President Donald Trump downplayed reports that he was getting ready to fire Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Commissioner Marty Makary while speaking to reporters Friday.

«I’ve been reading about it, but I know nothing about it,» Trump said in response to a question about Makary’s potential firing. When asked what’s going on with Makary, Trump responded «nothing much.»

Initial buzz about a possible Makary ouster started circulating when The Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday that Trump had pressured Makary to fast track approval for flavored nicotine vapes.

Makary, according to WSJ, pushed back on the request, drawing Trump’s ire.

The friction pushed Trump to sign off on a plan to fire Makary, WSJ reported Friday.

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Trump did not confirm the WSJ reporting, instead telling reporters «no, no» when asked if he was bringing in a new FDA head.

Makary has been embroiled in a number of controversies since being confirmed as the FDA head in March 2025.

Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Marty Makary speaks during a press conference with Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. at the Department of Health and Human Services in Washington, D.C., on Oct. 29, 2025, discussing administration’s plans to lower drug costs. (Annabelle Gordon/REUTERS)

Pro-life activists have accused the former oncology surgeon of slow-walking a safety review for abortion pill mifepristone.

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«This is a five-alarm crisis for the pro-life movement and for the GOP,» SBA Pro-Life America president Marjorie Dannenfelser said in a statement calling for Makary’s firing.

«The GOP cannot win without its base and simply will not get the enthusiasm that drives turnout without leadership from the top,» she wrote.

Pharmaceutical and biotech firms have also opposed Makary. John Crowley, the head of the biotech trade group, Biotechnology Innovation Organization (BIO), condemned some of Makary’s personnel cuts in a recent op-ed.

«Some of the administration’s recent efforts to reform the federal government through aggressive and often indiscriminate personnel cuts have lacked the strategic insights necessary to modernize and reform our nation’s health care agencies, especially the FDA,» Crowley wrote.

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But others, particularly those in Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) camp, have come to Makary’s defense, arguing calls for his firing are corporate-funded attacks.

«Dr. Makary is an ally in the MAHA movement,» Kelly Ryerson, an author and popular advocate also known as Glyphosate Girl, told Fox News Digital.

Food activist Vani Hari attends the Senate Finance Committee confirmation hearing for Robert F. Kennedy Jr., President Donald Trump’s nominee for Secretary of Health and Human Services, at the Capitol in Washington on Jan. 29, 2025. (Ben Curtis/AP)

«It is not surprising that his uncaptured approach to protecting human health has been met with the swamp calling for his firing,» she continued.

«The criticism is that he didn’t approve flavored vapes quickly enough. The mothers who don’t want their kids smoking find that reasoning alarming,» Ryerson concluded.

«The attacks against FDA Commissioner Marty Makary are coming from Big Pharma and the media outlets financially dependent on pharmaceutical advertising for survival,» Turning Point USA-affiliated podcaster Alex Clark wrote in a Friday post on X.

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«Washington SWAMP CREATURES hate Makary because he brings actual scientific scrutiny, independent thinking, and puts Americans’ health FIRST. President Trump has consistently said he wants to Make America Healthy Again. Replacing Makary with a pharma puppet would move us backward, not forward. DO NOT FIRE MAKARY. He is one of the strongest representatives of the MAHA movement inside the federal government. SCREW OFF BIG PHARMA,» Clark wrote.

Vani Hari, a popular food blogger and prominent media figure among the MAHA movement, also wrote that a Makary ouster «would be a horrible move.»

Fox News Digital contacted the White House, HHS, the FDA, BIO and SBA Pro-Life America for additional comment.

Ambiente de derrota

Aviones militares rusos, durante el desfile militar por el Día de la Victoria, en Moscú. Foto: AP

La tregua anunciada por Donald Trump

El desfile militar de este sábado en Rusia fue el más breve en décadas. Foto: EFE

Putin carga contra la OTAN

Some of the country’s most prominent Catholic colleges and universities are holding separate LGBTQ-affirming graduation ceremonies this spring, including one that also plans to include a drag performance.

At least 20 colleges or universities associated with the Catholic Church have held, or plan to hold, these «lavender graduation» ceremonies and celebrations, which are done separate from the main commencement ceremony and are intended to «honor and celebrate the achievements of our LGBTQ+ graduates,» according to a Fox News Digital review of university websites and social media posts.

The term «lavender» has been used to describe LGBTQ+ affiliations amongst the gay community for decades, but the phrase has also carried a loaded meaning in Catholic circles, where critics have used it in phrases like «lavender mafia» to refer to alleged homosexual networks within Church institutions.

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The schools that have held, or plan to hold these graduation events, include Georgetown, Gonzaga, the University of San Francisco, Boston College, College of the Holy Cross, Fordham, Fairfield University, Marquette, Xavier, Seattle University, Saint Louis University, Loyola Marymount, Santa Clara University, St. John’s, Albertus Magnus College, St. Mary’s College of California, Regis University, Siena Heights University, St. Thomas University and Our Lady of the Lake University.

The ceremonies sparked criticism from Catholic watchdog the Cardinal Newman Society, an education advocacy group focused on ensuring Catholic schools uphold traditional church teachings. The society, which first highlighted several of the «lavender» ceremonies taking place this year, argues that the events promote an ideology at odds with the church’s teaching.

One of the schools holding a separate LGBTQ+ graduation, Seattle University, indicates on its website that their «Lavender Celebration» will even include «a special performance» from «Sativa the Drag Queen,» who, later this month, is headlining an event called «DICK’S DELUXE DRAG EXTRAVAGANZA.»

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A University of Southern California grad wears a pro-LGBT patch on his graduation gown. (Keith Birmingham/MediaNews Group/Pasadena Star-News via Getty Images)

At the University of San Francisco, the school’s website indicates it plans to hold a «Queer Prom» directly after their «Lavender Commencement.»

Other schools plan to give special honors, host various keynote speakers and provide students with unique cords or stoles they can wear with their cap and gown. Some events included food, drinks and other activities as well.

«Although intended as a compassionate gesture to students, the ceremonies reinforce harmful ideologies about sexuality and gender that contradict Catholic teaching,» the Cardinal Newman Society said in a news release about the graduation ceremonies.

A person holding a pride flag.  (AP)

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«They potentially lead students into sinful activity and undermine a Catholic college’s claim to teach the truths of the Catholic faith,» the Catholic education group continued. «The Church is clear in its teaching that sexual attraction to persons of the same sex is not itself a sin, but such attractions are ‘objectively disordered.’»

Several of the same Catholic universities hosting LGBTQ-focused «lavender» graduation events also advertise separate cultural or identity-based commencement celebrations for non-White students, according to university event pages.