Chad Chronister Withdraws as Trump’s Pick to Lead DEA

Trump’s Pick to Lead D.E.A. Withdraws, Citing ‘Gravity’ of Job

The announcement by Chad Chronister, a Florida sheriff with virtually no experience in the kinds of complex international investigations the agency handles, comes just three days after his selection.

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By Alan Feuer

Sheriff Chad Chronister, President-elect Donald J. Trump’s pick to lead the Drug Enforcement Administration, withdrew his name from consideration for the office on Tuesday, only three days after he was nominated.

Sheriff Chronister, who is in charge of the sheriff’s department in the Florida county that is home to Tampa, announced his withdrawal in a message on social media, saying that as “the gravity of this very important responsibility set in,” he had changed his mind about accepting the nomination.

“There is more work to be done for the citizens of Hillsborough County and a lot of initiatives I am committed to fulfilling,” he wrote. “I sincerely appreciate the nomination, outpouring of support by the American people, and look forward to continuing my service as Sheriff of Hillsborough County.”

With 48 days still to go before Mr. Trump takes office, Sheriff Chronister is the second of Mr. Trump’s appointments to back out of a nomination. Last month, Matt Gaetz, the former Florida congressman, withdrew his name from consideration as attorney general after it became clear that he did not have enough votes to pass confirmation in the Senate amid allegations of sex trafficking and drug use. And a handful of other picks are facing potentially rocky paths in the Senate.

From the outset, Sheriff Chronister was a surprising choice to run the D.E.A., the nation’s top drug enforcement agency, which operates in more than 60 countries and oversees complex and diplomatically difficult investigations against Mexican drug cartels and Chinese money launderers.

While he had a 30-year background in local law enforcement, he had no experience in the geopolitical aspects of the drug war. Mr. Trump has arguably made that war more challenging by threatening to impose tariffs on Mexico and China if the countries do not stem the flow of drugs and immigrants into the United States.

After his nomination, Sheriff Chronister immediately came under fire from some of Mr. Trump’s most ardent right-wing supporters for his decision to vigorously enforce Covid-19 regulations during the pandemic. His critics pointed in particular to his arrest of a Florida pastor in March 2020 for holding a church service in violation of lockdown rules.

Current and former D.E.A. agents also started circulating a video of Sheriff Chronister’s son, George Zachary Chronister, rapping about his involvement in a knife attack against another man during a brawl in 2017. The son was sentenced to 22 months in prison for the stabbing and later released a rap video describing it, titled “Slash Yo Face.”

Sheriff Chronister’s withdrawal from consideration to run the D.E.A. was a setback for Pam Bondi, the former Florida attorney general, whom Mr. Trump selected to run the Justice Department after Mr. Gaetz dropped out. Ms. Bondi is close to Sheriff Chronister, who worked in a lower position in the Hillsborough County sheriff’s office when Ms. Bondi was in charge of one of its sister agencies, the Hillsborough County State Attorney’s Office.

A Pennsylvania native who once worked in construction and as a hotel bellhop, Sheriff Chronister married into a family with ties to Mr. Trump more than a decade ago. His father-in-law, Edward J. DeBartolo Jr., has donated to Mr. Trump’s political campaigns and received a pardon from Mr. Trump in 2020.

The pardon expunged Mr. DeBartolo’s guilty plea in 1998 stemming from an extortion plot connected to a riverboat casino license that a company he invested in was seeking in Louisiana.

When Sheriff Chronister was named to run the D.E.A. on Saturday night, many longtime agents had no idea who he was.

His withdrawal opens a possible path to nomination for two D.E.A. veterans who were previously under consideration for the top job: Derek Maltz, the former head of the agency’s special operations division, who has a wealth of experience in international cases, and Ray Donovan, the former chief of operations, who played a central role in the capture of Joaquín Guzmán Loera, the Mexican drug lord known as El Chapo.

Trump Transition: News and Analysis

• D.E.A. Pick Withdraws: Sheriff Chad Chronister, President-elect Donald Trump’s pick to lead the Drug Enforcement Administration, withdrew his name from consideration for the office, citing the “gravity” of the job.
• Patel’s F.B.I. Plan: Kash Patel, Trump’s pick to lead the F.B.I., has called for firing the agency’s top officials, shutting down its Washington headquarters and prosecuting journalists.
• Background Checks: Trump’s transition operation announced that it had belatedly signed an agreement with the Justice Department that will allow the F.B.I. to conduct background checks on his nominees.
• Shaking Up Health Care: Scientists and experts have expressed alarm that Trump wants to give over the country’s health agencies to people like Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Dr. Mehmet Oz. But for some voters, rejecting norms is exactly the point.
• Biden’s Unlikely Ally: Trump has promised to unravel President Biden’s major legislation, but Biden is hoping to salvage his most prized policies with help from an unlikely source: Republicans.