White House to withdraw Trump's nominee to head FEMA
Related: Scoop: Trump expected to formally nominate Peter Gaynor as FEMA chief (Axios)
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Source: CNN
White House to withdraw Trump's nominee to head FEMA
By Jeremy Diamond and Kaitlan Collins, CNN
Updated 10:54 PM ET, Wed September 18, 2019
(CNN) The White House plans to withdraw the nomination of Jeff Byard, President Donald Trump's pick to lead the Federal Emergency Management Agency, seven months after he was nominated to the position, a senior administration official and congressional source tell CNN.
Instead, Trump is expected to nominate acting FEMA Administrator Peter Gaynor -- who is the agency's confirmed deputy administrator -- for the top disaster relief position, the sources said.
Axios first reported the news, and CNN reported earlier Wednesday that Byard's nomination was in trouble.
The White House declined to comment.
Issues with Byard's confirmation stemmed from a personal issue that surfaced in the last week, and Byard requested last Thursday that his nomination be withdrawn, according to a letter obtained by CNN.
In the letter to acting Homeland Security Secretary Kevin McAleenan, Byard said that "it would be best for me to focus entirely on pressing issues related to my current role as the Associate Administrator for Response and Recovery."
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Read more:
https://www.cnn.com/2019/09/18/politics/jeff-byard-fema-nominee-withdraw/index.html
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Rachel Maddow devotes the A block of her 9/18 show to the FEMA fiasco. She gets to Byard about 10 minutes in.