President Trump has signed off on a plan to fire Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Marty Macri, according to multiple media reports, although insiders cautioned that the plan is not final and could be subject to change.
News of the planned evictions comes from insiders who spoke to The Wall Street Journal, which was confirmed by reports from Bloomberg, The Washington Post and Politico. The Post reported that the administration has not decided who will serve as acting director when Macri leaves.
The planned exit for Macri comes after a difficult year in which the FDA was mired in turmoil and controversy over DOGE cuts, personnel drama, vaccine approval, gene therapy decisions, abortion pill oversight and vape regulation.
Earlier this week, the Journal reported that Trump had scolded Macri over the weekend for not moving fast enough to approve flavored vapes and nicotine products. Trump advisers reportedly described Makri as a problem for the administration and said he was circumventing the president’s campaign promise to “defund vaping.”
Specifically, Maceri was said to have avoided approving menthol, mango, and blueberry vape flavors from Los Angeles manufacturer Glass out of concern that these flavors might entice youth to vape. The FDA approved the vapes on Tuesday after pressure from Trump.
Top administration officials have seen Macri struggle to manage the FDA, arguing with other health officials, according to the Journal. He also noted the pharmaceutical industry’s complaints about them.
If McCreary is removed, it would join a growing list of vacancies at the ailing health agencies overseen by anti-vaccine Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. High-level leaders from the FDA, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the National Institutes of Health have left in large numbers amid the Trump administration. The CDC is without a director, and there is no surgeon general.
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