Trump Signs Off On Plan To Fire FDA Chief As Agency Clears Flavored Vapes
Trump reportedly signed off on a plan to fire FDA Commissioner Marty Makary as the FDA issued guidance allowing flavored e-cigarettes and pausing enforcement on illicit vapes.
Raw StoryTrump accused of handing massive gift to tobacco donors who couldn't win it legally
The AtlanticMarty Makary Set the Conditions for His Own Downfall
FOX NewsTrump responds to reports FDA chief Mark Makary could be fired: 'Know nothing about it'
ARS TechnicaTrump reportedly plans to fire FDA Commissioner Marty Makary
Overview
President Donald Trump reportedly signed off on a plan to fire FDA Commissioner Marty Makary.
On Friday the FDA issued guidance to stop enforcing rules against illicit vapes and to allow products already in advanced stages of review onto the market.
Mitch Zeller, a former FDA tobacco chief, called the move a "gift" to major tobacco companies and said it would gut the agency's scientific approval process, according to reporting.
Reporting said the White House pressured the FDA to clear flavored vapes and linked lobbying to White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles' former tobacco-industry client.
Insiders cautioned the plan to remove Makary is not final and could change, and the administration reportedly has not decided who would serve as acting director upon his departure.
Analysis
Center-leaning sources frame the story as a politically driven purge, using loaded terms ("planned axing," "plunged into turmoil") and cumulative negative context (vacancies, "ailing health agencies"). They foreground anonymous insider criticism and industry complaints; quoted disputes are source content but are presented within an editorial narrative emphasizing chaos and personnel failure.