A TOP Pentagon official yesterday resigned at the request of Donald Trump after becoming indirectly tied to the Ukraine scandal that led to the US president’s impeachment.

John Rood, the Defence Department’s top policy official, certified that Ukraine had made sufficient reforms to be eligible to receive US$250 million (RM1 billion) in military aid.

That undercut Trump’s argument that the funds were withheld out of concern over corruption rather than to pressure Kiev to investigate his political rivals, as alleged by Democrats.

No reason was given for the president’s request for Rood to resign, but it follows similar White House actions against national security officials who testified about Ukraine in the impeachment hearings.

In recent months, however, reports have surfaced that Rood’s abrasive personality made him enemies within the Pentagon and White House National Security Council.

In a letter to the president, Rood said he learnt from Defence Secretary Mark Esper “that you requested my resignation from serving as under secretary of defence for policy”.

“Senior administration officials appointed by the president serve at the pleasure of the president, and therefore, as you have requested, I am providing my resignation effective February 28, 2020.”

Trump thanked Rood for his service in a tweet linked to another by a Bloomberg reporter that said the Pentagon official faced pressure to resign “from some who had lost confidence in his ability to carry out (the) Trump agenda”. – AFP, February 20, 2020.