Trump picks former drug company exec who once probed Whitewater to replace high-flying Tom Price at HHS – and says he'll be a 'star' for lower drug prices

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President Donald Trump has selected drug industry executive Alex Azar to replace former Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price, who resigned amid a government jet scandal.

Price resigned in September after reports that he incurred $1 million on costs using government-owned jets for travel.

Aznar served in the George W. Bush White House on the domestic policy council and at HHS is a a former president of drug giant Eli Lilly.

'Happy to announce, I am nominating Alex Azar to be the next Secretary,' Trump tweeted Monday from the Philippines. 'He will be a star for better healthcare and lower drug prices!'

HE'S THE CURE: President Donald Trump has selected drug industry executive Alex Azar to replace former Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price. Here Director of French research laboratory, the Pasteur Institute, Alice Dautry (R) smiles next to US Deputy Secretary of Health and Human Services, Alex Azar, 06 February 2006 at the institute in Paris prior signing an cooperation agreement to fight bird flu

Trump has gone after drug companies in the past, as he did in October, on this very issue.

'The drug companies, frankly, are getting away with murder, and we want to bring our prices down to what other countries are paying, or at least close and let the other countries pay more,” the president told reporters gathered in the Cabinet Room,' Trump said then.   

Azar worked at Eli Lilly for a decade, including five years as president of its U.S.unt.

The Washington Post reported that the Yale Law school grad clerked for the late Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, a Trump favorite, while also working for former special counsel Kenneth Starr during the Whitewater investigation of Bill and Hillary Clinton. 

Former HHS Secretary Tom Price resigned after reports on his use of government-owned jets

He got strong review from former top HHS officials. 

'If the president is looking for an experienced, competent conservative who is confirmable, Alex would be a great choice,' said his former boss, HHS secetary Mike Leavitt.

Tom Price resigned as HHS secretary in September after about seven months in the post, after facing sharp criticism for his use of taxpayer-funded private travel.

Before his stint at Eli Lilly, Azar served as general counsel and deputy secretary for HHS under President George W. Bush.

The new HHS secretary will be tasked with implementing Trump administration efforts to unwind Obamacare, a top campaign promise of his, and overseeing the drug industry, which Trump has said is "getting away with murder" by charging high prices for prescription medications.

Azar has served on the board of directors of the Biotechnology Innovation Organization, a drug industry lobby, for several years, and his nomination would raise questions about the administration's seriousness about lowering drug prices.

Other names that have been floated to replace Price include Seema Verma, administrator for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, and Scott Gottlieb, the Food and Drug Administration commissioner.

Republicans control both chambers of Congress and the White House but have repeatedly failed to repeal and replace Obama's Affordable Care Act, prompting Trump to take steps on his own to dismantle the program.

RESUME: Azar worked for Clinton Whitewater affair independent counsel Ken Starr, as well as the late Supreme Court justice Antonin Scalia

The Trump administration followed through on a threat to cut off billions of dollars of subsidy payments to insurers, shortened the Obamacare open enrollment period, slashed advertising for the program by 90 percent and cut funding to groups that help people sign up for health insurance.

In October Trump also signed an executive order that would weaken Obamacare by making it easier for Americans to buy bare-bones health insurance plans.

The administration is already planning changes for 2019. Last month, it proposed a rule giving states more flexibility over the benefits that must be covered by insurance. Under Obamacare, all insurers have to cover a set of 10 benefits, such as maternity and newborn care and prescription drugs. (Reporting By Yasmeen Abutaleb; Editing by Richard Chang)