WASHINGTON, Sept. 6 (UPI) -- Van Jones, who has been attacked by conservatives over past controversial statements, has resigned as an adviser to U.S. President Barack Obama.
Jones, who had served as an adviser for "green" jobs at the Council on Environmental Quality, said in a statement released around midnight Sunday that he was leaving the job immediately, The Washington Post reported.
Jones had been under attack from the right for signing a petition that suggested Bush administration officials "may indeed have deliberately allowed 9/11 to happen, perhaps as a pretext for war" and for using an obscenity to describe Republicans in a speech he gave before joining the Obama administration.
"On the eve of historic fights for healthcare and clean energy, opponents of reform have mounted a vicious smear campaign against me," he said. "They are using lies and distortions to distract and divide. I have been inundated with calls -- from across the political spectrum -- urging me to 'stay and fight.' But I came here to fight for others, not for myself."
One of the few black environmental leaders, Jones, a lawyer, is the founder of the Ella Baker Center for Human Rights and the Color of Change.
