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Israel-Hezbollah ceasefire quiets one front but Gaza sees no end to warBREAKING NEWS Trump Cabinet pick makes shocking announcement to withdraw after MAGA outrage Matt Gaetz WITHDRAWS from consideration to be Trump's attorney general By KELLY LACO, EXECUTIVE EDITOR OF POLITICS Published: 23:06 GMT, 3 December 2024 | Updated: 23:39 GMT, 3 December 2024 e-mail 45 View comments Donald Trump 's pick to lead the Drug Enforcement Administration has withdrawn from consideration after MAGA outrage. Chad Chronister, the Sheriff of Hillborough County, Florida , sparked controversy for ordering the arrest of a pastor for holding church services in the height of the COVID pandemic. MAGA ally Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., who was leading the charge to get him to step aside, said he simply 'lost his mind.' 'This sheriff ordered the arrest of a pastor for holding services during the COVID panic. He was tapped by Trump to head the DEA. Glad to see him withdraw from consideration,' he stated. 'Next time politicians lose their ever-lovin minds, he can redeem himself by following the Constitution.' Conservative Liz Wheeler called him a 'COVID tyrant' who 'abused his power and is unfit to lead the DEA' and urged him to withdraw. Chronister confirmed his decision to step aside in a post on X, but didn't disclose what prompted him to exit from consideration. The sheriff would have worked closely with another controversial Trump choice, RFK Jr., who was tapped to lead the Department of Health and Human Services. Chronister became the second Trump pick to pull out of Cabinet consideration, following former Rep. Matt Gaetz who withdrew after a sex scandal started plaguing his confirmation chances . Sheriff Chad Chronister briefs the media His shocking exit came only days after his nomination by the president-elect who praised his numerous accolades Gaetz, a unequivocal supporter of Trump, had earned respect from the president-elect despite the salacious allegations that followed him. In his statement reacting to the decision, Trump said he looked forward to Gaetz's future career. 'Matt has a wonderful future, and I look forward to watching all of the great things he will do!' he wrote. Trump hasn't yet commented on Chronister's sudden resignation. 'To have been nominated by President-Elect to serve as Administrator of the Drug Enforcement Administration is the honor of a lifetime,' Chronister said in a statement on Tuesday. 'Over the past several days, as the gravity of this very important responsibility set in, I've concluded that I must respectfully withdraw from consideration,' Chronister went on. 'There is more work to be done for the citizens of Hillsborough County and a lot of initiatives I am committed to fulfilling. I sincerely appreciate the nomination, outpouring of support by the American people, and look forward to continuing my service as Sheriff of Hillsborough County.' Chronister ordered the arrest of Tampa Bay pastor Rodney Howard-Browne in March 2020. Chad Chronister is a COVID tyrant who arrested a Christian pastor for holding church in person during the pandemic. Chronister held a press conference bragging about the arrest. Chronister abused his power; he’s unfit to lead the DEA. Trump should withdraw his nomination. pic.twitter.com/8jXtoPIX8q — Liz Wheeler (@Liz_Wheeler) December 1, 2024 He had allegedly violated a 'safer-at-home' order for the county. 'We received an anonymous tip that Dr. Rodney Howard-Browne refused a request to temporarily stop holding large gatherings at his church,' Chronister said during a press event announcing the arrest. 'And instead, he was encouraging his large congregation to meet at his church.' Chronister confirmed his decision to step aside in a post on X It is the honor of a lifetime to be nominated by President @realDonaldTrump to serve as the Administrator of the Drug Enforcement Administration, and I am deeply humbled by this opportunity to serve our nation. pic.twitter.com/X5lslYyF1U — Chad Chronister (@ChadChronister) December 1, 2024 He went on to call it a 'reckless disregard for public safety.' The pastor ended up endorsing Chronister's bid for the DEA position in a stunning reversal. 'All good, the sheriff and I are friends, he has being doing an amazing job in Hillsborough County,' he said on X after Trump's decision to nominate him. 'I believe He and Pam Bondi will do an excellent job of cleaning up the place.' But it wasn't enough to save Chronister's chances at being Senate confirmed. His shocking exit came only days after his nomination by the president-elect who praised his numerous accolades. The sheriff would have worked closely with another controversial Trump choice, RFK Jr., who was tapped to lead the Department of Health and Human Services All good, the sheriff and I are friends, he has being doing an amazing job in Hillsborough County. I believe He and Pam Bondi will do an excellent job of cleaning up the place. https://t.co/dVvG5VlHBS — Rodney Howard-Browne (@rhowardbrowne) December 1, 2024 'I am pleased to nominate Sheriff Chad Chronister for Administrator of the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA),' Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social on November 30. 'For over 32 years, Sheriff Chad Chronister has served the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office, and received countless commendations and awards for keeping his community SAFE.' 'As DEA Administrator, Chad will work with our great Attorney General, Pam Bondi, to secure the Border, stop the flow of Fentanyl, and other Illegal Drugs, across the Southern Border, and SAVE LIVES,' Trump stated. Bondi was nominated to fill the position of attorney general after Gaetz's exit. She is the former attorney general of Florida and has been on Capitol Hill this week to meet with senators and shore up support for her bid. Donald Trump Florida Politics Share or comment on this article: Trump Cabinet pick makes shocking announcement to withdraw after MAGA outrage e-mail Add commentp777 。

