Energy

Trump’s Top Energy Adviser Resigns After Being Denied A Security Clearance

REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque

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Michael Bastasch DCNF Managing Editor
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Top White House energy adviser George David Bank resigned on Tuesday after he was denied a security clearance because of past marijuana use.

Banks, a senior National Economic Council member, admitted to using marijuana in 2013, which cost him a permanent security clearance. Banks was one of many White House officials working on a temporary security clearance.

“It was an honor to serve the president at the White House and I look forward to supporting the president in the future,” Banks told Politico.

Banks is the third White House official to resign in the last week, but, unlike Banks, the other two left amid allegations they verbally and physically abused their wives.

The White House did not respond to The Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment.

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Banks handled international energy and environment issues for President Donald Trump. He led a delegation to the United Nations climate summit in Germany last year, and reportedly pushed for the U.S. to remain in the Paris climate accord.

Banks stood with Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and Energy secretary Rick Perry in supporting remaining in the Paris climate accord. Former White House adviser Steve Bannon and Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Scott Pruitt favored leaving the Paris accord.

More recently, Banks announced the White House was deciding “whether to move forward” with the Kigali Amendment “and how” that would happen given recent legal setbacks. The Kigali Amendment would phase out another potent greenhouse gas, hydrofluorocarbons.

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