Florida sheriff tapped by Trump to head DEA

President-elect Donald Trump announced Saturday that he has nominated Florida sheriff Chad Chronister as administrator of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA).

"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," Trump wrote on Truth Social in his announcement at about the same time he announced his nominee as director of the FBI is Kash Patel, who would replace Christopher Wray as FBI director.

"A proud graduate of the FBI National Academy's 260th Session, Chad is Co-Chairman of the Regional Domestic Security Task Force for Region IV Tampa Bay, Council Member of the Florida Attorney General’s Statewide Council on Human Trafficking, Chairman of the Criminal Justice Sub-Committee, Vice-Chairman of the Hillsborough County Public Safety Coordinating Council, and Vice-Chairman of the Hillsborough County Public Schools Citizen Oversight Committee," he continued.

Chronister is another key link in Trump’s criminal justice strategy that has so far included nominating Pam Bondi as his attorney general and Patel at the FBI. Trump said Chronister would be working closely with Bondi to "secure the Border, stop the flow of Fentanyl, and other Illegal Drugs, across the Southern Border, and SAVE LIVES."“Congratulations to Chad, his wife Nikki, and two wonderful sons!" Trump said. Chronister responded to the news online and said the nomination was the "honor of a lifetime" in a statement.

The sheriff arrested a Christian pastor who violated Covid social distancing rules early in the pandemic, posting his pride in the arrest to then-Twitter. “Announcing the arrest of Dr. Ronald Howard-Browne, Pastor of The River at Tampa Bay Church, who intentionally and repeatedly disregarded state and local public health orders, which put his congregation and our community in danger,” Chronister said.

Howard-Browne argued that his church offered an “essential service,” according to a KIRO 7 report from March 30, 2020 but Chronister disagreed. “The safety and well-being of our community must always come first,” he told reporters. However, the sheriff and the pastor met in May 2020 to “discuss the future” and later that month his church reopened and charges against Howard-Browne were dropped.

Chronister was also a stringent advocate of vaccination and encouraged people to “stop listening to social media” and get the jab. “Trying to do everything we can without mandating the vaccine, doing everything we can to encourage people to get vaccinated,” said Hillsborough County Sheriff Chad Chronister. He also had non-violent offenders released from prison because he believed it would stem the spread of Covid.