George David Banks, a top National Economic Council official resigned on Tuesday after he was denied permanent security clearance due to the fact he had admitted to smoking pot, a new report said Wednesday.
Banks told media tabloid that the White House counsel’s office Tuesday let him know that his application for a permanent clearance had been rejected over his past marijuana use.
His resignation comes amid turbulent office discussions surrounding three dozen aides on the payroll with only temporary security clearances including accused wife-beater Rob Porter before he was forced to step down.
This is the third time an official is leaving the Trump administration in the last week.
Porter resigned Feb. 7 over the sordid allegations of spousal abuse lodged by two ex-wives.
On Friday David Sorensen a speechwriter, who worked at the Council on Environmental Quality, quit over reports of domestic violence against him.
Both Porter and Sorensen deny the allegations.
Banks posted online that he was told his clearance was not going to happen because he admitted smoking weed in 2013 during a background check.
The notorious anti-pot Attorney General Jeff Sessions led the charge and vowed to crack down on marijuana, including the pot business that has been legalized in many states.
Banks stated “It was an honor to serve the president at the White House and I look forward to supporting the president in the future.”
“The whole thing is just demoralizing. I think a lot of us are scratching our head’s” a White House official told Politico, charging that Banks was a victim of the Porter fiasco.
“It seems to be more chaos as opposed to taking control of the situation and saying we made a mistake and are going to fix it in the future,” the official said.
“Just put out a clear statement about what happened and let’s try to put it behind us.”
An Obama administration official revealed that people were not denied clearances for minor past drug use only when they tried to conceal it.
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