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Trump accepted Matthew Petersen's offer to withdraw his
nomination as a district court judge in Washington, a White
House official said.
Petersen, a Republican member of the Federal Election
Commission, became the latest of Trump's judicial nominations to
fail as the president seeks to win confirmation of judges who
will make the federal judiciary more conservative.
"Just because you've seen 'My Cousin Vinny' doesn't qualify you
to be a federal judge," Republican Senator John Kennedy, who
grilled Petersen during his Dec. 13 confirmation hearing, told
WWL-TV, referring to the 1992 comedy film about a novice lawyer.
Kennedy, who has been critical of some of Trump's judicial
nominees, asked several basic legal questions that Petersen
could not answer. The video was shown on cable news shows and
widely viewed on the internet.
"While I am honored to have been nominated for this position, it
has become clear to me over the past few days that my nomination
has become a distraction - and that is not fair to you or your
administration," Petersen wrote in his withdrawal letter to
Trump.
"I had hoped that my nearly two decades of public service might
carry more weight than my two worst minutes on television,"
Petersen added.
Petersen became the third Trump judicial pick whose nomination
foundered in the past week. Republican Senator Chuck Grassley,
chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, said last week
Trump's nominations of Jeff Mateer and Brett Talley would not
move forward. Both had faced criticism for controversial
statements.
Talley was reported by online magazine Slate as having posted
online sympathetic comments about the early history of the Ku
Klux Klan (KKK) white supremacist group. He also failed to
disclose that his wife works in the White House counsel's
office, which overseas judicial nominations.
Mateer ran into trouble over 2015 speeches including one in
which he referred to transgender children as being part of
"Satan's plans," CNN reported.
Despite those setbacks, Trump has made significant progress in
filling vacancies on the federal courts with conservative
judges, including 12 on the important courts of appeal. He also
appointed Justice Neil Gorsuch to fill a vacancy on the Supreme
Courts, restoring the high court's conservative majority.
(Reporting by Makini Brice and Lawrence Hurley; Editing by Will
Dunham)
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