{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.leahy.senate.gov/press/leahy-reax-on-withdrawal-of-the-clovis-nom-to-usdas-top-science-post-leahy-is-a-leading-member-of-the-agriculture-", "Leahy REAX On Withdrawal Of The Clovis Nom. To USDAs Top Science Post; Leahy Is A Leading Member Of the Agriculture", "2017-11-02", "2017", "2017-11", "Democrat", "House", "VT", "Patrick Leahy", "L000174", "www.leahy.senate.gov", null, null, "legacy", "11.02.17\n\t\t\t Leahy REAX On Withdrawal Of The Clovis Nom. To USDA\u2019s Top Science Post; Leahy Is A Leading Member Of the Agriculture  \n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\u201cSam Clovis was almost a comically bad nominee, even for this administration. \u00a0He is inarguably unqualified, and he is wrong on almost every major issue relevant to the chief scientist post to which he was nominated. \u00a0His nomination is all too typical of the anti-science agenda and the know-nothingism pushed by President Trump and his administration.\u00a0 But President Trump already knew that when he nominated Mr. Clovis, and that is not why his nomination was abruptly pulled today. \u00a0Not because of his association with birtherism or as a climate change denier, or his other repugnant assertions.\r\n\u201cHis nomination was withdrawn because we learned on Monday that last year Mr. Clovis, while serving as the co-chairman for the national Trump campaign, gave the green light to George Papadopolous\u2019 attempts to collude with Russian operatives and obtain stolen emails from the Clinton campaign. \u00a0Mr. Clovis\u2019 nomination was only withdrawn because that would certainly have been a topic during his upcoming testimony, under oath, before the Senate Agriculture Committee. \u00a0I know because I was going ask him all about it to get more facts on the record and before the American people.\u201d\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t Press Contact \n\t\t\t\tDavid Carle: 202-224-3693\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\n\t  \n\t\n\t\n\t\n  \n\t\n    \n    \n    \n    \n    \n    \t\n    \t\n\t    \t  \n\t\t    \n\t\t    \n\t\t    \tPrevious Article", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://www.leahy.senate.gov/press/leahy-reax-on-withdrawal-of-the-clovis-nom-to-usdas-top-science-post-leahy-is-a-leading-member-of-the-agriculture-"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.5322939725592732, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}