President Joe Biden has formally requested that two Trump-appointed members of the President’s Council on Sports, Fitness, and Nutrition quit or face dismissal.
President Donald Trump appointed Herschel Walker and Mehmet Oz to the council in 2018. They are now Republican Senate candidates in Georgia and Pennsylvania, respectively. In December 2020, just before he left office, Trump reappointed them to two-year terms.
Image of Dr. Oz via Youtube screengrab…
According to a White House official, federal candidates serving on presidential boards is against the Biden administration’s policy. According to the official, letters were sent to Oz and Walker on Wednesday asking their resignations by 6 p.m.
Oz, who is running for the Republican nomination in a hotly contested primary, slammed the move in a statement. “President Trump appointed me to two terms on the President’s Council on Sports, Fitness & Nutrition. The White House just emailed me demanding my resignation by the end of the day,” he wrote. “Clearly, Joe Biden can’t be around anyone who doesn’t completely fall in line with his fear-mongering authoritarian one-size-fits-all COVID handling. I am proud of my service and will not resign.”
Image of Dr. Oz via Youtube screengrab…
Members of the President’s Council on Sports, Fitness, and Nutrition are classified as special government workers who “may not be candidates in partisan elections” while executing official government business, according to the Hatch Act.
The White House announced earlier Wednesday that chef and humanitarian José Andrés and WNBA star Elena Delle Donne will serve as co-chairs of the committee.
Image of Elena Delle Donne via Youtube screengrab…
Last October, the Biden White House requested a number of Trump appointees to quit from military service academy advisory boards, including former White House press secretary Sean Spicer, senior counselor Kellyanne Conway, and national security adviser H.R. McMaster.
Walker recently delivered a rant that questioned evolution science.
Image of Herschel Walker via Flickr/Thompson20192 is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0. To view a copy of this license, please visit:
“At one time, science said a man came from apes, did it not? … If that is true, why are there still apes? Think about it,” Herschel stated while speaking Sunday at the Sugar Hill Church in Georgia.
“Now you’re getting too smart for us, Herschel,” lead pastor Chuck Allen responded.
Walker is presently the front-runner in the Republican primary to succeed Sen. Raphael Warnock (D-Ga.), who is retiring. He’s a former NFL player who has former President Donald Trump’s support and is open about his Christian religion.
Image of Herschel Walker via Flickr/DVDSHUB s licensed with CC BY-ND 2.0. To view a copy of this license, visit
Walker is far from the first Republican candidate to raise doubts about evolution while running for office.
The apes you see at the zoo did not evolve into humans. Humans and apes share a common ancestor who lived around 10 million years ago (and is now extinct). Although all humans are technically apes, this does not mean that chimps are one step away from becoming humans. Walker’s explanation of evolution is wrong, and humans coexisting with other primates are not incompatible.
Image of Herschel Walker via Wikipedia Commons/Public Domain
Evolution and Christianity aren’t mutually exclusive, and a number of notable Christians have stated that one can believe in both God and evolution.
Walker went on to deny scientific advancement, claiming that science “can’t do” “conception of a baby.”
“They’re still trying to do that, but they can’t, because there has to be a God,” he said.