Andrew Puzder becomes the first Trump Cabinet nominee to withdraw. | Getty Labor nominee Puzder withdraws The fast-food exec faced numerous scandals, including a video of his ex-wife accusing him of abuse on 'Oprah' in 1990.

Andrew Puzder withdrew his nomination Wednesday to be secretary of labor after Senate Republicans informed the White House that he lacked the votes to be confirmed.

GOP senators advised the White House that Puzder could not pass through the narrowly divided Senate, sources said, and shortly thereafter the White House confirmed his intention to pull out.


“While I won’t be serving in the administration, I fully support the president and his highly qualified team,” Puzder said in a statement.

Puzder, CEO of CKE Restaurants, which owns Hardee’s and Carl’s Jr., becomes President Donald Trump’s first Cabinet nominee to withdraw. He could lose only two GOP votes in order to be approved, and multiple Republicans had reservations about him. Moving forward on a nomination sure to fail would have been far more damaging to Trump, Puzder and Senate Republicans than his eventual withdrawal.

White House press secretary Sean Spicer said Trump will not be issuing a statement on the withdrawal. Even though it was the GOP that turned on Puzder, he blamed Senate Democrats for obstructing the president. All of Trump’s Cabinet nominees can be confirmed without Democratic votes, but Spicer dismissed the notion that Puzder withdrew under pressure from the GOP.

“There is no focus on these guys having a double standard for which they had with Obama nominees. It’s just ridiculous,” Spicer said. “He was not given a hearing.”

But committees are run by Republicans who control Congress. And GOP officials said there was a gradual erosion of support among Senate Republicans for Puzder. The most damaging revelation, Republicans said, was his admission that he did not pay taxes on the services of an undocumented immigrant who worked for him for years. Puzder never recovered, entering a tailspin that ended with POLITICO's publication of a video showing his ex-wife accusing Puzder of abuse.

“I’ve expressed my concerns about a number of issues,” said Susan Collins (R-Maine), one of the senators who was undecided.

Though a withdrawal is a major blow to the administration, the alternative would have been worse. Taking Puzder’s nomination to the Senate floor and seeing it fail would have been a major embarrassment for Trump and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), who repeatedly backed Puzder publicly. Puzder was also a favorite of White House chief of staff Reince Priebus.

Sen. Lamar Alexander of Tennessee, who runs the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee that was scheduled to take up Puzder’s nomination Thursday, was among the Republicans praising Puzder even as it became clear he could not pass the Senate’s muster.

“Andy Puzder has the experience and ability to make an excellent labor secretary, but I respect his decision,” Alexander said.

Agriculture Department hopeful Sonny Perdue has grown nervous about his own prospects in light of Puzder’s troubles — unable to get access to Priebus for reassurances that the former Georgia governor’s nomination is still backed by the administration, according to a source familiar with the matter.

McConnell has focused the early part of the year on pushing through Trump’s Cabinet picks. Though Senate Democrats have resisted, all of Trump’s nominees have gotten through the narrowly divided chamber until now. Vincent Viola, Trump’s pick for Army secretary, withdrew earlier this month after he found it too difficult to disentangle himself from his business ventures, but he bowed out before the full Senate considered his nomination.

But Puzder is different.

The number of issues plaguing the fast-food executive could fill an opposition research book: His ex-wife accused him of abuse on “Oprah” in 1990, he was tutored by a mob lawyer and recently admitted to failing to pay taxes on the undocumented immigrant he employed. He also drew criticism for his companies’ risque advertisements and labor practices.

This week, HELP Committee members began viewing the “Oprah” tape, with top Democrat Patty Murray of Washington state saying she was left “deeply troubled” by the video.

And though Democrats could not alone tank Puzder’s nomination, their demands that he have all his paperwork in before a hearing effectively separated him from the rest of Trump’s Cabinet nominees. They crowed in the wake of the nomination’s demise.

“President Trump must learn from this mistake,” said Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio). “The American people want a labor secretary who will follow through on President Trump’s promise to put American workers first.”

View Puzder 'vowed revenge,' wife told Oprah An excerpt of 1990 interview of 'The Oprah Winfrey Show' with Lisa Fierstein, ex-wife of Andrew Puzder. POLITICO obtained the tape from Charlotte Fedders, a fellow guest on the Winfrey show.

Gov. Scott Walker (R-Wis.), the subject of rumors as a Puzder replacement, tweeted on Wednesday that “the future is too bright in WI for me to do anything other than being Governor.”

Other Republicans on the HELP Committee who wavered on his nomination included Sens. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, Tim Scott of South Carolina and Johnny Isakson of Georgia. None would say on Wednesday they outwardly opposed him. The preference among senators was to avoid having to vote down his nomination by having Trump yank it.

Puzder’s confirmation hearing was scheduled for Thursday after being delayed four times because of a multitude of problems with his background checks and ethics arrangement. One Senate Republican said it would make no sense for Puzder to wait until after his hearing to withdraw.

The hearing was still on as of Wednesday afternoon. And Senate Republican leaders said his nomination was still moving forward up until he officially dropped out.

But privately, Republicans said there was widespread concern about having to vote for Puzder after shepherding several controversial nominees across the finish line. Most notably, Vice President Mike Pence had to break a tie to confirm Education Secretary Betsy DeVos last week.

Puzder’s nomination was so cooked by Wednesday afternoon that his name never came up in a party strategy lunch, attendees said.

Eli Stokols and Seung Min Kim contributed to this report.