A man nominated by Donald Trump for the role of federal judge has withdrawn his candidacy following a humiliating interview last week that went viral.
“It has become clear to me over the last few days that my nomination has become a distraction,” Matthew Petersen wrote in a letter to the US President.
Petersen had been nominated as a federal judge in the District of Columbia, but Donald Trump has now accepted his offer to withdraw, the White House said.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Peterson, a Republican member of the Federal Election Commission, “is the latest of Trump's conservative judicial nominations to fail,” says the BBC.
In the excruciating confirmation hearing, Petersen “failed to answer the most basic legal questions asked by Republican Senator John Kennedy,” says the Daily Telegraph.
In his letter to Trump announcing his withdrawal, Petersen said he is “no stranger to political realities” and did not wish to be a “continued distraction” to the President's or his administration's work. He bemoaned his performance at his confirmation hearing, saying, “I had hoped that my nearly two decades of public service would carry more weight than my worst two minutes on television.”
After the hearing, his questioner openly criticised Petersen telling local station WWL-TV: “Just because you've seen My Cousin Vinny doesn't qualify you to be a federal judge” - referring to the 1992 comedy film about a novice lawyer.
But Kennedy also told CNN after the hearing that he hoped Petersen's nomination would be withdrawn.
“I'm hoping the White House will pull down Mr. Petersen,” Kennedy said. “I don't wanna see him suffer.”
He added: “I think he's whip smart, probably. But you can't just walk into a federal courthouse for the very first time and say ‘Here I am, I think I wanna be a judge.’ It just doesn't work that way.”
Despite this setback “Trump has made progress filling other judicial vacancies with conservative judges and notably restored the Supreme Court's conservative majority with the appointment of Justice Neil Gorsuch,” says the BBC.
-
A January deadline could bring the pain all over againToday’s Big Question A January deadline could bring the pain all over again
-
Political cartoons for December 23Cartoons Tuesday's political cartoons include an eye on CBS, cracking the middle class, and Donald Trump's name on everything
-
Why women are feeling the festive stressTalking Point As the Christmas frenzy ramps up, many mums feel the pressure of ‘keeping the whole sleigh on the road’
-
The MAGA civil war takes center stage at the Turning Point USA conferenceIN THE SPOTLIGHT ‘Americafest 2025’ was a who’s who of right-wing heavyweights eager to settle scores and lay claim to the future of MAGA
-
CBS pulls ‘60 Minutes’ report on Trump deporteesSpeed Read An investigation into the deportations of Venezuelan migrants to El Salvador’s notorious prison was scrapped
-
Trump administration posts sliver of Epstein filesSpeed Read Many of the Justice Department documents were heavily redacted, though new photos of both Donald Trump and Bill Clinton emerged
-
Is Trump deliberately redacting Epstein files to shield himself?Today’s Big Question Removal of image from publicly released documents prompts accusations of political interference by justice department
-
What Nick Fuentes and the Groypers wantThe Explainer White supremacism has a new face in the US: a clean-cut 27-year-old with a vast social media following
-
Trump HHS moves to end care for trans youthSpeed Read The administration is making sweeping proposals that would eliminate gender-affirming care for Americans under age 18
-
Why does Trump want to reclassify marijuana?Today's Big Question Nearly two-thirds of Americans want legalization
-
Jack Smith tells House of ‘proof’ of Trump’s crimesSpeed Read President Donald Trump ‘engaged in a criminal scheme to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election,’ hoarded classified documents and ‘repeatedly tried to obstruct justice’
