The Trump administration's nominee to fill a post at the Department of Agriculture withdrew his nomination Thursday after his name surfaced in court documents related to the Russia investigation.
Sam Clovis was pegged to serve as undersecretary of agriculture for research, education, and economics at the Department of Agriculture. This week, however, he was mentioned in court documents related to the indictment of Trump campaign volunteer George Papadopoulos, who worked under Clovis on the campaign.
Papadopoulos was indicted for lying to the FBI about his contacts with Russians. He reportedly offered to connect Trump with Russian President Vladimir Putin, and Clovis at one point praised his efforts on the Russia matter.
Clovis was a policy adviser for the Trump campaign and later became its co-chair.
The Associated Press confirmed that Clovis withdrew his nomination. He wrote a letter to Trump in which he said he does "not want to be a distraction or a negative influence." Clovis cited what he called "relentless assaults on you and your team" that "seem to be a blood sport."
Trump's former campaign chairman Paul Manafort and Manafort's business associate Rick Gates also were indicted this week on federal charges. The White House has insisted that none of the three indictments that are part of special counsel Robert Mueller's Department of Justice probe link back to Trump.
Clovis was questioned by the FBI and testified before Mueller's grand jury last week.
Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.
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