President-elect Trump's nominee to lead the Drug Enforcement Administration has dropped out just three days after Trump announced the pick in a Truth Social post. In a post on X, Hillsborough County Sheriff Chad Chronister said the nomination was "the honor of a lifetime." But "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 said. Chronister had been strongly criticized by conservatives, especially over his arrest of a megachurch pastor in March 2020 for violating COVID restrictions by holding services with hundreds of people, the AP reports.
"Shame on this pastor, their legal staff, and the leaders of this staff for forcing us to do our job," Chronister said at the time. "That's not what we wanted to do during a declared state of emergency." In a post on X Sunday, GOP Rep. Thomas Massie said, "Trump's nominee for head of DEA should be disqualified for ordering the arrest a pastor who defied COVID lockdowns." The New York Times notes that Chronister was considered a surprising pick to lead the DEA because while he had more than 30 years of experience in local law enforcement in Florida, "he had no experience in the geopolitical aspects of the drug war."
Chronister was also criticized by conservatives over a video from 2023 in which he spoke about immigration laws, praising the "rich diversity" of his community, the AP reports. The sheriff said his office "does not engage in federal immigration enforcement activities. We do not target individuals based on their immigration status. That's the authority of federal agencies." On Tuesday, he said he appreciated the nomination and the "outpouring of support.' "There is more work to be done for the citizens of Hillsborough County and a lot of initiatives I am committed to fulfilling," he said. (More President-elect Trump stories.)
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