President Trump is nominating the wife of former Sen. David Vitter, R-La., to a lifetime role as federal judge in Louisiana.
Wendy Vitter is a Tulane University Law School graduate and currently serves as general counsel of the Roman Catholic Church’s Archdiocese of New Orleans.
She is best known nationally for standing by her husband at a 2007 press conference after he was identified as a client of “D.C. madam” Deborah Jeane Palfrey.
“When David and I dealt with this privately years ago, I forgave David,” she said at the press conference. “Last week, some people very sympathetically said to me, ‘I wouldn’t want to be in your shoes right now’. I stand before you to tell you very proudly I am proud to be Wendy Vitter.”
Former Sen. Vitter was re-elected in 2010, but did not seek a third term after losing a 2015 run for governor when the issue resurfaced.
Press reports claiming that then-Sen. Vitter wore diapers while visiting prostitutes became a political attack and Democrat John Bel Edwards, who won the governor’s race, accused Vitter of supporting “prostitutes over patriots.”
Sen. Bill Cassidy, a Republican who briefly served alongside Vitter, reportedly recommended Wendy Vitter for the nomination. Cassidy was first elected to the Senate with Vitter’s endorsement in 2014.
The White House announced Trump’s intent to nominate Wendy Vitter on Tuesday, ending months of speculation that she would be named.
It’s unclear whether her husband’s prostitution scandal will be a factor in Senate confirmation hearings.
Vitter previously worked in the Orleans Parish District Attorney’s Office, where a White House release says “she focused on homicide prosecutions and litigated over 100 jury trials.”
Before that, “Ms. Vitter practiced maritime and complex litigation at a boutique firm,” the White House said.
“She is also involved in her community and recently concluded a three-year term as President of the Cancer Association of Greater New Orleans Board of Directors,” the White House said in its release, in which Trump announced a his tenth wave of judicial nominees.
Among the other new federal court nominees named Tuesday is Maureen Ohlhausen, acting chairperson of the Federal Trade Commission, who is being nominated to serve as a judge on the U.S. Court of Federal Claims.
This is the first wave of judicial nominees this year and comes after the president had 12 appeals court and 10 district court judges confirmed by the Senate.
