White House environmental adviser Van Jones resigned Saturday after weeks of controversy stemming from his past activism.
“On the eve of historic fights for health care and clean energy,opponents of reform have mounted a vicious smear campaign against me,”Jones, special adviser for green jobs at the White House Council onEnvironmental Quality, said in a statement announcing his resignationjust after midnight Saturday. “They are using lies and distortions todistract and divide.”
He continued: “I have been inundated with calls — from across thepolitical spectrum — urging me to ‘stay and fight.’ But I came here tofight for others, not for myself. I cannot in good conscience ask mycolleagues to expend precious time and energy defending or explainingmy past. We need all hands on deck, fighting for the future.”
Jones issued two public apologies in recent days, one for signing apetition that questioned whether Bush administration officials “mayindeed have deliberately allowed 9/11 to happen, perhaps as a pretextfor war” and the other for using a crude term to describe Republicansin a speech he gave before joining the administration.
Rep. Mike Pence (R-Ind.) called on Jones to resign Friday, saying ina statement, “His extremist views and coarse rhetoric have no place inthis administration or the public debate.”
Senator Christopher S. Bond (R-Mo.) urged Congress to investigateJones’s “fitness” for the position, writing in an open letter, “Can theAmerican people trust a senior White House official that is so cavalierin his association with such radical and repugnant sentiments?” OnSaturday, Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas), chairman of the NationalRepublican Senatorial Committee, wrote on his Twitter account, “VanJones has to go.”
On FOX News Sunday, Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) and former HouseSpeaker Newt Gingrich declined to criticize Jones directly, thoughAlexander did question why the Obama administration had appointed somany issue czars. (Jones was not, technically, a czar.)
“I don’t think he’s the issue,” Alexander said. “I think the czars are the issue.”
Former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean rallied to Jones’ defense, saying hehad signed the controversial 9-11 “Truther” petition by mistake.
“I think he was brought down. It’s too bad,” Dean said. “I think it’s a loss for the country.”
The one FOX guest who didn’t comment on Jones’ departure? Center forAmerican Progress president John Podesta, at whose think tank Jonesserved as a senior fellow before joining the White House.