Sam Clovis withdraws from nomination at Agriculture amid Russia probe

Former Trump campaign official Sam Clovis, who was linked this week to Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia investigation, withdrew Thursday from nomination to a post in the Agriculture Department.

Mr. Clovis, who was questioned by Mr. Mueller’s team last week, supervised George Papadopoulos during the campaign. Mr. Papadopolous was arrested in July and pleaded guilty Oct. 5 to making false statements to investigators.

White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said of the announcement, “We respect Mr. Clovis’s decision to withdraw his nomination.”

Investigators’ records show that Mr. Papadopolous disclosed his interactions with a professor and other Russians whom the FBI indicated in court documents may have been working with Russian intelligence agents.

Sen. Patrick J. Leahy, Vermont Democrat and a member of the Senate Agriculture Committee, said Mr. Clovis was a “comically bad” nominee for the Agriculture Department’s top scientist post. But he said his lack of qualifications wasn’t the reason for his withdrawal.

“His nomination was withdrawn because we learned on Monday that last year Mr.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. Leahy said. “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 Clovis’ nomination was only withdrawn because that would certainly have been a topic during his upcoming testimony, under oath, before the Senate Agriculture Committee.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.”

Ricardo Salvador, senior scientist and director of the food and environment program at the Union of Concerned Scientists, said the nation’s ranchers and farmers deserve a qualified nominee for the post.

“Emerging evidence of his role in Trump campaign Russia dealings was deeply troubling, but merely the last straw,” Mr. Salvador said. “Even before this week’s explosive revelations, Sam Clovis was facing a very hard road to confirmation. As a non-scientist, he failed to meet the most basic legal qualifications to serve as the chief scientist at the USDA.”