Trump Denies Plans to Fire FDA Commissioner Marty Makary

President Donald Trump downplayed reports that he plans to fire Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Marty Makary while speaking to reporters Friday.

"I've been reading about it, but I know nothing about it," Trump said in response to a question about Makary's potential firing. When asked what's going on with Makary, Trump responded, "nothing much."

Initial reports of a possible ouster began circulating after The Wall Street Journal said Tuesday that Trump had pressured Makary to fast-track approval for flavored nicotine vapes. Makary pushed back on the request, according to WSJ, which drew Trump's ire. The friction led Trump to sign off on a plan to fire Makary, the Journal reported Friday.

Trump did not confirm the reporting. He told reporters "no, no" when asked if he was bringing in a new FDA head.

Makary has faced controversies since his confirmation as FDA head in March 2025. Pro-life activists have accused the former oncology surgeon of slow-walking a safety review for abortion pill mifepristone.

"This is a five-alarm crisis for the pro-life movement and for the GOP," SBA Pro-Life America president Marjorie Dannenfelser said in a statement calling for Makary's firing. "The GOP cannot win without its base and simply will not get the enthusiasm that drives turnout without leadership from the top," she wrote.

Pharmaceutical and biotech firms have also opposed Makary. John Crowley, head of the Biotechnology Innovation Organization, condemned some of Makary's personnel cuts in a recent op-ed.

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

Supporters in Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s Make America Healthy Again movement have defended Makary, calling firing calls corporate-funded attacks.

"Dr. Makary is an ally in the MAHA movement," Kelly Ryerson, an author known as Glyphosate Girl, told Fox News Digital. "It is not surprising that his uncaptured approach to protecting human health has been met with the swamp calling for his firing."

"The criticism is that he didn’t approve flavored vapes quickly enough. The mothers who don’t want their kids smoking find that reasoning alarming," Ryerson said.

"The attacks against FDA Commissioner Marty Makary are coming from Big Pharma and the media outlets financially dependent on pharmaceutical advertising for survival," Turning Point USA-affiliated podcaster Alex Clark wrote Friday on X.

"Washington SWAMP CREATURES hate Makary because he brings actual scientific scrutiny, independent thinking, and puts Americans’ health FIRST. President Trump has consistently said he wants to Make America Healthy Again. Replacing Makary with a pharma puppet would move us backward, not forward. DO NOT FIRE MAKARY. He is one of the strongest representatives of the MAHA movement inside the federal government. SCREW OFF BIG PHARMA," Clark wrote.

Vani Hari, a food blogger prominent in the MAHA movement, said a Makary ouster "would be a horrible move."

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