President Donald Trump’s pick to be EPA’s top attorney was fired from a previous job and failed the bar exam on one attempt, he told senators Wednesday during his confirmation hearing.
The revelations about Sean Donahue, nominee for EPA general counsel, led to a series of pointed legal questions from Environment and Public Works ranking member Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island that appeared to be meant to show Donahue’s inexperience.
Donahue’s termination from the Buffalo law firm Phillips Lytle, where he was an environmental lawyer, was because he was “overloaded with work,” he wrote in a questionnaire ahead of the Wednesday hearing. Donahue worked there from March 2022 to October 2023, he said.
“Have you ever taken a deposition,” Whitehouse asked Donahue at one point. He said “no,” but, in jest, compared his committee questioning to one. “Have you ever tried a case to verdict,” Whitehouse asked, eliciting another negative answer.
