Sam Clovis had endured criticism for months, but his withdrawal came shortly after he was swept up in special counsel Robert Mueller’s probe of Russian interference. | Charlie Neibergall/AP Sam Clovis is leaving USDA

Sam Clovis, the former Trump campaign aide who had been serving as USDA's liaison to the White House, is leaving the Agriculture Department and will return home to Iowa, a USDA official confirmed Thursday evening.

Clovis' last day is Friday. A “goodbye party” was being held for him on Thursday night, according to a source attending the party.


Clovis had served as a co-chairman and policy adviser on the Trump campaign and later led the USDA beachhead team for the Trump transition, but ran into trouble when President Donald Trump nominated him to be USDA undersecretary for research, education and economics.

Clovis withdrew his name from consideration in November — before the Senate Agriculture Committee could hold a confirmation hearing — after facing a torrent of criticism from Senate Democrats and environmental advocates. Clovis drew fire for his skepticism of climate science, past comments on issues like race and gender, and what critics on the left said was his lack of scientific credentials that are legally required for the position, which would also have had him serve as the department's chief scientist.

Clovis had endured criticism for months, but his withdrawal came shortly after he was swept up in special counsel Robert Mueller’s probe of Russian interference in the 2016 campaign and the Trump campaign's alleged ties to Russian interests. While serving on the campaign, Clovis had supervised George Papadopoulos, a Trump campaign foreign policy adviser who struck a plea deal on charges he lied to FBI investigators about his communications with Russia-linked contacts. Clovis' withdrawal followed shortly after news of Papadopoulos' plea deal.

Morning Agriculture A daily briefing on agriculture and food policy — in your inbox. Email Sign Up By signing up you agree to receive email newsletters or alerts from POLITICO. You can unsubscribe at any time. This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

More recently, Clovis had been posted to the Natural Resources Conservation Service to provide guidance.

"Dr. Clovis was one of the first people through the door at USDA in January 2017, and we are grateful for his time here," a USDA spokesman said. "He is a good man and a patriot who for decades has served his country admirably. While we are sad Dr. Clovis is leaving USDA, we wish him well on his future endeavors back home in Iowa."

Daniel Lippman contributed to this report.