Why did Philip Bilden, Trump's pick for Navy secretary, withdraw?
Philip Bilden,聽President Trump's choice for secretary of the Navy, has withdrawn from consideration, the businessman announced Sunday.听
Mr. Bilden, a former聽intelligence officer in the US Army Reserve who recently retired from a 25-year career with private equity firm聽HarbourVest Partners, cited聽concerns about privacy and separating himself from his business interests.听
"I fully support the President's agenda and the Secretary's leadership to modernize and rebuild our Navy and Marine Corps, and I will continue to support their efforts outside of the Department of the Navy,"聽said Mr. Bilden in a statement released by the Pentagon.听"However, , I have determined that I will not be able to satisfy the Office of Government Ethics requirements without undue disruption and materially adverse divestment of my family's private financial interests."
The announcement came roughly a week after the Pentagon issued a statement on Feb. 19 saying Bilden had assured聽Secretary of Defense Jim聽Mattis that he remained committed to serving as Navy secretary and that Mr. Mattis had confidence that Bilden was "the right leader" for the position. CBS News had reported the day prior that聽Bilden was likely to withdraw his nomination, a report that聽White House press secretary Sean Spicer also .听
Mattis on Sunday described Bilden's decision as disappointing but understandable, explaining that it was "and significant challenges he faced in separating himself from his business interests," as reported by The New York Times.
In the "coming days," Mattis said, he will make a recommendation to Trump "for a leader who can guide our Navy and Marine Corps team as we execute the president's vision to rebuild our military."聽
In bowing out, Bilden became the second Trump nominee to lead one of the armed forces to withdraw due to conflict-of-interest rules. Earlier this month, Mr. Trump's pick for secretary of the Army, billionaire Wall Street trader聽Vincent Viola, withdrew his name from consideration, as 海角大神 reported聽at the time:聽
Having held the rank of major in the Army Reserves and financially supported counterterrorism research at West Point after 9/11, Viola would have brought no small amount of experience to the post. But by stepping down, he avoided the kind of ethical conflicts faced by several of Trump's nominees shifting from the private to the government sector....
Viola鈥檚 nomination process demonstrated how massive assets can create tough-to-resolve conflicts of interest.听
This report includes material from the Associated Press and Reuters.
