President-elect Donald Trump admitted that he un-nominated Chad Chronister from Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) administrator after learning the sheriff publicly scolded and arrested a Florida pastor for hosting large church services during the pandemic.
Chronister, the sheriff of Hillsborough County, Florida, announced on Tuesday he was backing out of the nomination process citing the “gravity” of the “responsibility” of heading the agency in charge of coordinating and pursuing drug investigations domestically and internationally.
But Trump disputed that in a Truth Social post on Wednesday, saying Chronsiter “didn’t pull out.”
“I pulled him out, because I did not like what he said to my pastors and other supporters,” Trump said.
Though the president-elect did not specify what exactly Chronister said to the pastors, several Republican lawmakers have recently criticized Chronister for taking strict action against those who defied Covid-19 policies in the midst of the pandemic.
In March 2020, Chronister’s office arrested a Florida pastor, Dr. Rodney Howard-Browne, for holding large church services in defiance of the state’s lockdown policies.
In a press release, which was recently taken down from the sheriff’s website, Chronister called Howard-Browne’s actions a “reckless disregard for human life.”
Chronister also attempted to dispel misinformation about Covid-19 and vaccines in September 2021 by encouraging the public to “stop listening to the politicians” and get vaccinated.
“Stop listening to the politicians. Start listening to the medical professionals and the scientists and get vaccinated. If you don’t want to do it for yourself do it for your coworkers, do it for your family and do it to stay alive,” Chronister told WFLA at the time.
Trump, and many of his allies, made anti-Covid lockdown policies part of their political agenda. Many have harshly criticized the Biden administration for keeping schools and businesses closed to prevent the spread of the virus and encouraging people to get vaccinated.
Chronister also faced backlash from conservatives after saying his office “does not engage in federal immigation enforcement activities,” according to ABC Action News. A central tenet of Trump’s campaign was his mass deportation pledge.
The Independent has asked the Trump team for comment.
This is the second of Trump’s nominees to rescind from the nomination process. Former representative Matt Gaetz, who was initially tapped to serve as Attorney General, dropped out from the position while battling allegations of sexual misconduct with a minor.
