Washington, DC - Patrick Yoes, National President of the Fraternal Order of Police, applauded the news that Gigi Sohn, who was nominated to serve as a Commissioner on the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), has withdrawn from consideration.

“What happened today should not come as a surprise,” said Yoes. “Ms. Sohn didn’t have enough support last Congress and she didn’t this time either. Her nomination was completely unacceptable. She should never have been renominated.”

Today, the White House confirmed that Ms. Sohn finally withdrew her nomination after realizing it was never going to happen. She had been renominated by the President on 3 January after she failed to get enough support to confirm her in the previous Congress. Ms. Sohn is a board member of the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) which has extreme anti-police views on law enforcement technology and lawful access to digital evidence. The FOP has also taken issue with Ms. Sohn’s social media and public policy stances which indicate a deep animus toward law enforcement officers and the rule of law.

“Public safety is the paramount responsibility of every governmental official, and Ms. Sohn’s commitment to end-to-end encryption, coupled with her perceived animus toward law enforcement officers and the rule of law, would have put public safety in jeopardy,” said Yoes. “This was not the nominee that Americans wanted serving them on the Federal Communications Commission.”

“This is an important position, and it is crucial that this vacancy be filled,” Yoes said. “But it is absolutely critical that the next nominee be someone who respects the rule of law and the brave men and women of law enforcement. To that end, the FOP hopes to be included in any conversation about potential nominees and looks forward to working with the Administration to fill this vacancy.”