Pat Dollard | Young Americans

FOX:

Bill Richardson is withdrawing his nomination to be commerce secretary, FOX News confirmed Sunday.

Richardson, who will remain governor of New Mexico, is facing a federal grand jury investigation into whether he exchanged government contracts for contributions to three Richardson political committees.

Richardson denies any wrongdoing but the investigation won’t be finished before he has to go to a Senate confirmation hearing.

“Let me say unequivocally that I and my administration have acted properly in all matters and that this investigation will bear out that fact,” Richardson said in a statement. “But I have concluded that the ongoing investigation also would have forced an untenable delay in the confirmation process.”

Obama said he was accepting Richardson’s request to withdraw with “deep regret.”

It is a measure of his willingness to put the nation first that he has removed himself as a candidate for the Cabinet in order to avoid any delay in filling this important economic post at this critical time,” the president-elect said in a statement. “I look forward to his future service to our country and in my administration.”

The Associated Press reported last month that a grand jury is investigating whether the California firm CDR Financial Products paid to push through a contract with the state of New Mexico.

Democratic strategist Mary Anne Marsh told FOX News that with the cloud lingering over the Obama transition because of Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich’s alleged attempts to sell Obama’s vacated Senate seat, the Richardson nomination would have been another unwanted distraction.

Richardson “was going to have a very difficult time getting through this nomination,” Marsh said. “People really haven’t looked at the Richardson situation and the more they looked at it, the more they realized” confirmation was going to be a problem.

Richardson, who ran unsuccessfully for the Democratic presidential nomination last year, is currently in his second term as governor of New Mexico. He served seven terms as a U.S. representative and was energy secretary and U.S. ambassador to the U.N. during the Clinton administration.