Billionaire investor Carl Icahn said Friday he has stepped down as a special adviser to President Trump on regulatory reform.

He said in a letter to Trump that he was stepping down with the president's "blessing" and "because I did not want partisan bickering about my role to in any way cloud your administration."

Icahn has been criticized by Democrats who said his advisory role created a conflict of interest because he had not taken a formal government job and was still running his businesses.

In March, Icahn told CNNMoney that the those allegations were "absurd" and "completely ridiculous." He added, "I don't talk to Donald that often."

He doubled down on his denial in the letter to Trump, saying, "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."

Related: Senators say Trump adviser Icahn may have broken trading laws

Exactly what prompted Icahn's decision to step away from his informal White House role was not immediately clear Friday.

Neither the White House nor Icahn Enterprises, his massive investment company, responded to requests for comment.

In fact, Icahn laments in his letter that he didn't have more time to discuss policy with the president.

"I sincerely regret that because of your extremely busy schedule, as well as my own, I have not had the opportunity to spend nearly as much time as I'd hoped on regulatory issues," Icahn wrote.

Icahn also mentions that he's "received a number of inquiries over the last month" into whether his advisory role overlapped with the duties of Neomi Rao, who Trump named as the administrator for the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs in July.

Related: Democrats say Carl Icahn already using Trump role for 'personal gain'

Icahn asserts those are baseless concerns: "The answer to that question is an unequivocal no," he wrote. He also expressed support for Rao.

"While I do not know Ms. Rao and played no part in her appointment, I am confident based on what I've read of her accomplishments that she is the right person for this important job," he said.

Icahn formed Icahn & Co in 1968, and the firm took significant stakes in numerous major corporations over the years, typically proposing changes in the way they were run or urging them to sell off divisions. Icahn was one of Trump's earliest backers on Wall Street

Trump said Icahn is the type of person he wanted in his administration early in his campaign. He told MSNBC's "Morning Joe" in June 2015 that he'd "love to bring my friend Carl Icahn" as Treasury secretary. It was a suggestion that Icahn quickly declined.

Instead, Trump tapped Icahn to serve as a special adviser on regulatory reform in December.</s>In a story that does not deserve to be overshadowed by Steve Bannon’s departure from the White House, it became clear today that multi-billionaire corporate-raider legend Carl Icahn was no longer an advisor to his old friend Donald Trump on regulatory matters. But it’s an open question as to whether he was pushed out of that shadowy gig or chose to leave it.

During the 2016 campaign and immediately after, Trump often touted Icahn’s willingness to advise him on economic policy as a feather in his cap. It was no surprise when it was announced that he would serve as a Special Advisor to the President for regulatory affairs in December 2016. He has no clear job description and drew no salary. But after a while it became apparent that he had a particular interest in the alleged regulatory burden placed on refineries like his own CVR Energy by rules involving ethanol production. So he became a magnet for concerns about conflicts of interest in the Trump administration, where he had a lot of influence despite his periodic claims he was just a private citizen who was advising the president in a non-self-interested fashion.

Today Icahn informed the world via a released letter to the president that he was stepping down from his Special Advisor position. This was supposedly not, like the resignations this week by other corporate figures from advisory positions, a protest against the president’s words on Charlottesville or anything else:

But here’s the thing: as Patrick Radden Keefe disclosed in a vast article on the Icahn-Trump relationship published today by the New Yorker after the Icahn news broke, the White House had already fired the mogul by August 14, or perhaps was denying he ever had a position:

On August 14th, I asked the White House to confirm that Icahn was still a special adviser to the President. The spokeswoman e-mailed me back: “Icahn is NOT ‘a special adviser to the president for regulatory reform.’ ” This was certainly news. In my conversations with Icahn and his lawyer, I had not developed any impression that his status had changed. Was the Administration cutting him loose? I wrote back to the spokeswoman, asking when Icahn had been let go. She replied, “There was no ‘effective’ end date, because there was never a formal appointment or title after January 20.”

There appear to have been multiple reasons for the rift. Icahn took a position on a rule governing ethanol production that was opposed by much of the rest of the industry, which happens to wield influence in key presidential election state Iowa. And Keefe thinks Icahn never quite adjusted to the radical change in power dynamics he suffered when Trump was elected president.

Whatever the truth, it’s quite possible that there’s trouble for Icahn down the road stemming from his vague but powerful role in the Trump administration, and Trump’s desire to keep a safe distance from the fallout.</s>Carl Icahn has stepped down from his role as a special adviser to President Donald Trump , the billionaire investor announced on Friday.

Icahn served as an advisor to Trump on regulatory reform issues, joining the president in an unpaid capacity after the presidential election in November. In a letter to Trump , Icahn repeatedly noted that he did not have a formal position or a policy-making role within the Trump administration, describing his position as "unofficial."

