Labor Dept. nominee withdraws
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump’s nominee for labor secretary abruptly withdrew his nomination Wednesday after Senate Republicans balked at supporting him, in part over taxes he belatedly paid on a former housekeeper not authorized to work in the United States.
Fast-food executive Andrew Puzder issued a short statement abandoning the effort, saying he was “honored to have been considered by President Donald Trump to lead the Department of Labor.”
White House spokesman Sean Spicer said he had no information on any possible replacement. Puzder’s nomination became part of a streak of contentious confirmation battles and White House actions.
Sen. Lamar Alexander, who would have chaired Puzder’s confirmation hearing Thursday, issued a terse statement saying the nominee would have made an “excellent” labor secretary, but “I respect his decision.”
Puzder spokesman George Thompson said his boss was a victim of “an unprecedented smear campaign.”
What troubled majority Republicans most of all was Puzder’s acknowledgement that he had not paid taxes on the housekeeper until after Trump nominated him — five years after he had fired the worker.
Democrats had already made it clear that Puzder’s statements about women and his own workers would be major issues at his confirmation hearing. He was quoted by Business Insider as saying he wanted to try robots at his restaurants because “they’re always polite, they always upsell, they never take a vacation, they never show up late, there’s never a slip-and-fall, or an age, sex or race discrimination case.”