Trump voices doubt on his drug czar nominee, the lead sponsor of a drugmaker-backed opioid bill

On Sunday night, 60 Minutes and The Washington Post reported that Rep. Tom Marino (R-Pa.) had worked for two years to push through a bill promoted and apparently written by the pharmaceutical industry that stripped the Drug Enforcement Administration of its biggest tool to fight prescription opioids entering the black market. Marino is President Trump's nominee to head the Office of National Drug Control Policy. On Monday, Trump called Marino "a good man," a "great guy," and "a very early supporter of mine — the great state of Pennsylvania," but said that after Sunday's 60 Minutes, "we're going to look into the report. We're going to take it very seriously."

Trump did not say if he would withdraw Marino's name to be drug czar, but hinted that he might. "I have not spoken to him, but I will speak to him, and I'll make that determination," he told reporters in the Rose Garden. "And if I think it's 1 percent negative to doing what we want to do, I will make a change, yes."

Democrats and a few Republicans backed repealing the law — which passed on voice votes with no objections — and some Democrats urged Trump to dump Marino. Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) said the drug czar "is supposed to be a watchdog, not a lap dog," and warned that if Trump pursues the nomination, "it will be ugly."

The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

Trump also said he plans to declare the opioid crisis a national emergency next week, calling the epidemic a "massive problem" he wants to get "absolutely right." Democrats and a few Republicans said they were stunned by the report, insisting they had been assured by DEA officials that the bill would not hamper the fight against opioid addiction. You can learn more about the reaction in Washington in the CBS News report below. Peter Weber