Trump's Navy Secretary pick on the verge of withdrawing

US President Donald Trump's Navy Secretary pick Philip Bilden is likely to withdraw his nomination, sources told CBS News.

Bilden, a former Army Reserve military officer with little naval experience, has drawn resistance to his lack of familiarity with Navy issues and has encountered difficulty separating himself from his financial interests, the sources told the network on Saturday.

The sources said Bilden could withdraw as soon as this weekend.

But the White House has publicly denied that Bilden is reconsidering his nomination.

In a tweet responding to the report, White House press secretary Sean Spicer said the sources were "wrong" and that Bilden was "100 per cent" committed to the post.

"Those people would be wrong. Just spoke with him and he is 100 per cent committed pending Senate confirmation," Spicer said.

Bilden ran the private equity firm HarbourVest in Hong Kong from 1996 to 2014 and has an undergraduate degree from Georgetown and an MBA from Harvard University.

However, the nominee has never served in the Navy but has a son enrolled at the Naval Academy and another who is an academy graduate. Bilden has served on the Naval Academy board and has also made donations to the US Naval Institute.

Bilden's nomination came ahead of the original transition front-runner for Navy Secretary, former Virginia Representative Randy Forbes.

--IANS

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