Obama's Adviser Steps Down Over 9/11 Remarks

Van Jones resigned amid controversy over past inflammatory statements.

Reprinted from PressTV (September 2009)

US President Barack Obama's adviser has stepped down after his past remarks about a government role in the 2001 terror attacks sparked controversy.

The White House said early on Sunday that Van Jones, special adviser for green jobs at the White House Council on Environmental Quality, resigned Saturday.

"I am resigning my post at the Council on Environmental Quality," Jones said in a statement.

Nancy Sutley, chair of the council, said that she accepts Jones resignation and thanked him for his service.

Jones has come under fire in recent days following revelations that he had signed a petition, which claims Bush administration officials "may indeed have deliberately allowed 9/11 to happen, perhaps as a pretext for war" and he once had called Republicans "assholes."

Earlier, Jones said he was "clearly inappropriate" in using a crude term to describe Republicans in a speech he gave before joining the Obama administration.

The resignation comes after White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said earlier that Jones "continues to work in the administration." Jones issued an apology on Thursday for his past statements.

However, his apologies did not stop Republicans' calls for Obama's green jobs adviser resignation.

Rep. Mike Pence of Indiana called for Jones to quit, saying in a statement, "His extremist views and coarse rhetoric have no place in this administration or the public debate."

Missouri Sen. Christopher Bonds urged Congress to investigate Jones's fitness for his White House position.