"This morning Secretary Azar accepted Dr. Brenda Fitzgerald's resignation," HHS says in emailed release. "Dr. Fitzgerald owns certain complex financial interests that have imposed a broad recusal limiting her ability to complete all of her duties as the CDC Director"

"Due to the nature of these financial interests, Dr. Fitzgerald could not divest from them in a definitive time period"

What happened is that as Politico reported on Tuesday, about one month after the Trump health appointee took over as director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Brenda Fitzgerald purchased stock in a tobacco company. Of course, as CDC director, Fitzgerald oversees the agency's efforts to push Americans to stop smoking tobacco products, so the purchase raised questions about conflicts of interest.

According to documents obtained by Politico, last August and September, Fitzgerald bought stock in several companies, including Japan Tobacco, a cigarette manufacturing company. She also purchased stock in pharmaceutical companies Merck & Co. and Bayer, and health insurance company Humana.