Democratic Sen. Patrick Leahy of Vermont called President Trump’s pick to serve as the Agriculture Department’s head scientist a “comically bad nominee, even for this administration.”
Sam Clovis refused the nomination on Thursday after pressure from Congress to hold up his nomination intensified over the last 24 hours and groups began to make a link between the indictment of former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort and Clovis.
“Sam Clovis was almost a comically bad nominee, even for this administration. He is inarguably unqualified, and he is wrong on almost every major issue relevant to the chief scientist post to which he was nominated,” Leahy said. “His nomination is all too typical of the anti-science agenda and the know-nothingism pushed by President Trump and his administration. But President Trump already knew that when he nominated Mr. Clovis, and that is not why his nomination was abruptly pulled today. Not because of his association with birtherism or as a climate change denier, or his other repugnant assertions.
“His nomination was withdrawn because we learned on Monday that last year Mr.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,” 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 Clovis’ nomination was only withdrawn because that would certainly have been a topic during his upcoming testimony, under oath, before the Senate Agriculture Committee,” he said. “I know because I was going ask him all about it to get more facts on the record and before the American people.”
Leahy serves as one of the senior senators on the Senate Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry Committee, which has principal jurisdiction over considering Clovis’ nomination.
Leahy’s comments come after the Union of Concerned Scientists sent a letter this week to the agriculture committee signed by more than 3,000 scientists, underscoring Clovis’ time as Trump campaign co-chairman as the latest example of the nominee’s poor decision-making abilities.
“Now, emerging evidence of Clovis’ potential involvement with the Trump campaign’s Russian connections should be the final nail in the coffin for his confirmation,” said Mike Lavender with the science group. “At virtually every point in his career, Clovis has failed to display the judgment needed to manage the responsible investment of billions of dollars in taxpayer money in a safe, sustainable, productive food system.”
Clovis encouraged Papadopoulos, the campaign foreign policy adviser, to travel to Russia for off-the-record meetings with government officials, according to multiple news accounts. Papadopoulos pleaded guilty to lying to FBI agents over his ties to Russian foreign nationals.
“The Senate Agriculture Committee should reject his nomination and instead consider any of the hundreds of eminently more qualified individuals for this vital position that serves farmers, ranchers, researchers, and consumers, and helps determine the future of our food system,” Lavender said.
