Products are selected by our editors, we may earn commission from links on this page.
Tobacco powerhouse Reynolds American, through one of its subsidiaries, sent a $5 million donation to MAGA Inc. on April 30, 2026, strengthening the super PAC aligned with President Donald Trump. Five days later, the FDA approved flavored vapes for the first time in its history, bypassing its normal rulemaking process to do it. The FDA commissioner who resisted the move promptly resigned. What happened in between has Democrats, public health advocates, and one Republican senator using a single word to describe it: corruption.
This article was created with the assistance of AI and reviewed by our editorial team for accuracy and clarity.
The Donation That Started It All
Campaign finance filings released on May 20 confirmed the April 30 contribution from a Reynolds American subsidiary, bringing that entity’s total donations to MAGA Inc. to $8 million. The payment represented more than half of the $9.6 million the super PAC raised in all of April. This was not Reynolds’ first major investment in Trump’s political orbit: the same subsidiary had previously given $10 million to a separate pro-Trump super PAC in 2024 and contributed to the president’s $400 million White House ballroom renovation fund.
A Lunch at the Golf Club
Forty-eight hours after the check cleared, a Reynolds executive and two company lobbyists shared a table with Trump at his Florida golf club. Altria sent its own representatives to the same meal. The tobacco contingent made clear they were unhappy with how the FDA was handling e-cigarette oversight. Trump, according to three people briefed on the lunch, took out his phone mid-conversation and tried to reach FDA Commissioner Marty Makary. When that call went unanswered, he contacted Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Mehmet Oz at CMS.
The FDA’s Abrupt Policy Shift
On May 5, less than a week after the tobacco lobby lunch, the FDA did something it had never done before: it authorized fruit-flavored e-cigarettes. The agency approved four products from Glas Inc., a Los Angeles-based manufacturer, including mango and blueberry flavors. The guidance also opened a pathway for major tobacco companies to enter the roughly $6 billion U.S. e-cigarette market and permitted higher nicotine levels in nicotine pouches. The policy bypassed the FDA’s standard rulemaking process entirely.
Why Glas Got There First
Glas won the first-ever fruit-flavored vape authorization largely on the strength of its anti-underage-use technology. The device links to a smartphone app, requires government ID verification at setup, and conducts periodic biometric checks to confirm the registered owner is the one using it. Disconnect the phone and the device goes dead. FDA reviewers concluded those features meaningfully reduced youth access. Every future flavored vape applicant will be judged on its own age-gating system — there is no shared standard they can simply copy.
The FDA Commissioner Who Walked Out
Makary’s departure was months in the making. As far back as February, one of his deputies had quietly shelved an internal authorization that would have cleared fruit-flavored vapes ahead of schedule. According to CBS News and the Wall Street Journal, Trump applied direct pressure on Makary to approve the products, but Makary kept resisting. The authorization was eventually forced through above him. He stepped down on May 12, telling people close to him that leading an agency operating under those conditions was something he could no longer justify.
Who Stands to Profit
Reynolds American, owned by British American Tobacco, is positioned to benefit significantly. Its Vuse brand, currently limited to tobacco and menthol flavors, now has a legal pathway to apply for flavored approvals. Altria Group, which owns Philip Morris USA and makes Marlboro cigarettes, was also represented at the Jupiter lunch and gave $1 million to Trump’s 2025 inaugural committee. As of publication, no Reynolds or Altria flavored products have been authorized. Glas remains the only company to have cleared the new bar.
‘Corruption,’ Say Critics
Kayla Hancock, director of Protect Our Care’s Public Health Project, accused the president of trading public health for political money, saying he was willing to approve addictive flavored vapes for children in exchange for a super PAC check. Representative Seth Magaziner of Rhode Island posted that financial influence defeats Kennedy’s “Make America Healthy Again” agenda in this administration. Ten Senate Democrats, led by Dick Durbin, have formally called on the FDA to reverse the policy. Republican Susan Collins of Maine joined Durbin in warning that children’s choices follow availability.
The White House Pushes Back
White House spokesman Kush Desai attributed the policy entirely to science, citing research showing vapes can help adult smokers quit. MAGA Inc. issued a statement welcoming donations from supporters of Trump’s agenda. Some public health researchers back the underlying logic: legal, age-gated products aimed at adult branding could redirect smokers away from combustible cigarettes, which cause far more harm. The New York Times, which broke the donation story, acknowledged finding no definitive proof that the money directly caused the policy change.
The Stakes for America’s Teenagers
Roughly 1.63 million U.S. middle and high school students currently use e-cigarettes, and nearly 88 percent of them reach for flavored products, primarily fruit, candy, and mint varieties. The FDA’s new rules include guardrails: no cartoon characters, no toy-like designs, age-verification requirements. Whether those measures prove effective is the central question parents are left to weigh. The tobacco industry spent years on the defensive. In the span of five days, that changed, and a $5 million check sits at the center of the timeline.