Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer called on President Donald Trump to withdraw his nominee for secretary of labor.
Trump’s nominee Andy Puzder, CEO of CKE Restaurants which runs the Carl’s Jr. and Hardee’s fast food chains, would be detrimental to the Department of Labor, Schumer said at a press conference Thursday, CNN reports.
“They ought to withdraw Mr. Puzder before he further embarrasses this administration and further exposes the hypocrisy of President Trump, who says one thing to the American worker and does another,” Schumer said.
“You could not have picked a worse nominee to uphold these goals than Andew Puzder,” he said. “Everything in his career is antithetical to the goals of the Department of Labor.”
Puzder drew criticism Monday when he admitted he and his wife employed an illegal immigrant as a housekeeper for several years. Puzder said that when he realized the housecleaner’s status, he offered to help her through the immigration process and also paid back taxes to the IRS and the state of California. (RELATED: Trump’s Labor Secretary Pick Employed An Illegal Housekeeper. That Usually Sinks A Nominee)
“Based upon what I’ve learned, since Mr. Puzder reported his mistake and voluntarily corrected it, I do not believe that this should disqualify him from being a cabinet secretary,” Sen. Lamar Alexander, chairman which will hold confirmation hearings for Puzder, told The Daily Caller News Foundation in a statement.
The Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions has scheduled Puzder’s confirmation hearing for February 16. The initial confirmation hearing has been delayed four times waiting for the Office of Government Ethics to receive completed paperwork showing Puzder has no conflicts of interest with CKE Restaurants.
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