Senate Majority Leader John Thune on Tuesday reportedly suggested that President Donald Trump’s nominee to lead the Office of Special Counsel, Paul Ingrassia, should not proceed with his scheduled confirmation hearing this week, signaling a setback for the administration as it faces bipartisan unease over the nomination.
Ingrassia, a 30-year-old White House official and former attorney, has come under scrutiny following reports of controversial private messages and an earlier, withdrawn sexual harassment complaint.
POLITICO reported Monday that Ingrassia used a racial slur in a private text group and wrote that the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday should be “tossed into the seventh circle of hell,” adding that he has “a Nazi streak.”
When asked whether it would be a mistake for Ingrassia to appear before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee for his planned Thursday hearing, Thune laughed briefly before replying, “Yeah.” The South Dakota Republican’s comment underscored growing recognition within GOP ranks that the nomination faces steep odds.
Ingrassia’s nomination appears unlikely to clear the committee, with Democrats uniformly opposed and at least three Republican senators signaling they will not support him. Even if advanced, Republican leadership reportedly believes the nominee does not have the votes for full Senate confirmation.
Sen. Ron Johnson of Wisconsin, a senior Republican on the committee, went further, urging the administration to withdraw the nomination altogether. “The White House ought to withdraw Ingrassia,” Johnson said. “It never should’ve gotten this far.”
The controversy represents an unwelcome distraction for the Trump administration, which has sought to cast its appointments as part of a broader effort to root out politicization in federal watchdog offices.
Ingrassia, who has served as a policy aide in the White House counsel’s office, was viewed by allies as a sharp legal mind aligned with the president’s drive to challenge what he has called “bureaucratic bias” in Washington.
Yet the latest revelations have made his confirmation path nearly untenable. While some conservatives privately question the timing and intent behind the leaked messages, others have acknowledged that the reports make the nomination difficult to defend publicly.
As of Tuesday, there were no signs that the White House intended to withdraw the nomination, though Thune’s remarks and Johnson’s warning suggest that Senate Republicans are preparing to move on.
This story is developing…
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