See NYT story on the $5M big tobacco dollar check that spurred Trump to force his FDA head out the door for not fast-tracking addictive, flavored vapes despite the immense health harms to American teens and children – on top of the millions of other donations Trump took from big vape interests.
Reaction from Kayla Hancock, Director of Protect Our Care’s Public Health Project: “Donald Trump has enriched himself, family and friends off the power of the White House to the tune of billions this term, often at the expense of the public. The lingering question has been whether there’s any floor to Trump’s willingness to sell out the public interest to wealthy special interests. As it turns out, no. For a $5 million check to a Trump Super PAC, the twice impeached President was very amenable to corruption even when it involved poisoning American kids with addictive flavored vapes.”
NYT: A $5 Million Donation From Big Tobacco Preceded F.D.A. Vape Decision
Reynolds American’s contribution to MAGA Inc. came about one week before the Trump administration announced a new policy on e-cigarettes the company had sought.
The F.D.A. has issued new guidance that could pave the way for major tobacco companies including Reynolds American to begin selling flavored vapes.Credit…Stephanie Keith/Getty Images
By Kenneth P. Vogel and Christina Jewett
May 20, 2026
The tobacco company Reynolds American donated $5 million to a super PAC backed by President Trump last month, about one week before his administration rolled out a new policy that could prove lucrative to the tobacco industry.
The donation, which came through a Reynolds subsidiary and brings to $8 million the total donated by the subsidiary to MAGA Inc., the Trump-backed super PAC, was revealed in a campaign finance report filed Wednesday night.
The donation came on April 30.
Two days later, a top executive at Reynolds and two lobbyists who represent the company had lunch with Mr. Trump at his golf club in Jupiter, Fla. Also attending were two executives from Altria, another tobacco company.
At the lunch, the tobacco industry representatives expressed dissatisfaction with the way the Food and Drug Administration was regulating the industry, as The New York Times reported last week.
Mr. Trump interrupted the conversation to call Dr. Marty Makary, the F.D.A. commissioner.
When Mr. Makary did not answer, the president dialed Dr. Makary’s boss, Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., and another top health official, Dr. Mehmet Oz, the head of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.
The president complained to the men about the F.D.A.’s regulation of e-cigarettes, according to three people briefed on the meeting who were not authorized to discuss it.
Less than one week later, the F.D.A. issued new guidance that could pave the way for major tobacco companies to begin selling flavored vapes and to snare a chunk of the $6 billion e-cigarette market away from illegal Chinese competitors.
The new policy, which bypassed the F.D.A.’s regular rule-making process, also could allow higher nicotine levels in nicotine pouches. It includes a pledge to prioritize efforts to stop the import of illegal foreign vapes, an idea that has bipartisan support in Congress.
Four days after it was announced, Dr. Makary resigned, telling associates he could not in good conscience remain the head of an agency that backed such a policy.
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