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Trump: Marino backing out of drug czar nomination
Roger DuPuis//October 17, 2017//
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“Rep.Tom Marino has informed me that he is withdrawing his name from consideration as drug czar,” Trump tweeted at about 8:40 a.m. today. “Tom is a fine man and a great Congressman!”
Marino, a Lycoming County Republican, had come under fire following a Washington Post/60 Minutes investigation that highlighted Marino’s role in promoting “a more industry-friendly law” that “effectively stripped the Drug Enforcement Administration of its most potent weapon against large drug companies suspected of spilling prescription narcotics onto the nation’s streets,” the paper wrote.
Trump and his attorney general, Jeff Sessions, have been among the growing chorus of voices arguing for stronger action to combat the opioid epidemic, which has claimed hundreds of thousands of lives across the country.
Amid that ongoing crisis, Trump had nominated Marino, one of his earliest and most vocal supporters, to lead the Office of National Drug Control Policy.
On Monday, the Post reported, Trump said “we’re going to be looking into” the paper’s investigation involving Marino.
There has been no statement as of yet from Marino this morning.