Icahn's resignation announcement follows the news Friday that former White House chief strategist Steve Bannon was fired . He steps away from the role as multiple presidential advisory committees disassembled this week after Trump's controversial statements about the white nationalist rallies in Charlottesville, Va. last weekend. The president blamed "many sides" in protests that left one woman dead.

Icahn's involvement with Trump has frequently come under criticism from Democrats who, in May, asked U.S. regulators to investigate Icahn's activities in the U.S. biofuels blending credit market.

"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 . "I sincerely regret that because of your extremely busy schedule, as well as my own, I have not had the opportunity to spend nearly as much time as I’d hoped on regulatory issues."

In February, Icahn proposed changing the U.S. biofuels program to ease the regulatory burden on oil refining companies — including in CVR Energy, the company in which he owns a majority stake.</s>Billionaire investor Carl Icahn resigned his position as special adviser to President Donald Trump on Friday, saying he didn’t want “partisan bickering” to cloud the work of the administration.

The famed activist said he had resigned with Mr. Trump’s blessing, and Mr. Icahn defended his own advisory role, which had drawn criticism for the perception he had conflicts of interest.

In his resignation letter to Mr. Trump, Mr....</s>Businessman Carl Icahn announced on Friday that he will step away from his role as a special advisor to President Donald Trump on regulatory reform issues -- a decision he claims was made to avoid the suggestion of conflicts of interest by critics of the administration.

In a letter to Trump posted by Icahn to his personal website, he describes the nature of his position as informal, noting he had "no duties whatsoever" -- as opposed to the recently named administrator of the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs Neomi Rao. In the letter, Icahn further dismisses suggestions that he had the opportunity to personally benefit from the role.

"I never had access to nonpublic information or profited from my position, nor do I believe that my role presented conflicts of interest," wrote Icahn, adding, "I never sought any special benefit for any company with which I have been involved, and have only expressed views that I believed would benefit the refining industry as a whole."

The announcement from Icahn, the founder and majority shareholder of conglomerate Icahn Enterprises, comes days after a number of business leaders resigned from the White House's American Manufacturing Council in the aftermath of Trump's response to last weekend's violence in Charlottesville, Virginia. The American Manufacturing Council disbanded on Wednesday, as did a second, separate panel of CEOs, dubbed the Strategic and Policy Forum.

The businessman, an early endorser of Trump's, was frequently praised by the Republican presidential nominee on the campaign trail in 2016. Trump portrayed Icahn as a master negotiator who would assist his potential administration in preventing the outsourcing of jobs by American corporations.

"If Ford or another company announces they want to move their jobs to Mexico or another country, then I will pick up the phone… I will call the executives or I’ll have Carl Icahn do it," Trump said on one such occasion in Michigan in October 2016.

A billionaire, Icahn first began to make his name in the 1980s when he engaged in the earliest of his numerous corporate takeovers by which he accumulated the majority of his wealth.</s>Richard Levine/Corbis via Getty Images(NEW YORK) — Businessman Carl Icahn announced on Friday that he will step away from his role as a special advisor to President Donald Trump on regulatory reform issues — a decision he claims was made to avoid the suggestion of conflicts of interest by critics of the administration.

In a letter to Trump posted by Icahn to his personal website, he describes the nature of his position as informal, noting he had “no duties whatsoever” — as opposed to the recently named administrator of the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs Neomi Rao. In the letter, Icahn further dismisses suggestions that he had the opportunity to personally benefit from the role.

“I never had access to nonpublic information or profited from my position, nor do I believe that my role presented conflicts of interest,” wrote Icahn, adding, “I never sought any special benefit for any company with which I have been involved, and have only expressed views that I believed would benefit the refining industry as a whole.”

The announcement from Icahn, the founder and majority shareholder of conglomerate Icahn Enterprises, comes days after a number of business leaders resigned from the White House’s American Manufacturing Council in the aftermath of Trump’s response to last weekend’s violence in Charlottesville, Virginia. The American Manufacturing Council disbanded on Wednesday, as did a second, separate panel of CEOs, dubbed the Strategic and Policy Forum.

The businessman, an early endorser of Trump’s, was frequently praised by the Republican presidential nominee on the campaign trail in 2016. Trump portrayed Icahn as a master negotiator who would assist his potential administration in preventing the outsourcing of jobs by American corporations.

“If Ford or another company announces they want to move their jobs to Mexico or another country, then I will pick up the phone… I will call the executives or I’ll have Carl Icahn do it,” Trump said on one such occasion in Michigan in October 2016.

A billionaire, Icahn first began to make his name in the 1980s when he engaged in the earliest of his numerous corporate takeovers by which he accumulated the majority of his wealth.</s>Billionaire investor Carl Icahn ended his role as a special adviser to U.S. President Donald Trump on Friday 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.

A call to Icahn’s office and an email to the White House were not immediately returned.

Icahn’s departure followed a flurry of changes at the White House. Trump on Friday fired his chief strategist, Stephen Bannon, two days after disbanding two high-profile business advisory groups.

