Trump's nominee to head anti-drug agency becomes 2nd high-level appointee to quit

New York, Dec 14 (IANS) Donald Trump's nominee to head the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) has become the second high-level appointee to quit, highlighting the problems the President-elect faces in filling the top jobs in his administration.

Chad Chronister, a local-level law enforcement official who was boosted for the nation's top drug-fighting job, announced on X on Tuesday night that he was withdrawing, apparently overwhelmed by the magnitude of the task he would face.

"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," he said

Trump's nominee for attorney general, Matt Gaetz, dropped out last month amid allegations of sexual misconduct involving a minor and drug use that was investigated by a Congressional ethics committee, giving Trump his first setback in fielding untried and controversial figures for his administration.

Unlike in the case of Gaetz, no scandals have emerged about Chronister, who was the sheriff of Hillsborough County in Florida, but he lacked national and international experience for the job of fighting drugs, which was a priority in Trump's campaign.

Another Trump pick, Pete Hegseth, is facing intense scrutiny for the defence secretary post by senators after allegations of sexual assault and intemperance emerged.

A former major in the Army National Guard, he served in Afghanistan and Iraq, and he is the co-host of a Fox News cable channel programme.

If he gets the Senate confirmation, he will head the world's most powerful military that spans continents with 2 million military personnel.

Trump has put his full force behind Hegseth, who has been meeting senators to shore up support as his nomination could be sunk by losing the votes of four Republicans.

NBC News reported that according to Republican sources it did not name, at least six party senators "are currently not comfortable supporting" him.

A non-committal Republican Senator, Susan Collins, told CNN, "I believe that we need an FBI (Federal Bureau of Investigation) background check to evaluate the allegations" against him.

After hedging for nearly a month, the Trump transition outfit signed an agreement on Tuesday with the Department of Justice for the FBI to conduct background checks on the nominees.

Hegseth was accused of sexually assaulting a woman in 2017 and paid her to settle the matter while insisting the encounter was consensual and that he did not attack her.

Adultery is a crime under certain circumstances in the military that he seeks to oversee.

NBC reported that, according to his Fox News colleagues, there was concern about his drinking habits.

Among other Trump's picks, Robert F Kennedy, Jr., to be the Health Secretary has generated controversy over his personal opposition to vaccinations and his drug use.

Tulsi Gabbard, a Hindu named to be the director of national intelligence, and Indian American Kash Patel, picked to head the FBI, are not weighed down by personal allegations, but ideological controversies swirl around them.

Gabbard has made some statements critical of Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky and what is claimed to be sympathetic to Russia, and she has also met privately with Syria's President Bashar al-Assad, considered a US enemy.

Patel has threatened to substantially dismantle and remake the FBI and hyperbolically threatened to turn its headquarters into a museum of the "Deep State" -- what the political establishment's critics say is the unelected, behind-the-scenes manipulators of the government.

(Arul Louis can be contacted at arul.l@ians.in)

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