This is a big deal story. The Billionaire Investor Carl Icahn is a name that the republican President Donald Trump frequently dropped during his numerous 2016 campaign rallies. It became obvious that this was a business person that the president Trump truly admired.

Today, Mr. Icahn quit his White House’s informal position as an adviser to the president on regulatory reform. HE DID THIS ANNOUNCEMENT WITH A COUPLE OF TWEETS. This is a set back that can do damage to the presidents creds in the business world, if he has any left.

Today, August 18, 2017, viewers of the CNBC Business TV channel could hear shouts of joy by traders on the NY Stock Exchange floor as it was publicized that the president’s chief of staff, Steve Bannon had  been dismissed from the White House.

Several businesses have been cancelling their charity events scheduled for Mar-a-Lago country club in Palm Beach, Florida, owned by the Trump family.

On August 18, 2017, Emily Stewart of The Street broke the following news, “Billionaire Investor Carl Icahn Quits as Adviser to Trump.”

“Activist investor Carl Icahn has stepped down from his informal advisory role on regulatory reform to President Donald Trump, he said on Friday. He announced the move in a pair of tweets.”

Here’s the rest of the story…

On August 18, 2017, Trevor Hunnicutt and Jared Renshaw of Reuters penned the following report, ‘”Carl Icahn steps down as adviser to President Trump.”

Excerpts:

“Billionaire investor Carl Icahn ended his role as a special adviser to U.S. President Donald Trump on Friday (8/18/17) after facing criticism that his policy recommendations could help his own investments.

“Some Democratic lawmakers and biofuels advocates argued that Icahn’s policy recommendations to the Republican administration created a conflict of interest with his businesses, including oil refining company CVR Energy Inc. Icahn has denied any conflict of interest.”

“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 released on his website.

 

“If he was not willing to admit he was a de facto special government employee, and follow the rules, then he had no place serving in government,” said Norman Eisen, co-founder of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, who served as the chief ethics lawyer for former President Barack Obama.”

“His short tenure, marred by serious conflicts allegations, was yet another black eye for an administration that has become notorious for violations of ethics and the rule of law.”

“Icahn has been one of the loudest critics of the federal bio-fuels program, and he was working at price-crushing reforms of the program at the same time he was betting that credits at the center of the program would fall.”

“Bio-fuels regulations require refiners either to blend bio-fuels into gasoline or – in the case of companies like CVR that have no blending facilities – to buy credits from competitors. The regulation, the Renewable Fuel Standard, also allows companies to delay those credit purchases by a year.”

“As an adviser to Trump, Icahn urged the president in February to alter the policy to lift the blending burden from refiners. Yet environmental regulators are preparing to formally reject that proposal, sources told Reuters.”

This blog was updated on 8/18/17.