Sen. John Kennedy John Neely KennedyMORE said Friday that he hopes the White House withdraws one of its judicial nominees after the Louisiana Republican grilled him at a hearing this week.

"I'm hoping that the White House will pull down Mr. Petersen," Kennedy said during an appearance on CNN's "OutFront," referring to Matthew Spencer Petersen.

Petersen, a commissioner on the Federal Election Commission, was seen in a viral video struggling to answer a line of questioning from Kennedy during a hearing Wednesday on his nomination to become a district judge on the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.

"I don't want to — I mean, I don't want to see him suffer, he's a nice guy," Kennedy told CNN in calling for his nomination to be withdrawn. "But you can't just walk into a federal courthouse for the very first time and say, 'Here I am, I think I want to be a judge.' It just doesn't work that way."

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The GOP senator asked the judicial nominee a series of questions during the hearing this week, including whether he knew what a motion in limine was and other legal procedures and doctrine. Petersen was unable to answer nearly all of the questions from Kennedy.

Kennedy said Friday that while President Trump Donald John TrumpBiden on Trump's refusal to commit to peaceful transfer of power: 'What country are we in?' Romney: 'Unthinkable and unacceptable' to not commit to peaceful transition of power Two Louisville police officers shot amid Breonna Taylor grand jury protests MORE may formally nominate such candidates, "I don't believe for a second President Trump interviewed them."

The senator noted that he raised objections to two of Trump's other nominees, pointing to one who was "caught blogging in support of the early Ku Klux Klan."

"I said I'm not going to vote for him," Kennedy said.

"The D.C. Circuit and the Southern District of New York are probably actually the most important district courts and you've got really experienced lawyers going at each other hammer and tong, and you're supposed to be the referee," Kennedy said.

"There are just certain minimum level of requirements. I don't care how smart you are. I mean, I think the president is smart. But if he was asked to go transplant a kidney in the morning, he couldn't do it, neither could I."