WASHINGTON, Nov. 13 (Xinhua) -- The White House Wednesday formally withdrew the nomination of multimillionaire Doug Manchester as the U.S. ambassador to the Bahamas.
The White House submitted Manchester's nomination to the U.S. Senate in May 2017, January 2018 and January 2019, but the nomination never proceeded to a floor vote despite being at one time approved by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on a party-line vote.
Manchester issued a statement on Oct. 31, saying he withdrew himself for consideration for the ambassadorship "due to the threats on his and his family's lives," U.S. media reported.
Manchester is a real estate developer based in San Diego, California, and an active donor for Republican politicians at both state and national levels. U.S. media reported that Manchester and his wife together contributed nearly 1 million U.S. dollars to the Trump campaign in 2016.
It is common practice for U.S. presidents to award ambassadorships to big political donors, even when the nominees lack sufficient experience in business politics and foreign affairs.
