Scott Atlas has resigned as special adviser to Trump, a White House official said on Monday, after a controversial four months during which he clashed repeatedly with other members of the coronavirus task force, Reuters reported.
Voters’ unhappiness with Trump’s response to the global pandemic that has killed hundreds of thousands helped propel his challenger, Democrat Joe Biden, to victory in the Nov. 3 election.
“I am writing to resign from my position as special adviser to the president of the United States,” Atlas said in a letter to Trump dated Dec. 1 that he posted on Twitter.
Public health experts, including Anthony Fauci, the leading US infectious disease expert, have sharply criticized Atlas, a neuroradiologist, for providing Trump with misleading or incorrect information on the virus pandemic.
In his letter, Atlas listed what he considered accomplishments in reopening schools and expanding virus testing while also defending himself against his many critics.
“Like all scientists and health policy scholars, I learned new information and synthesized the latest data from around the world, all in an effort to provide you with the best information to serve the greater good,” he wrote.
Atlas was considered a special government employee on a 130-day detail that expires this week. Fox News first reported his resignation.
In a tweet early on Tuesday, Fox News also said the US Department of Defense had disbanded the Defeat-ISIS Task Force.
“Force resignation of Chris Maier who served as Task Force director since 2017. “Today, Acting Secretary of Defense Chris Miller accepted the resignation of Christopher Maier, the Director of the DoD Defeat-ISIS Task Force," Gennifer Griffin, a Fox News correspondent tweeted.
"The duties and responsibilities of the Task Force Director will be absorbed by the counterterrorism staff of the OASD for Special Operations and Low Intensity Conflict and the regionally aligned staff of the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Policy,” she added.
MNA/PR