Former Trump appointee resigns from Trump-aligned group after racist comments

A former Trump administration appointee resigned from his position at the Trump-aligned America First Policies this week, after companies said they wouldn’t contribute to the group because of his past racist comments, according to CNN.

In January, Carl Higbie resigned as chief of external affairs for the Corporation for National and Community Service, which runs AmeriCorps, after racist, sexist and anti-Muslim comments from his past came to light. 

Despite the revelations, he joined the nonprofit America First Polices in March as its director of advocacy. The group has reportedly raised $26 million to support President Trump’s agenda.{mosads} 

But Higbie and other staffers’ past remarks led three corporate donors — CVS Health, Southern Company and Dow Chemical — to announce earlier this week that they would no longer donate to the group. 

The announcement came after Maplight, a nonpartisan research group that tracks the influence of money in politics, reported on the companies’ donations in late May. 

“Comments made by employees of America First Policies that were reported after we made our contributions are unacceptable to us. We have zero tolerance for discriminatory actions or behaviors, and as such we will not be making contributions to this organization in the future,” CVS said to CNN in a statement.

Higbie said that he left America First Policies to join another organization.

“I resigned to join the other organization,” Higbie told CNN via email. “That release will have all the details next week.”

In January, CNN reported on the many racist remarks Higbie had made on the radio in the past. In audio from 2013, he said, “I just don’t like Muslim people.” 

He’s also said that black women think “breeding is a form of government employment,” and sparked outrage in 2016 when he defended Trump’s rumored proposal that would create a registry of Muslim immigrants.