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She dropped her eyes from the black and white TV screen when her image appeared on it, until the Media Skills trainer told her she wouldn’t learn unless she watched herself. What she and all the group saw was a smartly dressed woman in her thirties, with diction as crisp as a snapped biscuit, articulating a new vision of what women in Ireland could be. Gemma Hussey was one of seven women, all members of the Women’s Political Association, who had decided that they needed to come to terms with the relatively new medium of television, in the 1970s. They wanted women to play a bigger part in Irish life, and they knew public persuasion would be key to achieving it. Gemma was the leader, and, while she might not have wanted to watch herself on TV — all her life she hated her own appearance — she was perceptive, confident and insightful when it came to assessing the performances of her colleagues. This was when Women’s Liberation was synonymous with bra-burning and Ireland was still in the relative dark ages: when women needed their husband’s signature in order to get a library card. On the second day of the training programme, one of the women suggested the group needed a single, achievable, highly visible goal. Like? “Like getting a female newsreader on Telefís Éireann,” said Gemma Hussey. Silence ensued as every woman present realised that the national broadcasting station — the only national broadcaster at the time — did not have a single woman in this key, even pivotal role. No woman ever looked up from the news desk to the camera when a major bulletin was about to start. That was the prerogative of guys like Charles Mitchel. Of course it was. You couldn’t have a woman in such an important position. For heaven’s sake, if you had a woman reading the news, viewers would spend so much time looking at what she was wearing, they wouldn’t remember what she had said. You couldn’t have that. It was obvious. It was a given. It was a given until Gemma Hussey decided otherwise. She had an acute sense of the symbolism involved, but no idea how to change the situation. Someone suggested the group craft a video and hold public meetings drawing attention to the issue and to the unbelievably sexist rationale behind it. Suddenly, the training took on a whiff of reality, as members of the group accepted briefs to do research, learn how to interview, develop scriptwriting skills, and nerve themselves to speak to a camera. A few weeks later, a highly professional video — for the time — had been created and the campaign started. Within a year, RTÉ had its first female TV newsreader. And because it was such a game-changer, as Gemma had foreseen, it made people, indeed, it made a whole generation of women begin to rebel against the constraints of an Ireland deeply hostile, not just to “errant” women, but also to “uppity” women. Gemma Hussey was the definition of an uppity woman, central to the development of a feminist understanding in Ireland. Inevitably, this led her into politics. Her husband Derry and herself had a firmly middle-class belief that because they were what would have been dubbed, back then, “comfortably off”, they should give something back to a society that had been good to them, and giving back meant running for election. If that sounds like posh high-mindedness, it was the opposite. Gemma Hussey won a Senate seat and in due course a Cabinet position at a time when it was considered amusing for the Taoiseach, Charlie Haughey, to come up behind her and snap her bra strap. She did it at a time when her husband was regularly and publicly sympathized with for having such an opinionated wife, a time when the notion of a balance between home life and a career was laughable. A woman who wanted to be a government minister had to do everything that the guys did — and tolerate the status quo. Women were prominent in politics because they had inherited a seat from a father or dead husband. They were treated like extras of minor annoyance, expected to place-hold but not policy-drive. Gemma challenged all that. She hated being talked over and ignored, not for her own sake but for the gender she represented. She loathed media coverage which commented raucously if she put on a few pounds. A non-believer, she refused to pretend to be otherwise — and remember, the Catholic Church had ways, in those years, of demonstrating its disapproval of agnostics and atheists. Gemma Hussey’s unpublished diaries, which she recently let me read, are a daily sequence of battles, shames, arguments and defeats. Also admiration for her boss Dr Garret FitzGerald, although Garret, despite his reliance on her, managed to literally forget her when forming one government, ending up creating a mortifying half-job for her. Throughout it all, she managed to be hospitable and generous. She helped a generation of Eastern European women grasp democracy before their states joined the EU. She wrote authoritative books about Ireland. Once, in a radio studio, years after she had left politics, a new minister of state said something on air which made it clear that she had no clue that Gemma had ever been a Government Minister or been at the centre of breakthrough advocacy for the advancement of women. The programme presenter quickly corrected the minister of state, but what was striking was how generously Gemma let her off the hook. “It’s not an insult to have the struggle forgotten,” she said gently. “It’s a triumph that this generation of women can take their rights for granted.”