Tomas Philipson's departure as chairman of the White House Council of Economic Advisers (CEA) next week was sped up by his contracting COVID-19, The Wall Street Journal reported.
Philipson told the Journal in an email Friday he had already planned to leave the administration because of the limited influence of the CEA and growing "increasingly frustrated with the process of advising the president on economic issues."
"I was not shy and very direct about getting my points across to the president, which did not sit so well with more thin-skinned advisers and secretaries," Philipson's email read, adding "weak advisers" excluded "good advice by the CEA, even though the president would have benefited from it."
Philipson said his COVID-19 positive case merely moved up his departure. The CEA will be down to just one member, per the Journal.
Philipson, who was seen June 5 with the president and advisers during a White House speech, applauded "very capable medical team that managed my case exceptionally well during the infection," per the email.
Philipson added to the Journal, his infection was "a very mild case of one day of fever."
Eric Mack ✉
Eric Mack has been a writer and editor at Newsmax since 2016. He is a 1998 Syracuse University journalism graduate and a New York Press Association award-winning writer.
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