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President Donald Trump downplayed reports that he was getting ready to fire Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Commissioner Marty Makary while speaking to reporters Friday.
“I’ve been reading about it, but I know nothing about it,” Trump said in response to a question about Makary’s potential firing. When asked what’s going on with Makary, Trump responded “nothing much.”
Initial buzz about a possible Makary ouster started circulating when The Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday that Trump had pressured Makary to fast track approval for flavored nicotine vapes.
Makary, according to WSJ, pushed back on the request, drawing Trump’s ire.
The friction pushed Trump to sign off on a plan to fire Makary, WSJ reported Friday.
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President Donald Trump and Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. look on as Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Dr. Marty Makary delivers remarks during an announcement on significant medical and scientific findings for America’s children in the Roosevelt Room of the White House in Washington, D.C., on Sept. 22, 2025. (Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)
Trump did not confirm the WSJ reporting, instead telling reporters “no, no” when asked if he was bringing in a new FDA head.
Makary has been embroiled in a number of controversies since being confirmed as the FDA head in March 2025.
Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Marty Makary speaks during a press conference with Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. at the Department of Health and Human Services in Washington, D.C., on Oct. 29, 2025, discussing administration’s plans to lower drug costs. (Annabelle Gordon/REUTERS)
Pro-life activists have accused the former oncology surgeon of slow-walking a safety review for abortion pill mifepristone.
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“This is a five-alarm crisis for the pro-life movement and for the GOP,” SBA Pro-Life America president Marjorie Dannenfelser said in a statement calling for Makary’s firing.
“The GOP cannot win without its base and simply will not get the enthusiasm that drives turnout without leadership from the top,” she wrote.
Pharmaceutical and biotech firms have also opposed Makary. John Crowley, the head of the biotech trade group, Biotechnology Innovation Organization (BIO), condemned some of Makary’s personnel cuts in a recent op-ed.
“Some of the administration’s recent efforts to reform the federal government through aggressive and often indiscriminate personnel cuts have lacked the strategic insights necessary to modernize and reform our nation’s health care agencies, especially the FDA,” Crowley wrote.
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But others, particularly those in Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) camp, have come to Makary’s defense, arguing calls for his firing are corporate-funded attacks.
“Dr. Makary is an ally in the MAHA movement,” Kelly Ryerson, an author and popular advocate also known as Glyphosate Girl, told Digital.
Food activist Vani Hari attends the Senate Finance Committee confirmation hearing for Robert F. Kennedy Jr., President Donald Trump’s nominee for Secretary of Health and Human Services, at the Capitol in Washington on Jan. 29, 2025. (Ben Curtis/AP)
“It is not surprising that his uncaptured approach to protecting human health has been met with the swamp calling for his firing,” she continued.
“The criticism is that he didn’t approve flavored vapes quickly enough. The mothers who don’t want their kids smoking find that reasoning alarming,” Ryerson concluded.
“The attacks against FDA Commissioner Marty Makary are coming from Big Pharma and the media outlets financially dependent on pharmaceutical advertising for survival,” Turning Point USA-affiliated podcaster Alex Clark wrote in a Friday post on X.
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“Washington SWAMP CREATURES hate Makary because he brings actual scientific scrutiny, independent thinking, and puts Americans’ health FIRST. President Trump has consistently said he wants to Make America Healthy Again. Replacing Makary with a pharma puppet would move us backward, not forward. DO NOT FIRE MAKARY. He is one of the strongest representatives of the MAHA movement inside the federal government. SCREW OFF BIG PHARMA,” Clark wrote.
Vani Hari, a popular food blogger and prominent media figure among the MAHA movement, also wrote that a Makary ouster “would be a horrible move.”
Digital contacted the White House, HHS, the FDA, BIO and SBA Pro-Life America for additional comment.