The activist investor, who leads Icahn Enterprises LP , was an early and close ally of Trump who was often praised by the Republican for his business acumen. In his letter to Trump, he downplayed his role as an adviser, saying he “had no duties whatsoever.” But his web of financial interests were a lightning rod.

“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 biofuels 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.

Biofuels regulations require refiners either to blend biofuels 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.</s>Billionaire investor Carl Icahn is stepping down as a special adviser to President Donald Trump on regulatory reform, he announced Friday.

In a letter posted on his website addressed to POTUS, Icahn responded to criticism on the Democratic side that his role might create a conflict of interest. “I never sought any special benefit for any company with which I have been involved, and have only expressed views that I believed would benefit the refining industry as a whole,” he wrote.

According to the letter, Icahn is stepping down to avoid the distraction of “partisan bickering.” The investor’s announcement comes on the same day that White House chief strategist Steve Bannon exited the White House — whether Bannon resigned or was fired is currently unclear.

The announcement also seems to top off an already tumultuous week for the White House. Trump has been criticized over the past week for failing to sufficiently condemn white supremacists, neo-Nazis, and other hate groups, and drew massive backlash when, in a combative Tuesday press conference, he blamed “both sides” for the violence in Charlottesville, Va.

Several CEOs subsequently resigned from advisory boards before both the Manufacturing Council and the Strategy and Policy Forum dissolved altogether. Members of his Arts and Humanities Committee also resigned in protest, though the White House later issued a statement arguing that Trump had already decided not to renew the executive order for the group.

This will confirm our conversation today in which we agreed that I would cease to act as special advisor to the President on issues relating to regulatory reform.

As I discussed with you, I’ve received a number of inquiries over the last month regarding the recent appointment of Neomi Rao as Administrator of the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (or “regulatory czar,” as the press has dubbed her) – specifically questions about whether there was any overlap between her formal position and my unofficial role. As I know you are aware, the answer to that question is an unequivocal no, for the simple reason that I had no duties whatsoever.

I never had a formal position with your administration nor a policymaking role. And 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. Indeed, out of an abundance of caution, the only issues I ever discussed with you were broad matters of policy affecting the refining industry. I never sought any special benefit for any company with which I have been involved, and have only expressed views that I believed would benefit the refining industry as a whole.

Nevertheless, 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 or Ms. Rao’s important work. While I do not know Ms. Rao and played no part in her appointment, I am confident based on what I’ve read of her accomplishments that she is the right person for this important job.

I sincerely regret that because of your extremely busy schedule, as well as my own, I have not had the opportunity to spend nearly as much time as I’d hoped on regulatory issues. I truly appreciate the confidence you have in me and sincerely hope that the limited insights I shared have been helpful to you. I love our country which has allowed me to achieve so much and I thank you for the informal opportunity you have given me to aid it.</s>Billionaire investor Carl Icahn on Friday said he was ending his role as special advisor to U.S. President Donald Trump after facing criticism that his advice on regulations could help his own businesses.

NEW YORK: Billionaire investor Carl Icahn on Friday said he was ending his role as special advisor to U.S. President Donald Trump after facing criticism that his advice on regulations could help his own businesses.

Some Democratic lawmakers and biofuels advocates have argued that Icahn's policy recommendations to the Republican administration create a conflict of interest with his investments, including oil refining company CVR Energy Inc. Icahn denied any conflict of interest.</s>WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump has lost another informal adviser from the business world: billionaire investor Carl Icahn, who gave the White House guidance on its deregulation efforts.

Icahn said in a letter to Trump released Friday that he is stepping down to prevent “partisan bickering” about his unofficial role that Democrats suggested could benefit him financially. Trump lost a pair of business advisory councils on Wednesday over his inability to condemn the role white supremacists played in violence last weekend in Charlottesville, Virginia.

But Icahn — who made his name and fortune as a corporate raider in the 1980s — indicated that his resignation was due to criticism regarding the appearance of possible ethical conflicts.

“I never had access to nonpublic information or profited from my position, nor do I believe that my role presented conflicts of interest,” Icahn wrote.

He added that, out of an abundance of caution, he had limited his input to broad matters of policy about the oil-refining industry. Icahn controls a sizable stake in refiner CVR Energy. As an unofficial adviser, Icahn wasn’t required to submit financial records to the Office of Government Ethics to address any conflicts of interest.

Icahn also said he was stepping down because he didn’t want to cloud the work of Neomi Rao, who as head of the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs is the administration’s point person on regulations.

On the campaign trail, Trump praised Icahn as the kind of tenacious dealmaker that he would bring into his administration.

At an August 2015 event in South Carolina, Trump called Icahn “one of the best” and indicated that he might be in charge of negotiating U.S. trade deals.

“If I put Carl in charge of Japan, ‘Carl, handle Japan trade deals,'” Trump said. “It’s over, just walk away, let him run the — oh, forget it. They even know that they don’t have a chance. OK? It’s over.”
Carl Icahn steps down as special advisor to the President.