Trump denies reports he plans to fire FDA Commissioner Marty Makary

President Donald Trump downplayed reports that he was preparing to fire Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Commissioner Marty Makary when he spoke to reporters on Friday.

“I’ve read about it, but I don’t know anything,” Trump said in response to a question about the possibility of Makary being fired. When asked what happened to Makary, Trump said, “Nothing much.”

The first rumors of a possible removal of Makary began circulating on Tuesday when The Wall Street Journal reported that Trump was pressuring Makary to speed up approval of flavored nicotine e-cigarettes.

Makary rejected the request, drawing Trump’s ire, according to the WSJ.

The friction pushed Trump to sign a plan to fire Makary. WSJ reported Friday.

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Trump did not confirm the WSJ’s reports, instead telling reporters “no, no” when asked if he would bring in a new FDA chief.

Makary has been embroiled in a series of controversies since his confirmation as FDA chief in March 2025.

Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Marty Makary meets Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. at the Department of Health and Human Services in Washington, DC, on October 29, 2025. He discusses the administration’s plans to reduce drug costs at a press conference with . (Annabelle Gordon/REUTERS)

Pro-life activists accused the former oncology surgeon of slow-walking a safety review of the abortion pill mifepristone.

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“This is a five-alarm crisis for the pro-life movement and the GOP,” said Marjorie Dannenfelser, president of SBA Pro-Life America he said in a statement I demand that Makary be fired.

“The GOP cannot win without its base and cannot achieve the enthusiasm that encourages participation without leadership from the top,” he wrote.

Pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies also opposed Makary. John Crowley, president of the biotechnology trade group Biotechnology Innovation Organization (BIO), condemned some of Makary’s staff cuts a new column.

“Some of the administration’s recent efforts to reform the federal government through aggressive and often indiscriminate personnel cuts lacked the strategic insights needed to modernize and reform our nation’s health care agencies, particularly the FDA,” Crowley wrote.

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But others, particularly those in Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) camp, came to Makary’s defense, arguing that calls for Makary’s firing were company-funded attacks.

“Dr. Makary is an ally of the MAHA movement,” author and popular advocate Kelly Ryerson, also known as Glyphosate Girl, told Fox News Digital.

Food activist Vani Hari meets President Donald Trump’s nominee for Secretary of Health and Human Services, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., at the Capitol in Washington on January 29, 2025. Attended the Senate Finance Committee confirmation hearing for. (Ben Curtis/AP)

“It’s no surprise that his yet-to-be-captured approach to protecting human health has been met with calls across the swamp for him to be fired,” he continued.

“The criticism is that it did not approve flavored e-cigarettes quickly enough. Mothers who do not want their children to smoke find this logic worrying,” Ryerson concluded.

“The attacks on FDA Commissioner Marty Makary are coming from Big Pharma and media outlets that are financially dependent on drug advertising to survive,” Turning Point USA podcaster Alex Clark wrote in a Friday post on X.

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“Washington SWAMP CREATURES hate Makary because he brings true scientific scrutiny, independent thought, and puts the health of Americans FIRST. President Trump has consistently said he wants to Make America Healthy Again. Replacing Makary with a pharmaceutical dummy would take us backwards, not forwards. DO NOT FIRE MAKARY. He is one of the most powerful representatives of the MAHA movement in the federal government. SHOT BIG PHARMA,” Clark wrote.

Popular food blogger and leading media figure of the MAHA movement, Vani Hari, also wrote that Makary’s dismissal “would be a terrible move.”

Fox News Digital has contacted the White House, HHS, FDA, BIO and SBA Pro-Life America for additional comment.