Top Trump anti-smoking official resigns after being caught trading tobacco stock

The Trump administration continues to display its admirable commitment to corruption, but Dr. Brenda Fitzgerald, the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, managed to go a little too far. The CDC’s mission is to protect public health, including preventing smoking and getting smokers to quit. So having it come out that the CDC director invested personal money in a tobacco company, as Fitzgerald did after taking the job, is enough to prompt a resignation even in corruption central.

Fitzgerald's behavior likely broke with ethical norms for public health officials, critics said, and could have posed legal problems if she didn't recuse herself from government activities that could have affected her investments.

Fitzgerald had also come under congressional scrutiny because of financial conflicts that led her to recuse herself from speaking to Congress about issues including cancer detection and aspects of the opioid crisis.

Although Fitzgerald has resigned, let’s take a moment to marvel at the thought of the CDC head investing in tobacco. And being forced to recuse herself on cancer detection and opioids. Is there any major public health issue Fitzgerald didn’t have a financial conflict of interest on?

And now the CDC lacks permanent leadership during one of the worst flu seasons in recent years. (Oh, hey, maybe the flu is a public health issue she didn’t have a conflict of interest on? Then again, maybe if she’d stuck around we’d have found out about her inappropriate investments there, too.)