Democrats bristle as Trump pulls nominations

A key Senate Democrat on telecom issues isn't happy that Donald Trump withdrew one of the party's nominees to the Federal Communications Commission, former commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel.

Brian Schatz said at a Thursday morning hearing that he hopes "the White House will renominate her and the Senate will keep its commitment to confirm her as we should have done a year ago."

How we got here: Rosenworcel's nomination to a second term on the commission was held up last year over partisan disputes. Her initial term ended in January, but former President Obama nominated her before he left office. On Tuesday, Trump pulled the nomination along with many others — a broader move Schatz called "an unnecessarily provocative act."

The bigger picture: There has been some speculation that Trump could abandon the tradition of having congressional leaders pick the nominees for seats that legally can't be held by the president's party. Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer's office has indicated that's not something it would accept easily. "We intend to assert our prerogative on nominees as has always been done," said a Schumer spokesperson in an email. "The administration has always deferred to congressional leaders and we fully expect that to continue."