Trump’s Choice to Lead Hostage Negotiations Withdraws Nomination

Adam Boehler will continue to work as a special government employee in the administration.

Adam Boehler speaks during a ceremony to raise the Hostage and Wrongful Detainee flag at the State Department in Washington, on March 6, 2025. Evan Vucci /AP Photo

The White House has confirmed that Adam Boehler was withdrawn as the president’s nominee to serve as the special presidential envoy for hostage affairs.

Boehler, who recently was working to secure the release of Israeli hostages held by Hamas, will work as a “special government employee” in the meantime, the White House said. The statement from the administration did not say why Boehler’s nomination was being withdrawn. The position requires Senate confirmation.

Being designated a special government employee allows an administration official to possibly avoid disclosure rules that would have been required if they went through with the Senate confirmation process.

“Adam Boehler will continue to serve President Trump as a special government employee focused on hostage negotiations,” White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt said in a statement on Saturday.

“Adam played a critical role in negotiating the return of Marc Fogel from Russia. He will continue this important work to bring wrongfully detained individuals around the world home.”

In a statement, Boehler said that he will be in a better position to help the Trump administration with the latest move.

“This gives me the best ability to help Americans held abroad as well as work across agencies to achieve President Trump’s objectives,” he said.

Boehler is the founder and managing partner of a health care investment firm, Rubicon Founders. He served in the first Trump administration, for a time as director of the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation, and was a lead negotiator on the Abraham Accords team.

Last week, the administration also withdrew Dave Weldon as its nominee to head the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), a source told The Epoch Times. That official said that Weldon, a former Republican Florida congressman, did not have enough votes to be confirmed.

Weldon, 71, was slated to appear before the Senate Health Committee on March 13 to answer questions. But that event was listed as canceled last week.

In a statement, Weldon made note of criticism that he has received about vaccines, adding that he was told that Sens. Susan Collins (R-Maine) and Bill Cassidy (R-La.) appeared to be reluctant to vote in his favor. Weldon said that he is not anti-vaccine and does not believe that vaccines cause autism.

Weldon said he believes that this nomination was scrapped “probably” because of large pharmaceutical companies that are “hands-down, the most powerful lobby organization in Washington DC.”

“The president is a busy man doing good work for our nation and the last thing he needs is a controversy about CDC,” he added.

Before President Donald Trump took office, he had named Republican congressman Matt Gaetz to become his attorney general, but Gaetz later withdrew from consideration amid concerns about a House ethics report being released. Trump instead named Pam Bondi and she was confirmed as attorney general in February.

In December 2024, Trump withdrew his pick to run the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), Chad Chronister, after Republican-led backlash over his response during the COVID-19 pandemic. Chronister, the sheriff of Hillsborough County, Florida, was accused of arresting the pastor of a church who had continued to hold services during the pandemic, in 2020.

Trump said in a statement on Truth Social that it was his decision to pull Chronister’s nomination “because I did not like what he said to my pastors and other supporters.” Trump also refuted claims that Chronister withdrew his own name from consideration.

The Epoch Times contacted the White House for additional comment Sunday.

Reuters and The Associated Press contributed to this report.