This article is more than 2 years old

This article is more than 2 years old

A former Trump campaign official who has been linked to the Russia investigation by special counsel Robert Mueller has withdrawn his nomination for an agriculture post.

Sam Clovis: Trump's pick for top science job called progressives 'race traitors' Read more

Sam Clovis says in a letter to Donald Trump dated Thursday that he does “not want to be a distraction or a negative influence”. Clovis cites what he calls “relentless assaults on you and your team” that “seem to be a blood sport”.

This week, it was revealed that Clovis had communications with George Papadopoulos, who has admitted ying to the FBI about his contacts with Russian intermediaries.

Questions have been raised about Clovis’s qualifications to serve as the agriculture department’s chief scientist. He is a self-described skeptic of climate change.

Senator Patrick Leahy of the Senate agriculture committee said Clovis was “almost a comically bad nominee, even for this administration”.

He added: “He is inarguably unqualified, and he is wrong on almost every major issue relevant to the chief scientist post to which he was nominated. His nomination is all too typical of the anti-science agenda and the know-nothingism pushed by President Trump and his administration.”

But he added that Clovis had not withdrawn his name because of this.

“His nomination was withdrawn because we learned on Monday that last year Mr Clovis, while serving as the co-chairman for the national Trump campaign, gave the green light to George Papadopolous’ attempts to collude with Russian operatives and obtain stolen emails from the Clinton campaign. Mr Clovis’ nomination was only withdrawn because that would certainly have been a topic during his upcoming testimony, under oath, before the Senate agriculture committee.

“I know because I was going ask him all about it to get more facts on the record and before the American people.”