White House to withdraw nomination of controversial figure to chair Council on Environmental Quality

The nomination of Kathleen Hartnett White, a climate change sceptic, to serve as Donald Trump’s top environmental adviser is to be withdrawn, the White House has confirmed.

White was announced in October last year as Trump’s choice to chair the Council on Environmental Quality.

But White’s nomination languished and was among a batch of nominations the Senate sent back to the White House when it adjourned at the end of 2017. Trump would have had to resubmit White’s nomination.

She made headlines in November last year when she had difficulty answering basic questions about climate change.

The Washington Post first reported late on Saturday on the plans to pull White’s nomination, citing two unnamed administration officials who had been briefed on the matter.



A White House official later confirmed the Post report. The official was not authorised to discuss personnel decisions by name and spoke on condition of anonymity.