Richardson withdraws as Obama's commerce pick

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US President-elect Barack Obama (L) listens to New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson after announcing Richardson as his nominee for commerce secretary during a news conference in Chicago December 3, 2008. REUTERS/John Gress

US President-elect Barack Obama (L) listens to New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson after announcing Richardson as his nominee for commerce secretary during a news conference in Chicago December 3, 2008.

Credit: Reuters/John Gress

CHICAGO | Sun Jan 4, 2009 2:10pm EST

CHICAGO (Reuters) - New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson has withdrawn as President-elect Barack Obama's nominee for commerce secretary, an Obama aide said Sunday.

The aide gave no further details, saying only that a statement was due to be released shortly.

NBC news quoted a statement by Richardson as saying he withdrew due to a pending investigation into a company that has done business with his state.

Richardson said on the NBC news website that he had done nothing wrong but he said the ongoing investigation would have caused a long delay in the confirmation process.

(Reporting by Deborah Charles, Editing by Sandra Maler)
Politics
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