Trump accused of handing massive gift to tobacco donors who couldn't win it legally

A former top Food and Drug Administration tobacco regulator who served under both Democratic and Republican administrations unloaded on the Trump administration's stunning new policy opening the door to flavored e-cigarettes.

In guidance issued Friday, as President Donald Trump reportedly signed off on a plan to fire FDA Commissioner Marty Makary, the agency said it would stop enforcing rules against illicit vapes and allow products already in advanced stages of review onto the market, according to The New York Times.

Mitch Zeller, a former FDA tobacco chief, ripped the move as a payoff to major tobacco companies that would gut a scientific approval process the agency had previously defended all the way up to the Supreme Court.

“I don’t see how this solves for anything other than a gift to companies that are eligible and allowing illegal products to remain on the market because FDA is going to look the other way,” Zeller told the Times.

The scientific process Zeller referenced was meant to approve vape products shown in studies to help cigarette smokers transition off combustibles without hooking a new generation of nicotine users. The new policy, issued without public comment or rule-making, could allow companies like Reynolds American, Altria, and Juul to stock prime gas-station and convenience-store shelves with flavored vapes.

Public-health authorities have flagged serious risks tied to e-cigarettes, particularly for young users. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention warns that most vapes contain nicotine, a highly addictive chemical that can harm adolescent brain development, and that vape aerosol can contain cancer-causing chemicals and tiny particles that can be inhaled deep into the lungs. The U.S. Surgeon General has also warned that youth who vape are up to four times more likely to go on to smoke tobacco.

Reynolds and Altria have been reliable donors to Trump's MAGA Inc. PAC and pet projects, including his planned White House ballroom, according to the Times.

The move follows months of reporting that the White House pressured the FDA to clear flavored vapes, including lobbying tied to White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles' former tobacco-industry client. Critics have also flagged the policy as part of a broader pattern of Trump donors scoring favors from his administration.