WASHINGTON
— The fast food executive Andrew F. Puzder withdrew his nomination to
be President Trump’s labor secretary on Wednesday amid growing doubts
among Republican senators that he can be confirmed.
Democrats claimed victory.
“The
simple truth is that given his relationship to employees at the
companies he runs, he was not fit to lead a department responsible for
defending workers’ rights,” said Senator Bernie Sanders, independent of
Vermont who ran for the Democratic presidential nomination last year.
The
chief executive of the CKE Restaurants fast-food chain, owner of
Hardee’s and Carl’s Jr., had come under intense fire from Democrats and
liberal groups who accused him of mistreating his workers, opposing the
minimum wage and supporting automation in the workplace. The attacks on
his policy views were compounded by intense scrutiny of his personal
life, including allegations that he abused his ex-wife in the 1980s.
Senators
were privately shown a videotape of Mr. Puzder’s wife appearing
incognito on Oprah Winfrey’s television show and detailing her claims of
abuse, which she later recanted.
Conservatives,
including the editors of National Review and Breitbart News, focused
their fire on his employment of an undocumented immigrant as a
housekeeper and his failure to pay taxes for her services.
The
groundswell of opposition had led several Republicans to waver in their
support for Mr. Puzder ahead of his confirmation hearing on Thursday
morning.
Mr.
Puzder’s hearing was delayed multiple times as he sought to extricate
himself from his business and investments, however as recently as last
week he said through a spokesman that he was “all in.”
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment