‘My Worst Two Minutes on Television’
Last week America was stunned when a Trump judicial nominee could not answer a single question on the rule of law right after admitting he had exactly zero relevant experience to become a federal judge. It was an embarrassment not only for Matthew Petersen, a Federal Election Commissioner who President Trump had nominated to sit on the powerful and prestigious the United States District Court for the District of Columbia, but for the Trump administration. And it should be, too, for the Heritage Foundation and the Federalist Society, two far right wing think tanks that have aided the Trump team in identifying and vetting judicial nominees.
But Monday afternoon Petersen finally got one thing right: he withdrew his nomination from being given a lifetime appointment, saving the administration further embarrassment.
“I had hoped that my nearly two decades of public service would carry more weight than my worst two minutes on television,” Petersen wistfully wrote in his letter withdrawing his name from consideration.
Noting he would be seen as a “continued distraction,” Petersen also noted he is “no stranger to political realities.”
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