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Hillsborough County Sheriff Chad Chronister, who was selected to lead President-elect Donald Trump's Drug Enforcement Administration, announced his decision to withdraw from consideration in a post shared on his X account Tuesday (December 3) night.
"To have been nominated by President-Elect Donald Trump to serve as Administrator of the Drug Enforcement Administration is the honor of a lifetime. Over the past several days, as the gravity of this very important responsibility set in, I’ve concluded that I must respectfully withdraw from consideration. There is more work to be done for the citizens of Hillsborough County and a lot of initiatives I am committed to fulfilling. I sincerely appreciate the nomination, outpouring of support by the American people, and look forward to continuing my service as Sheriff of Hillsborough County," Chronister wrote.
The Florida sheriff faced backlash from some of Trump's staunch supporters for his actions during the COVID-19 pandemic, which included arresting the pastor of a megachurch who held services with hundreds of people, violating a safer-at-home order issued in the county.
“Shame on this pastor, their legal staff and the leaders of this staff for forcing us to do our job. That’s not what we wanted to do during a declared state of emergency,” Chronister said at the time via the Associated Press. “We are hopeful that this will be a wakeup call.”
Trump claimed that it was his decision to pull the plug on Chronister for the role following the sheriff's post.
“He didn’t pull out, I pulled him out, because I did not like what he said to my pastors and other supporters,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social account.