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Trump Judicial Pick Drops Out After Bombing His Hearing

Viral video showed Sen. John Kennedy taking Petersen to task for his lack of qualifications.

The Trump judicial nominee whose embarrassing Senate hearing went viral last week has withdrawn his name from consideration over the fallout, HuffPost reported Monday. Matthew Petersen, currently a member of the Federal Election Commission, was selected by President Trump for a lifetime appointment to the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, but when his lack of qualifications and stunning ignorance of basic legal terms were called out by Sen. John Kennedy (R-LA), he became the subject of widespread mockery. “I had hoped that my nearly two decades of public service might carry more weight than my two worst moments on television,” Petersen wrote in his withdrawal note to Trump. “However, I am no stranger to political realities, and I do not wish to be a distraction from the important work of your Administration and the Senate.” Petersen is just the latest judicial pick to withdraw: last Friday, Brett Talley, who never tried a case and received a “not qualified” rating from the American Bar Association, also pulled his name.