Trump Judicial Pick Withdraws After Dismal Performance at Confirmation Hearing

By Jeralyn, Section Trump Administration
Posted on Mon Dec 18, 2017 at 03:45:51 PM EST
Tags: (all tags)

Share This: Digg!

Matthew Peterson, who worked at the FEC for 10 years (5 of them with Trump aide Doug McGann), has withdrawn his name from consideration as a federal judge for the District of Colombia after a dismal performance at his confirmation hearing yesterday.

He's never tried a case, doesn't know what the Daubert standard or a motion in limine is, has never argued a motion, conducted a deposition by himself, and he last read the federal rules of evidence in law school.

He is the third Trump judicial pick to fall this this month [More...]

Early last week, Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Charles E. Grassley (R-Iowa) told the White House to “reconsider” the nominations of two nominees, Jeff Mateer and Brett Talley, both of whom were reported to have endorsed positions or groups that embrace discrimination. A day later, both nominations were pulled.

...Mateer, according to reports, had said in 2015 that transgender children are part of “Satan’s plan,” while Talley was reported to have posted a defense of “the first KKK” in an online comment in 2011.

Neither disclosed those comments during the vetting process. Talley also did not tell the committee that he is married to the chief of staff for White House counsel Donald McGahn.

As for Peterson and McGahn:

A study of the commission’s voting patterns found that Petersen voted in virtual lockstep on key issues for years with other Republicans on the commission, including McGahn.

Cronyism over competence, once again, is the signature of the Trump Adminstration.

< Suburban vs. Rural and Faith-Based Republicans | Senate to Pass Tax Bill Today >