Chad Chronister, President-elect Donald Trump’s selection to lead the Drug Enforcement Administration, said Tuesday that he would withdraw from consideration.
Chronister, who is the sheriff in Hillsborough County, Florida, said he would turn down Trump’s planned nomination to be the next DEA administrator just three days after Trump announced it.
He is the second of Trump’s administration picks to take his name out of the running, after former Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., dropped his bid to become attorney general last month.
Chronister is a longtime Florida law enforcement official whose father-in-law is Edward DeBartolo Jr., the former owner of the San Francisco 49ers. The pick was widely praised by Republicans in Florida, including by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis.
But Chronister ran into a series of hurdles from Trump’s political base because of how he handled the coronavirus pandemic — particularly his decision in 2020 to arrest Ronald Howard-Browne, a Tampa-area pastor, for the decision to flout pandemic-era lockdown orders. The charges were ultimately dropped.
“To have been nominated by President-Elect @realDonaldTrump to serve as Administrator of the Drug Enforcement Administration is the honor of a lifetime,” Chronister wrote on X on Tuesday evening. “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.”
Chronister cited ongoing work that’s needed in serving the people of Hillsborough County “and a lot of initiatives I am committed to fulfilling.”
A spokesperson for Trump’s transition team did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Trump had tapped Chronister to be DEA administrator, a role within the Justice Department that requires Senate confirmation, over the weekend.
Trump said Saturday on Truth Social that Chronister “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.”
Chronister responded favorably to the intended nomination Saturday on X, writing, “I am deeply humbled by this opportunity to serve our nation.”
Chronister was appointed sheriff by then-Gov. Rick Scott, who is now in the Senate, in 2017. Chronister has worked in the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office for 28 years, according to the sheriff’s website.
Florida Republicans largely saw Chronister as a top-tier pick for Trump, but on late Tuesday, after he withdrew his name, many said they understood the rationale.
“He was a target for the Covid stuff,” a longtime Florida Republican said. “He is someone who is seen as a great sheriff here, but there were reasons I think that he got caught up in all this.”
Shortly after Trump nominated Chronister, his Covid-era track record became an immediate problem, but because DeSantis supported his nomination, he avoided Florida-level pushback.
Congressional Republicans, though, were not as forgiving.
“This sheriff ordered the arrest of a pastor for holding services during the COVID panic. He was tapped by Trump to head the DEA,” Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., said on X. “Glad to see him withdraw from consideration. Next time politicians lose their ever-lovin minds, he can redeem himself by following the Constitution.”
Reached for comment, a spokesperson for the sheriff’s office referred NBC News to Chronister’s statement on X but did not respond to questions about whether the criticism played a role in Chronister’s decision.
Chronister told reporters in March 2020 that he sought an arrest warrant for the pastor because his “reckless disregard for human life put hundreds of people from his congregation at risk” and threatened “thousands of residents who may interact with them this week.”
Chronister is not the first of Trump’s picks to withdraw his name from consideration for a post in his second term.
In November, Gaetz withdrew his name from consideration to be attorney general amid sexual misconduct allegations, which he denied.
