Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Marty Makary is leaving the Trump administration, according to three people familiar with the situation, after President Donald Trump signed off on a plan to fire him last week.
The FDA chief had come under intense and sustained pressure from within the administration — including over his resistance to approving the sale of flavored e-cigarettes.
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Trump is expected to appoint Kyle Diamantas, a deputy commissioner who heads the agency’s food program, as acting FDA chief, according to two people familiar with the decision.
Trump later confirmed that Makary was leaving and that he had tapped Diamantas in a Truth Social post.
Makary’s resignation means Trump will now need to fill yet another vacancy — the eventual permanent pick requires Senate confirmation — in the top ranks of the US Health and Human Services Department.
Departure Amid Controversy
A source familiar with Makary’s departure said it was largely due to disagreements over the vape issue.
“He doesn’t want to approve youth-appealing flavors, but has been forced to by the powers that be,” the person said.
Makary’s departure comes one day before he was set to testify about the FDA’s proposed budget before the Senate Appropriations Committee.
A push to oust Makary had accelerated in recent days, driven by a faction of White House and HHS officials who had soured on an FDA that had been marked by constant chaos, internal clashes and policy confusion.
Reaction from Health and Human Services Secretary
In a post on X, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. praised Makary at length and said: “The search for a new Commissioner is already underway, and we will move forward with urgency.”
The administration already lacks a permanent leader atop the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and a permanent surgeon general, who traditionally serves as the nation’s top doctor.
Some Trump aides had argued that ousting yet another senior health official would amount to a political misstep — further angering a portion of the administration’s “Make America Healthy Again” base.
Others within the White House and HHS, however, saw Makary’s departure as inevitable.
Background on FDA Controversies
Makary, a surgeon and author, had pledged to accelerate FDA decisions on drugs, devices and vaccines following his confirmation in March 2025.
But he frequently found himself mired in controversy over the subsequent year — both from pharmaceutical companies unhappy with his management of the drug approval process and administration officials who questioned his handling of other areas of FDA’s sweeping portfolio, including tobacco regulation.
In a recent flashpoint that renewed talk among Trump and his advisers about firing Makary, the FDA chief resisted internal efforts to approve the sale of fruit-flavored e-cigarettes.
The issue prompted an angry Trump to directly press Makary over vapes decisions, two people familiar with the episode said.
The FDA subsequently reversed course on flavored e-cigarettes last week.
Social conservatives had warned for months that it could be a motivating issue in the upcoming midterm elections, and the Supreme Court is signaling it could take up the issue.
But activists had long argued that part of the blame rested on Makary.
“FDA Commissioner Makary should be fired immediately,” Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America President Marjorie Dannenfelser said in a statement days before the White House meeting.
“Indifference is completely unacceptable to millions of pro-life voters expecting the administration to act to save lives.”
Medication abortion now accounts for roughly two-thirds of all US abortions and has helped fuel an overall increase in the procedure since the Supreme Court ended nationwide protections in 2022.
Makary’s departure has been reported by multiple outlets, including Politico, which first reported his resignation.
CNN’s Kit Maher contributed to this report.
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