Hardee’s CEO Puzder Withdraws His Name As Trump’s Labor Secretary (VIDEO)

Andrew Puzder, the CEO of CKE Restaurants and President Donald Trump’s pick for Secretary of Labor, has withdrawn his name from consideration for the role. This comes after sources in the White House indicate that Puzder did not have a chance at getting the votes needed for confirmation; according to CNN, at least four and as many as eleven Republicans would not have voted to confirm him. Puzder’s hearing was scheduled for Thursday morning.

When initially nominated, Puzder faced strong backlash from the left, as he has pushed back against labor practices like an increased minimum wage and government protection of part time workers. CKE Restaurants owns both the Hardee’s and Carl’s Jr. fast food franchises, and employees of these businesses have filed a variety of complaints against their employers regarding wage theft, sexual harassment, overtime manipulation, and other unfair business practices.

Recently, Puzder began facing increased scrutiny. Information (and eventually a tape) resurfaced, regarding his ex-wife’s 1990 appearance on The Oprah Winfrey Show, in which she wears a disguise, speaks of horrible domestic abuse, and eventually claims Puzder told her the following:

“I will see you in the gutter. This will never be over. You will pay for this.”

She eventually dropped the abuse claims, and claims she regrets ever appearing on the show.

Other news recently came to light that Puzder and his wife had employed an undocumented immigrant as a housekeeper.

CNN’s Manu Raju states there was no isolated incident that caused Puzder to lose support; it was a combination of these different issues all adding up that scared off Republican voters. Puzder seemed an odd choice for Secretary of Labor, considering he once spoke of how much better Hardee’s would be if it were populated entirely by robot workers:

“They’re always polite, they always upsell, they never take a vacation, they never show up late, there’s never a slip-and-fall, or an age, sex, or race discrimination case.”

With Michael Flynn stepping down as Trump’s national security adviser, and now Andrew Puzder stepping away from Trump’s cabinet before his confirmation hearing, Trump’s chaotic White House run continues. Check out CNN’s full report on Puzder’s withdrawal below:

Featured Image from Gage Skidmore via Flickr / CC BY-SA 2.0