Trump judge nominee withdraws after ‘humiliating interview’

A man nominated by Donald Trump for the role of federal judge has withdrawn his candidacy following a humiliating interview last week that went viral.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.

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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But Kennedy also told CNN after the hearing that he hoped Petersen's nomination would be withdrawn.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.