<p>Sheriff Chad Chronister, President-elect Donald Trump's pick to lead the Drug Enforcement Administration, withdrew his name from consideration for the office Tuesday, only three days after he was nominated.</p>.<p>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.</p>.<p>"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."</p>.<p>With 48 days still to go before Trump takes office, Chronister is the second of 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.</p>.<p>From the outset, Chronister was a surprising choice to run the DEA, 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.</p>.Trump weaponizing dollar seen as needless BRICS provocation.<p>While he had a 30-year background in local law enforcement, he had no experience in the geopolitical aspects of the drug war. 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.</p>.<p>After his nomination, Chronister immediately came under fire from some of 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.</p>.<p>Current and former DEA agents also started circulating a video of 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."</p>.<p>Chronister's withdrawal from consideration to run the DEA was a setback for Pam Bondi, the former Florida attorney general, whom Trump selected to run the Justice Department after Gaetz dropped out. Bondi is close to Chronister, who worked in a lower position in the Hillsborough County sheriff's office when Bondi was in charge of one of its sister agencies, the Hillsborough County State Attorney's Office.</p>.<p>A Pennsylvania native who once worked in construction and as a hotel bellhop, Chronister married into a family with ties to Trump more than a decade ago. His father-in-law, Edward J. DeBartolo Jr., has donated to Trump's political campaigns and received a pardon from Trump in 2020.</p>.<p>The pardon expunged 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.</p>.<p>When Chronister was named to run the DEA on Saturday night, many longtime agents had no idea who he was.</p>.<p>His withdrawal opens a possible path to nomination for two DEA 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.</p>
<p>Sheriff Chad Chronister, President-elect Donald Trump's pick to lead the Drug Enforcement Administration, withdrew his name from consideration for the office Tuesday, only three days after he was nominated.</p>.<p>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.</p>.<p>"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."</p>.<p>With 48 days still to go before Trump takes office, Chronister is the second of 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.</p>.<p>From the outset, Chronister was a surprising choice to run the DEA, 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.</p>.Trump weaponizing dollar seen as needless BRICS provocation.<p>While he had a 30-year background in local law enforcement, he had no experience in the geopolitical aspects of the drug war. 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.</p>.<p>After his nomination, Chronister immediately came under fire from some of 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.</p>.<p>Current and former DEA agents also started circulating a video of 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."</p>.<p>Chronister's withdrawal from consideration to run the DEA was a setback for Pam Bondi, the former Florida attorney general, whom Trump selected to run the Justice Department after Gaetz dropped out. Bondi is close to Chronister, who worked in a lower position in the Hillsborough County sheriff's office when Bondi was in charge of one of its sister agencies, the Hillsborough County State Attorney's Office.</p>.<p>A Pennsylvania native who once worked in construction and as a hotel bellhop, Chronister married into a family with ties to Trump more than a decade ago. His father-in-law, Edward J. DeBartolo Jr., has donated to Trump's political campaigns and received a pardon from Trump in 2020.</p>.<p>The pardon expunged 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.</p>.<p>When Chronister was named to run the DEA on Saturday night, many longtime agents had no idea who he was.</p>.<p>His withdrawal opens a possible path to nomination for two DEA 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.</p>