Sam Clovis, a former Trump campaign official who has become entangled in special counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia investigation, has withdrawn his nomination for a top post in the Agriculture Department.
“We respect Mr. Clovis’s decision to withdraw his nomination,” White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said in a statement.
Clovis was nominated to be the Agriculture Department’s chief scientist. He was already facing scrutiny over his apparent lack of credentials for the post.
In a Thursday letter to Trump obtained by The Hill, Clovis blamed the “political climate” for his decision to withdraw.
“The political climate inside Washington has made it impossible for me to receive balanced and fair consideration for this position,” Clovis wrote.
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