Rep. Charlie Dent called President Trump’s criticism of Merck CEO Kenneth Frazier a “cheap shot” on Tuesday.

“They’re doing great work at Merck. I thought it was just a cheap shot. He didn’t handle that well at all. That really did bother me quite a bit,” Mr. Dent, Pennsylvania Republican, said on MSNBC.

Mr. Frazier resigned from the president’s American Manufacturing Council on Monday after Mr. Trump failed to directly call out neo-Nazi and white supremacists groups for the violence in Charlottesville, Virginia, over the weekend. White supremacist groups descended on the city to protest the removal of a Confederate statue. Three people died and scores were injured.

“Now that Ken Frazier of Merck Pharma has resigned from President’s Manufacturing Council, he will have more time to LOWER RIPOFF DRUG PRICES!” Mr. Trump tweeted in response to the resignation.

Mr. Frazier was one of three CEOs to resign this week, including Under Armour CEO Kevin Plank and Intel CEO Brian Krzanich. All three said the president’s response to the Charlottesville situation was the reason for their resignation.

Mr. Dent said the president’s reaction, coupled with the president retweeting an image of a train hitting a CNN icon, were “really distracting” from important issues.

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