White House Environmental Advisor Resigns

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The White House is thanking Van Jones for his service, and accepting his resignation as environmental adviser.

White House spokesman Robert Gibbs says Jones quit because the controversy over his past inflammatory statements was becoming a liablitiy to the administration.

Gibbs tells ABC that Jones "understood he was going to get in the way" and decided that "the agenda of this president was bigger than any one individual."

Howard Dean, former head of the Democratic National Committee, told "Fox News Sunday" that he thought Jones "was brought down" and that his resignation was "a loss to the country."

Jones had come under fire for making derogatory comments about Republicans and signing a petition in 2004 calling for an investigation into whether the government had allowed the 2001 terror attacks to happen.

In his resignation statement, Jones said "opponents of reform" had mounted "a vicious smear campaign" against him.