19 August, 2017
Billionaire investor Carl Icahn has ended his role as a special regulatory adviser to President Donald Trump after questions were raised about potential conflicts of interests with his business dealings.
Icahn's appointment was criticized by Democrats who said they suspected that he would push causes in which he had an interest, such as weakening environmental controls that apply to oil refineries.
"I never had a formal position with your administration nor a policymaking role", Icahn wrote in his resignation letter.
It is unclear how much the departure, following closely after the exit of White House Chief Strategist Steve Bannon, will affect the day-to-day operations of the administration.
"I chose to end this arrangement (with your blessing) because I did not want partisan bickering about my role to in any way cloud your administration", Icahn wrote in a letter to Trump.
The value of Icahn's stake in the Texas refiner increased some $491 million between November 8 and August 2 to about $1.4 billion, a period that starts with Trump's election and the day before reports surfaced that the Trump administration was set to reject the bid to relieve refiners of the biofuels burden. "I will call the executives or I'll have Carl Icahn do it", Trump said on one such occasion in MI in October 2016.
Trump, who came to office promising to roll back regulation, reform the tax code and boost infrastructure spending, never put Icahn on the payroll.
Scores of Republican politicians and business leaders have distanced themselves from the president after his comments following the terrorist attack in Charlottesville, with the president's business advisory councils choosing to disband, and former Republican elected officials Mitt Romney and Arnold Schwarzenegger blasting Trump's excuse-making for participants in a march that attracted neo-Nazi and white supremacist elements. Oil Daily, a trade publication, said on August 4 that the Environmental Protection Agency is planning to reject a regulatory change that Icahn had long sought. "If he's not a government employee, then his advocacy could make him an unregistered lobbyist".
Biofuels regulations require refiners either to blend biofuels into petrol or - in the case of companies like CVR that have no blending facilities - to buy credits from competitors.
Prices for biofuel compliance credits known as renewable identification numbers have been volatile since Trump's election and Icahn's appointment as special adviser.
An outspoken and cantankerous investor, Mr. Icahn has at times shared the spotlight with the president.
