Trump DEA Nom­i­nee With­draws From Con­sid­er­a­tion

Hills­bor­ough Coun­ty Sher­iff Chad Chro­nis­ter announced on Tues­day that he was with­draw­ing from con­sid­er­a­tion to become Pres­i­dent-elect Don­ald Trump‘s admin­is­tra­tor of the Drug Enforce­ment Agency (DEA).

“To have been nom­i­nat­ed by Pres­i­dent-Elect [Trump] to serve as Admin­is­tra­tor of the Drug Enforce­ment Admin­is­tra­tion is the hon­or of a life­time,” Chro­nis­ter said in a state­ment post­ed to X.

To have been nom­i­nat­ed by Pres­i­dent-Elect @realDonaldTrump to serve as Admin­is­tra­tor of the Drug Enforce­ment Admin­is­tra­tion is the hon­or of a life­time. Over the past sev­er­al days, as the grav­i­ty of this very impor­tant respon­si­bil­i­ty set in, I’ve con­clud­ed that I must respect­ful­ly… pic.twitter.com/bvNF8m9Bh4

— Chad Chro­nis­ter (@ChadChronister) Decem­ber 3, 2024

“Over the past sev­er­al days, as the grav­i­ty of this very impor­tant respon­si­bil­i­ty set in, I’ve con­clud­ed that I must respect­ful­ly with­draw from con­sid­er­a­tion,” he added. “There is more work to be done for the cit­i­zens of Hills­bor­ough Coun­ty and a lot of ini­tia­tives I am com­mit­ted to ful­fill­ing.”

Chro­nis­ter con­clud­ed: “I sin­cere­ly appre­ci­ate the nom­i­na­tion, out­pour­ing of sup­port by the Amer­i­can peo­ple, and look for­ward to con­tin­u­ing my ser­vice as Sher­iff of Hills­bor­ough Coun­ty.”

Trump announced on Sat­ur­day that he nom­i­nat­ed Chro­nis­ter, who was appoint­ed by then-Flori­da Gov­er­nor Rick Scott to be the top law enforce­ment offi­cer in Hills­bor­ough Coun­ty in 2017, to become DEA admin­is­tra­tor in a state­ment that laud­ed the sher­iff for his awards and record of ser­vice.

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“As DEA Admin­is­tra­tor, Chad will work with our great Attor­ney Gen­er­al, Pam Bon­di, to secure the Bor­der, stop the flow of Fen­tanyl, and oth­er Ille­gal Drugs, across the South­ern Bor­der, and SAVE LIVES,” Trump said in a state­ment. “Con­grat­u­la­tions to Chad, his wife Nik­ki, and two won­der­ful sons!”

How­ev­er, Chro­nis­ter faced blow­back from some con­ser­v­a­tives over a num­ber of issues, includ­ing the 2020 arrest of Flori­da pas­tor Rod­ney Howard-Browne for alleged­ly defy­ing social dis­tanc­ing orders dur­ing the COVID pan­dem­ic, press­ing his deputies get the jab, and releas­ing 164 inmates in a bid to reduce the risk of spread­ing COVID in jail.

“This sher­iff ordered the arrest of a pas­tor for hold­ing ser­vices dur­ing the COVID pan­ic,” Rep. Thomas Massie (R‑KY) said in a post to X. “He was tapped by Trump to head the DEA. Glad to see him with­draw from con­sid­er­a­tion. Next time politi­cians lose their ever-lovin minds, he can redeem him­self by fol­low­ing the Con­sti­tu­tion.”

Anoth­er of Trump’s picks, now-for­mer Rep. Matt Gaetz (R‑FL), with­drew from con­sid­er­a­tion to be U.S. attor­ney gen­er­al last month amid some GOP push­back and the House Ethics Com­mit­tee weigh­ing the release of a report on alleged sex­u­al mis­con­duct. Gaetz has denied the claims. Trump then select­ed for­mer Flori­da Attor­ney Gen­er­al Pam Bon­di to take on the role.