Yesterday, the Trump administration's pick for a science post at the Department of Agriculture withdrew his name from consideration. Sam Clovis, who was a talk radio host before joining the Trump campaign, had been a controversial pick to begin with due to his complete lack of experience with either agriculture or science. But his nomination was terminated due to his role in the Trump campaign, where he supervised George Papadopoulos, the first person to plead guilty due to Robert Mueller's investigation of the campaign's Russian ties.

Since Trump's inauguration, Clovis has served as a White House advisor within the Department of Agriculture. Earlier this year, Trump nominated him to a formal position within the department: the Undersecretary of Research, Education, and Economics. That position coordinates research within the department, and the person who holds the position is often referred to as Agriculture's chief scientist. The law that created the position indicates that the person nominated for it should be chosen “from among distinguished scientists with specialized training or significant experience in agricultural research, education, and economics."

That description is a poor fit for Clovis, and several Democratic senators were questioning his qualifications prior to his nomination hearings. Clovis' response to questions from Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.), ranking member of the Senate's agriculture committee, were obtained by The Washington Post. In them, Clovis admits he hasn't taken any courses or published any research in science or agriculture. Instead, he suggested he was qualified because some of the courses he taught included some material on agriculture, and he had run for statewide office in Iowa. "One cannot be a credible candidate in that state," Clovis contended, "without significant agricultural experience and knowledge.”

There were indications that Clovis didn't understand science especially well, such as his dismissal of the science behind climate change. Given the challenges agriculture will face in a warming world, that alone might be enough to disqualify him for this position. Some senators felt that way, too. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) stated, "He is inarguably unqualified, and he is wrong on almost every major issue relevant to the chief scientist post to which he was nominated." But his nomination was still headed for Senate hearings prior to this week.

That's where Robert Mueller's Monday announcements intervened. In addition to two indictments, Mueller's investigators revealed that they had secured a guilty plea from Trump campaign worker George Papadopoulos, who had been cooperating with the inquiry. Some of the documents pertaining to Papadopoulos' conviction included descriptions of his communications with his supervisor regarding efforts to coordinate with Russian sources. It was later revealed that the supervisor was Clovis.

In his letter of withdrawal, obtained by CNN, Clovis decried that "the political climate inside Washington has made it impossible for me to receive balanced and fair consideration for this position."