Obama aide quits amid controversy
WASHINGTON — An advisor to President Obama has resigned amid controversy over inflammatory statements he made before joining the administration, the White House said early today.
Van Jones, an advisor on environmentally friendly “green jobs,” had been linked to efforts suggesting a government role in the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks and to derogatory comments about Republicans.
The matter surfaced after news reports of a crude remark Jones had made about Republicans, and, separately, of his name appearing on a petition dealing with the 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.
That 2004 petition had asked for congressional hearings and other investigations into whether high-level government officials had “deliberately allowed” the attacks to occur.
Jones issued an apology Thursday.
He said in his statement that the petition “certainly does not reflect my views, now or ever.”
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