Obama adviser resigns amid controversy

PRESIDENT Barack Obama’s environmental adviser Van Jones, who has been embroiled in a controversy over past inflammatory statements, has resigned his White House job after what he calls a “vicious smear campaign against me”.

The resignation came as Obama is working to regain his footing in the contentious health care debate.

Jones, an administration official specialising in environmentally friendly “green jobs” with the White House Council on Environmental Quality, signed a petition orts suggesting there may have been government involvement in the 2001 terror attacks on the Twin Towers in New York and has made derogatory comments about Republicans.