Van Jones steps down as controversy swirls

The White House green-jobs czar, who has been linked to Sept. 11 conspiracy theorists and other controversial statements, resigned early Sunday, according to several news reports.

In a statement in an article posted a half hour past midnight on the Washington Post’s website, Van Jones said he was subjected to “a vicious smear campaign” by “opponents of reform.” He said that he could not let the Obama administration in good conscience continue to waste more energy defending him so he decided to resign.  

Jones, an Oakland, Calif., environmental activist before coming to Washington, is a favorite of liberals and is considered a pioneer of the “green jobs” movement. But he found himself a target of attacks of late for a variety of controversial statements he made before joining the administration. 

Jones signed a 2004 petition alongside other activists calling for an investigation by then-New York State Attorney General Elliot Spitzer and Congress into whether any administration officials had foreknowledge of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks and if they had then let them occur.

In addition, Jones had made derogatory comments about Republicans, calling them “a—holes,” in February of this year. He also likened former President George W. Bush to a “crackhead” in a speech captured on YouTube.

Jones said he did not carefully review the petition regarding the Sept. 11 attacks and also issued an apology last week through the White House for his statements, but that seemed to have little effect in quelling calls for him to resign. Pointedly on Friday, White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs declined to say that Jones had the confidence of the president.

Republicans pounced on the statements by Jones and began to call on the White House to usher him out the door.

Rep. Mike Pence (R-Ind.) had called on Jones to resign because of the aide’s “extremist views and coarse rhetoric.” Sen. Kit Bond (R-Mo.), the ranking member of the Senate Green Jobs and the New Economy Subcommittee, had also asked for a congressional hearing into Jones’s “divisive” behavior.

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