Billionaire Carl Icahn has quit advising Trump

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August 18, 2017 10:02 PM

Carl Icahn, the Wall Street financier, announced he would no longer advise President Trump on regulatory issues, citing the appointment of Neomi Rao.

Billionaire investor Carl Icahn is no longer advising President Donald Trump.

Icahn, who had been an unpaid adviser, announced the move on Twitter late Friday afternoon.

"Today, with President Trump’s blessing, I ceased to act as special advisor to the President on issues relating to regulatory reform," Icahn tweeted.

His announcement follows that of several business titans who have distanced themselves following the president's comments equivocating white supremacists with counterprotesters in Charlottesville.

Icahn's reasoning differs from the others, however, and makes no mention of Charlottesville. Icahn couldn't immediately be reached for comment.

He tied his decision to the July appointment of Neomi Rao as Administrator of the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs — the helm of Trump's deregulatory agenda. In a statement posted to Icahn's business website, he said that he didn't want "partisan bickering about my role to in any way cloud your administration or Ms. Rao’s important work.

"Contrary to the insinuations of a handful of your Democratic critics, I never had access to nonpublic information or profited from my position, nor do I believe that my role presented conflicts of interest," he added.

Icahn, a Wall Street investor, had previously drawn criticism when it was announced that he would be advising the president on regulatory issues.

A Reuters investigation earlier this year found that his oil-refining company, CVR Energy, "made a massive bet in 2016 that prices for U.S. government biofuels credits would fall — just before Icahn started advising President Donald Trump on regulations driving that market."

Icahn's firm had positioned itself to slash regulatory costs by tens of millions of dollars if those credit prices fell, Reuters reported.

Rao, meanwhile, as administrator of the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, heads one of the most powerful agencies in the government. "The administrator accepts regulations or sends them back to be reworked, a decision that can expedite rules or effectively neutralize them by imposing extensive delays," The New York Times reported earlier this year in a profile of Rao.

Icahn posted a full statement on his website, which he said was a copy of the letter he had delivered to the president:

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