Carl Icahn said he had a conversation with President Donald Trump today where the two agreed that Icahn would cut ties with the administration. | AP Photo Icahn cuts official ties with Trump administration

Billionaire investor Carl Icahn said Friday he is giving up his role as a special adviser to President Donald Trump on regulatory reform, ending an association that had sparked an uproar among Democrats and raised ethics questions.

In a statement posted on his website, Icahn said he had a conversation with Trump on Friday where the two agreed that he would cut ties with the administration.


Icahn said he had received a number of inquiries about whether his role — which was informal and unpaid — would overlap with the duties of Neomi Rao, who was appointed as administrator of the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs. The Senate confirmed Rao in July.

Icahn's exit follows a string of departures from the administration this week, ranging from dozens of executives on Trump’s advisory councils to top strategist Steve Bannon Friday.

“I chose to end this arrangement (with your blessing) because I did not want partisan bickering about my role to in any way cloud your administration or Ms. Rao’s important work,” Icahn wrote to Trump. “I sincerely regret that because of your extremely busy schedule, as well as my own, I have not had the opportunity to spend nearly as much time as I’d hoped on regulatory issues.”

Icahn did not say who had questioned whether his position would conflict with Rao's.

Trump picked Icahn in December to be a special adviser, saying his "help on the strangling regulations that our country is faced with will be invaluable.”

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Icahn — whose net worth has been estimated at $21.6 billion by Forbes — endorsed Trump early in his path to the White House and has known him for decades in New York. He was repeatedly mentioned as a potential Treasury secretary, lead negotiator on trade deals with China and Japan, or both. Icahn played a central part in getting Trump to choose Scott Pruitt to lead the Environmental Protection Agency.

But Senate Democrats seized on Icahn’s position as a deregulatory czar and the potential benefit that lighter regulations would have for his investment firm, Icahn Enterprises.

In May, Democrats questioned whether Icahn broke the law by influencing the administration’s biofuel policies. Democrats also pressed on whether Icahn used his role to help his investment in insurance giant AIG.

In his statement to Trump, Icahn rejected Democrats’ accusations. “I never had access to nonpublic information or profited from my position,” he said, adding that he never had a formal position with the administration.

Earlier this month, POLITICO reported that Icahn was about to lose a regulatory objective at the EPA. The agency is expected to reject a proposal that would let oil refiners off the hook for complying with the federal ethanol mandate, a blow for Icahn, who owns the refiner CVR Energy.

In his statement, Icahn said the only issues he discussed with Trump "were broad matters of policy affecting the refining industry."

"I never sought any special benefit for any company with which I have been involved," he said.

Icahn’s advisory work for Trump raised questions about conflicts of interest. Walter Shaub, who served as head of the Office of Government Ethics until July, said in a tweet responding to Icahn’s letter: “Essentially says: I quit a position that didn’t exist (which I didn’t have) and had no duties (which I didn’t perform) –ps. I was never here.”

Shaub had written to White House counsel Don McGahn asking for a clear description of Icahn’s advisory role.

Colin Wilhelm contributed to this report.

