Nominee for Navy secretary withdraws, citing finances

President Donald Trump’s nominee for secretary of the Navy withdrew from consideration Sunday, saying that meeting the government’s ethics guidelines would require too great a financial sacrifice.

The nominee, Philip Bilden, a former military intelligence officer who ran the Hong Kong branch of a private equity firm, said in a statement that he had informed Defense Secretary Jim Mattis that he did not want to continue to seek confirmation a month after he had been named for the post.

It was the latest case in which wealthy businesspeople whom Trump has favored for government jobs have been tripped up by the demands of avoiding conflicts of interest. On Feb. 3, Vincent Viola, a billionaire Wall Street trader and Trump’ s choice for secretary of the Army, withdrew because he decided it was too difficult to detach himself from his business interests.

Bilden said in a statement that he fully supported the president’s agenda. But he added, “After an extensive review process, I have determined that I will not be able to satisfy the Office of Government Ethics requirements without undue disruption and materially adverse divestment of my family’s private financial interests.” He did not elaborate.

CBS News reported on Feb. 18 that Bilden was likely to withdraw his nomination, but Trump administration officials denied it. Sean Spicer, White House press secretary, said on Twitter that CBS’s sources were “wrong.”

“Just spoke with him and he is 100% commited to being the next SECNAV pending Senate confirm,” Spicer wrote.

Mattis called Bilden’s decision disappointing but said he understood it, saying it was “driven by privacy concerns and significant challenges he faced in separating himself from his business interests.”

Bilden, the son of a naval officer, attended Georgetown University on an ROTC scholarship and served from 1986-96 in the Army Reserve as an intelligence officer.

He was a board member of the Naval Academy Foundation and the Naval War College Foundation and has two sons who attended the Naval Academy.