Former Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Director Susan Monarez will be in the spotlight Wednesday at a high-profile Senate hearing, as Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.) appears to try to drive a wedge between Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and President Trump.

Cassidy has shown growing frustration with Kennedy and the chaos he is causing across the federal health department. Wednesday's hearing will spotlight some of Kennedy’s most high-profile critics within the public health system.

Monarez is set to testify in Cassidy’s Health Committee alongside Deborah Houry, the CDC’s former chief medical officer who resigned in protest after Monarez was fired.

In a matter of weeks earlier this year, Monarez was endorsed by Kennedy, confirmed by the GOP-controlled Senate, and then subsequently ousted, she says, because she would not go along with Kennedy’s vaccine agenda.

According to testimony obtained by The Hill, Monarez will say she was fired for “holding the line on scientific integrity” and refusing to bow under pressure from Kennedy to preapprove recommendations by the agency’s independent vaccine advisory committee Kennedy stocked with vaccine skeptics.

Wednesday’s hearing marks the latest high-stakes moment for Cassidy, a physician-turned-politician from deep-red Louisiana.

Cassidy agonized about supporting........

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