Donald Trump’s pick for chief scientist at the Department of Agriculture has withdrawn his nomination after the Russia investigation raised questions about his time on the Trump campaign.
Sam Clovis – Mr Trump’s former campaign co-chair, and his top pick from the agriculture job – withdrew from the nomination shortly after his communications with former campaign staffer George Papadopoulos were revealed.
Recently released documents show Mr Clovis was one of the top officials on the Trump campaign who was aware of Mr Papadopoulos’s efforts to reach out to Russian officials. Mr Papadopoulos recently pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI about meeting a professor with Russian ties.
In conjunction with Mr Papadopoulos’s plea, the FBI released a trove of the former campaign staffer's emails. The recipients' names are shielded in the emails, but Mr Clovis’s lawyer has confirmed that references to “the campaign supervisor” indeed refer to Mr Clovis, who served as campaign co-chair.
The documents show Mr Papadopoulos emailed Mr Clovis and other campaign officials about his meeting with the aforementioned professor. Mr Papadopoulos said that they had discussed arranging a meeting with Russian leadership to “discuss US-Russia ties under President Trump”. Mr Clovis responded that he would “work it through the campaign,” and added: “great work”.
A few months later, Mr Clovis encouraged Mr Papadopoulos to continue preparations for an “off the record” meeting with Russian officials, the documents reveal.
Mr Clovis’s lawyer told the Washington Post that the campaign co-chair “always vigorously opposed any Russian trip for Donald Trump and/or the campaign”. She added that his responses to Mr Papadopoulos were courtesy by “a polite gentleman from Iowa.”
But Senator Debbie Stabenow, the ranking Democrat on the Senate agriculture committee, said the documents “raised concerns” about Mr Clovis’s nomination.
"From early on, I have strongly opposed the nomination of Sam Clovis to be the chief scientist at USDA," she said in a statement. "...As we consider his nomination, I will be looking into these facts, along with his questionable qualifications and long history of divisive and outrageous statements."
On Monday, however, White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders gave no inclination that Mr Clovis’s nomination was in jeopardy. Asked if Mr Trump was still comfortable with his pick for USDA undersecretary for research, education and economics, she replied: "I'm not aware of any change that would be necessary."
Mr Clovis is a former Iowa talk radio host and political science professor. He has a bachelor’s degree in political science, an MBA degree, and a doctorate in public administration, but no hard background in science. His confirmation hearing was scheduled for 9 November.
