India, Oct. 22 -- Paul Ingrassia, US President Donald Trump's nominee to head the Office of Special Counsel, said on Tuesday that he was withdrawing his nomination after reports of racist messages sent by him surfaced earlier this week. He faced massive backlash and pushback from Republicans as well after he said in a text chain, "Never trust an Indian," and that the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday should be "tossed into the seventh circle of hell".

Politico reported that he had shared a series of racist text messages in a group that included other Republicans. After the news surfaced and Ingrassia started getting backlash, many Republican senators said that they would not back his nomination.

He said that he was withdrawing his name fro...