverse 80 years of farm policyโ by ending factory farming and banning some pesticides. The Agriculture Department oversees many of the issues that are at the core of Kennedyโs โMake America Healthy Againโ agenda.
