Before joining the agency, Diamantas was a Jones Day lawyer who represented Abbott in a lawsuit in which the company was ordered to pay $495 million, according to the New York Times. The Times said the lawsuit accused Abbot of failing to “adequately warn parents that its specialized formula for premature infants was associated with an elevated risk of a deadly bowel condition.”
Trump posted an image of a text message from Makary offering his immediate resignation on social media.
“He’s going to go on and he’s going to lead a good life,” Trump said. “He was having some difficulty. … Everybody wants that job.”
Previously: Mass layoffs start at HHS: ‘FDA as we’ve known it is finished’
Makary’s resignation comes after weeks of increasing pressure from the Trump administration and Trump himself demanding that Makary authorize the sale of fruit-flavored e-cigarettes, according to the New York Times.
Citing anonymous sources, the publication said Makary ultimately left over concerns about the Trump administration’s decision to authorize flavored vapes, an action that he opposed. Makary reportedly told those close to him that “he could not in good conscience approve flavored vapes, given their appeal to young people, and would not do something he did not believe in.”
Politico said an anonymous senior administration official told it the Trump administration’s decision to move on from Makary was months in the making. While the White House had to sign off on the plan to fire Makary, Politico’s source said that HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. ultimately made the call.
