Trump Nominates Former Fox News Contributor Sara Carter as Drug Czar

President Donald Trump nominated former Fox contributor Sara Carter to head the Office of National Drug Control Policy at a White House event on July 16. 

Trump called Carter a “very tough and good reporter” who has “done a fantastic job,” and said that as drug czar she wouldn’t have to criticize the administration’s policies any longer; she could make the decisions herself. 

He said of Carter, who has been a contributor to Fox News for the past eight years, that he was confident she would “do a great job, as reporters do on occasion.” 

Carter addressed the nomination on July 20 in a post to X, saying it was a “blessing” to be standing alongside the families of those who have lost loved ones to fentanyl. She called the nomination “the honor of my life.”

“What makes these moms, dads, brothers, sisters, and other family members so remarkable is that they continue to fight to save us and our children from a similar tragic fate,” Carter said. “They have found a way to turn their grief into a tool for good—to not only honor their child—but to fight for ours.”

The president signed the HALT Fentanyl Act at the same event, closing loopholes for drug traffickers who attempt to evade punishment. In her X post, Carter thanked the president, calling the act “a formidable weapon against the cartels and their dealers.”

The new law makes permanent a 2018 change that made all fentanyl-related substances fall under Schedule I of the Controlled Substances Act, which is reserved for drugs with high potential for abuse and no accepted medical use.

At the signing ceremony, Trump said the legislation ensures that drug smugglers who move fentanyl-related products are prosecuted as dealing Schedule I drugs. He said he has also asked the Department of Justice to seek maximum sentences for fentanyl traffickers.

“It’s so sad … it should be so unnecessary that we stand here for years and years doing the same thing over and over,” Trump said, referencing the stories of families who suffered losses due to fentanyl.

“Everyone knows someone touched by this incredible crisis. So today, on behalf of all Americans who have lost a loved one to opioids, we renew our vow to liberate America from this horrible plague.”

This isn’t the first time Carter has been nominated by the president to the position of drug czar. Trump announced her nomination on March 28 of this year in a post to Truth Social, saying that it was his “great honor” to nominate the award-winning journalist to the position.

The Senate received the nomination on May 6, but it was withdrawn on June 26. A White House official told The Epoch Times in an email that Carter’s name had been previously withdrawn and resubmitted due to an administrative update to her nomination, but that she was always the intended nominee.