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| John Wagner |
John “Wolf” Wagner, who headed external affairs at the Food and Drug Administration, is out as aftershocks continue from commissioner’s Stephen Hahn misstatements about the benefits of the blood plasma to treat COVID-19, which undermined the reputation of the agency.
President Trump in June appointed Wagner, who was principal deputy assistant at the Dept. of Veterans Affairs, to the post.
Wagner had served as a consultant at 2016 Republican National Conventions, developing messaging talking points and media engagements.
Heidi Rebello, a 14-year FDA veteran and the agency’s acting deputy chief of staff, has stepped into the position on an acting basis, responsible all FDA public communications.
Wagner’s departure follows the Aug. 28 exit of FDA chief spokesperson Emily Miller, who lasted 11 days on the job.
Erik Hotmire has rejoined the Securities and Exchange Commission as chief external affairs officer and director of the Office of Public Affairs.
California seeks a firm to handle a $3.5M marketing/ad program to promote awareness of, and increase sign-ups in, its job corps program. 
The National Highway Safety Administration has awarded its public education to Stratacomm following a competitive re-compete process.
Congress wants the FTC to probe whether TikTok violated child privacy laws when it launched a last-ditch lobbying blitz to defeat the bill requiring its owner, ByteDance, to divest it.
Jeffrey Nesbit, who served as communications director for former vice president Dan Quayle, is named assistant secretary for public affairs at the Department of Health and Human Services.
