(CNN) President Donald Trump's pick to be US ambassador to Singapore, KT McFarland, has asked the President to withdraw her nomination, a White House official said Friday.

In December, Democrats placed a hold on the nomination until she answers their questions about her knowledge of communications between fired national security adviser Michael Flynn and then-Russian Ambassador to the US Sergey Kislyak, a Democratic source told CNN at the time

The Senate eventually sent her nomination back to the White House at the end of 2017, and the White House decided to re-nominate the former deputy national security adviser in January despite warnings from Democrats that they were unlikely to support her amid questions about previous congressional testimony.

"I am disappointed that K.T. McFarland has withdrawn from consideration to be Ambassador to Singapore," Trump said in a statement Friday. "K.T. served my administration with distinction. Unfortunately, some Democrats chose to play politics rather than move forward with a qualified nominee for a critically important post. I wish K.T. the best as she uses her considerable wisdom and skill as a commentator to explain to the American people how to make American foreign policy great again."